Our Closest Encounter with Wildlife & a Road Trip to Remember for Life!

Each day in South Africa led to many 'Firsts'! From spotting Penguins on a beach, to watching whales mating in the Atlantic, from feeding an ostrich, to encountering sharks up close where we were the ones in a cage, from watching a lion feasting on a Zebra, to an injured lion that escaped an attack⁠—South Africa was nothing less than a delight.

South Africa is considered as one of the best road trip destinations in the world, and it is not difficult to see why. From the small sunny towns of Western Cape to the mystical boondocks of Mpumalanga, roads are the lifeline of this country. Our daily routine used to be⁠—check-in, sleep, check-out, dump stuff in the car, hit the highway & explore along the way. It wasn't easy but we covered 2300+ km in just 10 days. Scroll down to check out our day-wise trip details:

Day 1: In And around Cape town​

Our Robben Island tour and hike to the table-mountain got cancelled due to the weather that day, and fortunately/unfortunately we ended up doing walking tours in the city. We visited the aquariums, chased rainbows & sunsets, drove through the city, and visited local non-touristy places.

Oh! We spotted seals too, just like that, while taking a stroll around Victoria Wharf.

Day 2: Cape Peninsula Drive

This is one of the best drives in South Africa! We started with the Camps Bay beach views, passed the very picturesque Chapman’s Peak Drive to reach Boulders Beach, swam with penguins while stopping in between at Hout Bay⁠—a small town that gave us a sneak peek into South Africa’s culture and music, and then closed the day with a visit to the Cape of Good Hope point.

Boulders is home to a very special land-based colony of penguins, started with a pair of penguins in 1984 to 2000+ now. They’re all cute. They’re all wild. Seeing them was a beautiful experience. You’ll watch them swim, eat and fight. They’ll nuzzle each other, keep each other warm, make cute noises and just do funny things. Most stand still with their wings almost touching the floor. They’ll occasionally scratch their sides with their beaks, a few will ruffle their feathers and wiggle their bodies from top to bottom. Once in a lifetime experience I’d say unless you have plans of visiting Antarctica!

Day 3: Gansbaai

This has to be the most adventurous, intimidating yet exciting day of our trip. We went for The Great White Shark Cage Diving! 

What’s that? Well, You’re inside a cage behind the bars, which is immersed in 10 °C cold water, and a shark is just in front of you, biting the cage’s bars that your hands were holding. It's the stuff of nightmares and we experienced this up close. We saw one of nature’s most feared and the largest predator up close – the big jaws – The Great White Shark!

Day 4: Wilderness Beach and Cango

We decided to take it slow this morning. Our stay was lovely, the breakfast scrumptious and beach views to die for!

Followed the lovely morning with a visit to the Cango Wildlife Ranch and Ostrich Farm. Getting up and close to the ostriches and feeding them was a wonderful experience.

Day 5: The Storms River & Fly to Jo’burg

Post a lovely morning, we headed to the Tsitsikamma National Park. Heard about the Kayak and Lilo adventure up the Storms River there? It starts with kayaking in the sea that leads to a gorge, and then you go deeper into the gorge on the very uniquely designed Lilos⁠—the experience keeps getting more thrilling with passing time. And before returning, you get to challenge your fear of heights by taking that leap from the cliffs into the deep pools. We had an absolutely great time doing this tour. It took us extremely close to nature and gave some of the most breathtaking views. 

Day 6-9: In the Wild, Sabi Sands

We stayed in the Umkumbe Private Lodge. Remote and intimate, exclusive and warm, our lodge offered a true luxury wilderness experience. From cozy rooms to mouthwatering gourmet meals, expert guides to friendly staff, early morning chills to tranquil nights, everything here was just perfect. When not out on game drives, we could enjoy a swim in the pool, read a book from the in-lodge collection, try a hand at foosball, or spot animals at the waterhole from our personal balcony. A once in a lifetime experience we’d urge everyone to go for! 

Now let’s talk about the most important part of the trip: GAME DRIVES and SPOTTING WILDLIFE!

We enjoyed sunrises with a cup of hot Mocha and sunsets with a glass of Rose, alongside zebras and elephants who were enjoying themselves too in the surroundings.

We did 6 game drives in the Sabi Sands. And when you’re in a place for that long, you don’t just see animals, you see a story unfolding, understand their behaviors, get to witness the action in the jungle and learn about their prides. In these 4 days, we saw lions from 3 different prides. Some roaring, some hiding after getting attacked, some looking for a lost family member, some looking for a kill and some feeding on one.

We saw the Big 4 (Lions, Elephants, Buffalos and Rhino) and a lot more (Zebras, Giraffe, Hyenas, Impala, Wilderbeast, etc etc.) Tracing their footsteps and then finally spotting them in the wild, watching a chase, and seeing them feed on a kill are things best experienced then heard.

Beautiful sighting of this White Rhino, and its 2-week-old baby!

Elephants too come in all sizes!

Saw the Zebra crossing, quite literally!

And the Giraffes were beautiful!

And saw how cunning hyenas are.