V had been plotting to convince Beef to go on a Safari for 6 months and finally succeeded!! We spent 10 days in Africa in Early May 2024 and we had the BEST time. So much so that Beef claims this trip to be one of his favorites so far.

Planning a Safari in Africa is difficult to do on your own so V quickly solicited help from Africa Travel Resource (ATR). ATR was a great choice, they helped me planned this trip from to start to finish and we had no issues whatsoever. Even transportation from town to town was secured and handled.

We choose to visit 3 cities for this trip. We flew into Cape Town and spent 2 nights in Franschhoek, flew to Sabi Sands and spent 5 days on Safari then flew to Vik Falls and spent 2 days exploring one of the 7 wonders of the world.

Franschhoek, South Africa

We flew into Capetown and immediately headed to Franschhoek to enjoy the dramatic views, culinarily diversity and of course the wine. This beautiful village is set at the end of a gorgeous sweeping valley, surrounded by scenic vineyards and backed by impressive granite mountains. We confirmed that this city is the undisputed culinary capital of southern Africa.

We stayed in a charming property called Le Quartier Francais which perfectly located on the main street. We spent our time here hiking, wine tasting and eating delicious food. Our first night here, we dined at a lovely restaurant called Rubens where we had one of the best meals we’ve ever had.

As we woke up next morning the weather had taken a turn and it was very cloudy and rainy. We had a hike planned and decided to go anyway! We got a ride up to Mont Rochelle Nature Reserve and did a nice 4.2 mile hike called Uitkyk Trail where our perfectly white shoes turned to clay brown. We got lucky and got a break in the clouds and took in the epic views. Seriously one of the most beautiful places we have been.

We spent the rest of the day wine tasting. We visited Le Petite Ferme for the worlds fastest wine tasting and had lunch at their property. Beef ate ostrich and actually liked it. V indulged in the best dessert.

Next we took our hotel shuttle to a their sister property called Leeu to enjoy a tasting at their wine studio. The property was stunning and sat perched in the mountainside. We did a tasting in their wine studio and walked around their grounds to take in the views.

For dinner we dined at Epice at our hotel. It was a 16 course culinary journey which was nothing short of extraordinary. Each dish was a masterful blend of flavors, creating a truly unforgettable spice odyssey. Beef paired his experience with wine while V paired hers with mocktails.

We loved this little town, the people were so kind, the scenery was breathtaking and the wine was very special. We 100% would recommend visiting Franschhoek.

Sabi Sands Reserve

Next we took a quickly flight from Cape Town to Hoedspruit then took a 2 hour drive into Sabi Sands. There are so many places to Safari in South Africa but we choose Sabi Sands because of the exceptial guides that work in this reserve. A unique feature of Sabi Sands is its 50-kilometer unfenced boundary with the Kruger National Park, creating a harmonious coexistence that allows wildlife to roam freely. 

We stayed at Chitwa Chitwa Game Lodge. We ultimately chose this property because of the good reviews, strong recommendation from our travel agent and of course because it was within our budget. Chitwa Chitwa was amazing, the staff went above and beyond, the rooms were next level and the property was located on a watering hole where we could sit on our decks and watch elephants, hippos and giraffes hanging out. We 100% would recommend this game lodge, they filled our entire stay with the most thoughtful gestures that made it a true trip of a lifetime.

On Safari, we had 2 game drives a day. The first at 5am and the second around 430pm. During the day we just relaxed at the resort. We couldn’t leave the resort during our free time for safety reasons. We were literally staying in the middle of the bush so completely understandable.

Our guide Deon was exx

Chitwa Chitwa was 2 hours away from the airport and we had a driver waiting to shuttle us there. The drive took us through many small villages until we got into Kruger National Park. As we drove into our lodge there was a male lion sound asleep in the middle of the road and we couldn’t go around so we waited patiently for the lion to get up so we could drive around

As soon as we landed we jumped into the jeep for our first game drive. We saw male lion sleeping on the side of the road with his cute belly out and also a female Leopard walking around, first it was sleeping then it got up and walked right by us in the car. On this first drive we saw elephants everywhere, cape buffalo everywhere and a really cool hawk. We stopped at sunset to enjoy a glass of wine. Sunsets in Africa hit differently. When the sun went down we continued on for another hour. In the night we saw a leopard walking around and a lion sleeping peacefully on a mound. That night at the resort, we had a yummy dinner around a campfire. Beef enjoyed all sorts of grilled meats while V devoured her rice and vegetable stew, the staff was nice enough to grill some special fish for V

