Tag: wildlife

Kayaking With Penguins on the Western Cape

One of the most memorable and fun experiences of our South Africa trip was kayaking south of Cape Town. After our time in the city, we needed another opportunity to commune with nature and animals, so we took a guided tour of the beach home to cape fur seals and penguins in Simon’s Town. We loved kayaking with penguins on the Western Cape. You can do it too!

Paddle with Penguins

The two hour tour is called Paddle with the Penguins.  That much time spent on a kayak in the bay allowed us to see penguins and more wildlife. We were really lucky with the weather, which was warm and cloudy, and the sea, which was calm.

Our guide, Terry, a marine conservationist with Shark Warrior Adventure Centre, was a trove of information about the penguins. He also led us near seals and sea birds and told us all about these marine animals and their home in Simon’s Town, all while guiding 8 of us through the very calm but busy waters of False Bay.

kayaking with penguins western cape tour
Getting ready to kayak False Bay
And Seals!

The seals came as a complete surprise to us, and they were beautiful and plentiful! Many seals were lying on the rocks, and some of them swam around our kayaks. They are very playful and fun and got quite close to us!

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Kruger Park Accommodations: Skukuza Rest Camp

This is the final installment about Kruger Park accommodations with our last night’s camp. So here’s what it’s like staying in Skukuza Rest Camp.

We enjoyed staying in varied camps, trading smaller intimate ones for bigger camps like Skukuza.

Learn about how I booked accommodations in Kruger Park.

Skukuza Rest Camp, Night Five in Kruger Park

On our last night in Kruger Park, we stayed in the biggest camp yet, Skukuza. This camp is so big, it has car rental and conference facilities, two restaurants, and guided tours.

Its size did not make Skukuza any less lovely and our rondovel bungalow was charming.  Our accommodation included self-catering and our own grill.

Advantages of staying in Skukuza Rest Camp

Not all of the camps offer tours, so when we could sign up for one, we did. Because Skukuza is a big camp with all the amenities, we were able to take a guided walk on the afternoon of our arrival, where we saw Rhinos!

Rhino Skukuza Walk
Guided Walk – all looking at a rhino
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Kruger Park Accommodations: Tamboti Tent Camp

This is the fourth in a series about Kruger Park accommodations. We travelled from north to south and booked accommodations in advance.  We spent our fourth night and really enjoyed our stay at Tamboti Tent Camp.

Night Four: Our Stay at Tamboti Tent Camp
Tamboti Camp Kruger Park
Tamboti is the star on the map of Kruger Park

Tamboti tent camp is one of the smaller camps in Kruger, remote and peaceful. It’s the only camp we stayed in which doesn’t even have a reception desk – to check in at Tamboti, we had to first stop in at the bigger Orpen Rest Camp a few kilometers east.

Tamboti is a type of tree, and it’s a poisonous tree. Fortunately we didn’t have any experiences with the Tamboti tree; just the camp named for it.

Lodging at Tamboti Tent Camp

Our lodging at Tamboti was a big tent with a bedroom and bathroom inside, and an outdoor kitchen on a deck, which we quite liked. We liked the natural beauty and the outdoor elements to staying there especially.

Besides being comfortable, Tamboti was a great location for spotting animals. In fact, just outside the gate on the way in we saw a leopard’s kill of impala hanging in a tree, and when we left the next morning, we saw two hyenas finishing off the meal.

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