Day 2 on safari we woke up around 4am and got ready for our first game drive. Our morning started with 2 hippos fighting and we also came up on a southern white rhino. We spent some time looking for lions as our guide and tracker found tracks all over near where there were buffalo but instead we encountered a handful of hyenas. Next our guide took us to a little surprise in the bush, an absolutely amazing breakfast. Our evening drive brought us more hippos, more peaceful this time. We found a female leopard Xidulu. She was drooling and began stalking, which our guide said was a sign that she was looking for another leopard nearby. Xidulu was stalking very slowly and silently when she suddenly found the intruder, another female leopard, Langa. None of us had seen the second leopard and were quite surprised when she popped up right in front of us. From there we found Nhenhe, the 17 month-old son of Xidulu. He was tucked away a bit while mom was away. We had our sunset drinks on the air strip and on the way back we followed a group of 8 lioness looking to hunt. That night, the staff set up a very romantic special dinner on the patio under the stars. We could hear the hippos all night long.

Day 3 morning started with a couple separate rhino spotting’s. With the sunrising the lighting was perfection. The second group of rhinos included a baby, but they would not come out into the open for us.Our guide got a call that there were tracks of african wilds dogs nearby so we headed off to try to intercept them. Wild dogs, also known as painted dogs, are not the most common sighting. They are endangered and they tend to be on the move. We followed these 3 for as long as we could. We kept driving along and saw lots more elephants. This juvenile male elephant decided to trumpet at us as we drove by, it was cute but a little scary. Our guide said was bluffing and he was right because he ran away and hid as we came by. Lastly we found lions! the Kambula coalition of 4 brothers and sister napping on a mound. They were perched in a mound. One had a very healthy mane. We got so close! Other things we saw on our sunset drive were Zebra nicely demonstrating their disruptive coloration by standing in alternate directions. After sunset we ran into the Kambula lions again as they were heading out for the evening. We watched them drink water from a pond, it was insane how close we got this time. For dinner, we jumped into the jeep and got driven a few minutes to an amazing dinner setup. There were little lights on the ground leading us to a private wine tasing followed by a cute cocktail cart and a pizza truck for appetizers. During dinner, Beef was joking around with our guide Deon about lions lurking. Deon laughed and said “no only hyenas” the proceed to shine the light behind us showing all the hyenas waiting for us to finish. Deon told us that they never approach when the guides are around. They know

Day 4 was V’s 33rd birthday! We had an amazing start to our morning with not one, but two leopards. Adolescent Nhenhe was in a tree with an impala kill and momma Xidulu was watching from nearby. Nhenhe went straight over to the kill so that his mother couldn’t eat any of it. Our guide says this is normal behavior at his age and that over the next few months Xidulu will spend less time with him and eventually leave him to fend for himself once he can hunt for himself. Xidulu took over the napping branch. Nhenhe was going hard at the leg of the impala kill from the tree. Next thing we know, there are 3 hyenas right by our jeep waiting for scraps. Eventually their patience paid off because the leg fell and all hyenas jumped at the opportunity.

At the resort, V voiced her disappointment for a lack of giraffe so far. Within a couple hours, V saw giraffe from their pool patio at the water hole by her room!!! For our evening drive, V told Deon all she wanted for her birthday was to see some giraffe. Deon being the amazing guide he was spent the next hour tracking giraffe tracks until we were face to face with 3 giraffe!! After that, he drove us to this little area where the beef set up a birthday celebration for me including champagne, cake and snacks. It was super special and V will always remember this birthday. We had a lovely dinner at camp then we got walked back to our room. I am not kidding when I saw I had never seen so many candles and rose petals in my life. The staff completely decorated our room, there were probably 100 candles. Incredibly thoughtful.

Day 5 we had a morning drive before we checked out of the Chitwa Chitwa. we went back to the leopard tree, Nhenhe was still there in a total food coma. The impala was almost gone, just a couple legs. The stomach contents were on the grass, gross. Leopard belly was big haha. After that we watched some jackals play. Deon spotted some lion tracks so we spent a couple hours hunting for them on some serious off roading and finally came upon a group of lions that were totally camouflaged by the grass. That morning, the staff set up mimosa and coffee in the bush. Very thoughtful. Deon our guide was teaching beef how to hunt for tarantulas, with his bare hands. V walked away. After we got back to the lodge we packed up and checked out. Deon drove us in the jeep to the airstrip and we waited for the tiny plane to land. We got on with 5 other people and off we went to Kruger airport. From there took another flight to Victoria Falls Airport.

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

The flight to Vic Falls airport was typical, less the immigration line (know how often you will be going between Zimbabwe and Zambia and have CASH). Then our shuttle drop off ended up being a bus with several stops (including a camera store/sales to the company which booked it) prior to being dropped off for our Zambezi River water taxi.

We got dropped off by a little boat on the Zambezi river and got introduced to our boat driver named Wellington, he looked 18, but turns out later he was turning 25. This boat was like a 3 person speed boat. He informed us that the lodge was 25 minutes up river. Next thing we know, we are blasting through this river at like 50MPH dodging hippos and rocks and shallow water; catching air on some waves. This was an absolute crazy experience, but it was clear, our boat driver Wellington knew this waters, like the back of his hand. 25 minutes later we came up to our camp called Mpala Jena Camp. Mpala Jena Camp is set on the southern bank of the Zambezi River, 20km upstream from the Victoria Falls in western Zimbabwe. We splurged on this experience so it was an extremely high quality property, with guest accommodation in just 5 tented suites (there was one other couple there) offering a very wide range of superbly guided activities. Our room was the definition of glamping. It was an amazing “tented” cabin overlooking the river. The room got cold at night so the staff would drop off water heaters to snuggle with. Sunrises from the room were like nothing I’ve ever seen.

As we came up to the dock, we were greeted with the staff singing and doing local dance. They greeted us with high tea and amazing snacks and were genuinely excited to talk to us. We met our guide for the next few days named Clever and we set our schedule for the next few days.

That evening, we went on a game drive. The wildlife here is not as rich with wildlife but it was still cool to get out and see. We saw monkeys and V spotted a “porcupine” turns out it was a pangolin, one of the rarest findings in all of Africa. Our guide Clever almost cried at how amazing it was to see a pangolin, he said it was good luck for life. V and Beef kind of thought the whole pangolin thing was a joke because how insanely excited our guide was but Beef DMed Deon and he confirmed it was an amazing sighting. Sunset was spectacular and then we headed back to camp for dinner on the sand. Excellent meal under the stars, meeting the head chef.

We woke up to an amazing sunrise in bed. The bed was surrounded by mesh for bug protection. Victoria Falls is within malaria region so we had to be careful. Today was Victoria Falls day! We headed out with Clever on the Jeep driving through Zambezi National Park all the way Victoria Falls. We decided to YOLO and did an incredible helicopter ride (Beef doesn’t like helis due to the Kobe situation) over Victoria Falls and our jaw dropped at the view. It was a whole new perspective seeing it topdown. Amazing views of falls/rainbows and we even saw giraffe and elephants roaming the national park.
 

After the helicopter ride we went to the falls with our guide giving us a personal tour. Some fun facts about Victoria Falls:

• It is the only waterfall in the world with a length of more than a kilometer and a height of more than hundred meters.
• It is also considered to be the largest fall in the world AND the noise of Victoria Falls can be heard from a distance of 40 kilometers, while the spray and mist from the falling water is rising to a height of over 400 meters and can be seen from a distance of 50 kilometers.

No wonder that the local tribes used to call the waterfall Mosi-o-Tunya “The smoke that thunders”. We walked the 2.4km inside the park area and got totally soaked. It was seriously such an amazing experience to see.
     

After lunch at the camp we rested for a bit then headed out for evening adventure. Zambezi river safari + fishing! We learned how to fish and caught nothing, not even a nibble, however Beef snagged the boat and some branches and trees. We decided we suck at fishing, but it was really fun. We even had Wellington try…he quickly hooked two fish but couldn’t reel it in. We saw crocodiles and lots of hippos. For sunset we climbed on top of the boat for sunset and had some wine as we watched the most divine sunset over the river. I will never forget this sunset. It was special and the last of our African Safari Trip.

We had another romantic and delicious dinner; we had a drink by the camp fire and chatted a bit with the staff. We soaked it all in as this was our last night       

Morning came with another amazing sunrise. We had a quick breakfast and Wellington took us back down the river where we got into a car to drive us to Zambia. We couldn’t find flights out of Victoria Falls so we had to drive 30 mins across the border to Livingstone, Zambia where we flew to Johannesburg then to Heathrow then to home to LA

Check out the rest of our album from this amazing trip