We woke up at 5.45am in order to be ready for our early safari at 6.30am.

If you look closely you can see a jackal to the left of the tree, with waterbuck on the horizon.

We came across Lenny’s favourite elephant who broke his tusks fighting with the big bull elephant we saw yesterday.

We then saw a male ostrich and a female ostrich.

Back at the lodge we had a delicious breakfast, much appreciated.

Our new friends left the game reserve for pastures new and we were on our own (apart from lots of lovely staff to look after us).

We walked down to the waterhole but no one needed a drink! We saw two warthogs and an elephant in the distance.

We had lunch in the open dining room with just monkeys and a tiny lizard for company.

At 3.30pm we set off with Lenny for our private afternoon safari drive.

By the side of the road we saw one of many termite mounds.

We saw lots of impala ……

A group of 6 rhinos….

and zebras.

We were very lucky to spot 3 cheetahs almost hidden in the bushes.

We also saw a tortoise by the perimeter fence.

Not exactly one of the big five! But cute.

We set off back to the Lodge and dinner seeing lightning and hearing thunder. It started to rain as we arrived back…

Another long drive along the N2 to our home for the next three days – Amakhala Game Reserve. We arrived and were shown to our lodge ‘Giraffe’.

After a quick lunch we set off on our first safari drive. We had just set off and we saw a herd of 20+ elephants.

Further on we came across the male of the herd.

Then we saw a male giraffe who was quite shy then the female with her calf.

We saw lots of Monkeys.

Lenny, our driver and guide, even brought snacks and we stopped for a while.

It was getting cold and nearly time to return to the lodge when we came across a lion!

A bit scary but very exciting! We also saw a rhino, Wildebeest, Hartebeest, Warthog, jackal, Zebra, waterbuck …….

Too far away for photos but we had binoculars.

We arrived back at the Lodge very happy. The family we were with said it was the best of the 6 rides they had been on and that we were their lucky charm!

We had a lovely breakfast in the main lodge.

After yesterday’s long drive we stayed close to home’ and drove around the Knysna estuary. We stopped at Margaret’s Viewpoint.

Further along was another viewpoint overlooking the Indian Ocean between Buffalo Bay and Brenton on Sea, where we were lucky enough to see 3 whales. They were only visible with binoculars so no photos.

Then we drove to Brenton on Sea. We walked down the boardwalk onto the sand.

The whelks were dancing in the sand!

We drove to the Heads on the eastern side of the estuary.

After a light lunch we walked to the East Head viewpoint where we saw lots of dolphins.

During our drive today we saw whales, dolphins, deer and an ibis – and we are not even on safari yet!

Today Andy and I left the villa to have our own little adventure (leaving Kat, Matt, Ezra and Val to do mundane stuff like swimming with sharks and surfing!).

We had a very long drive on the N2 and the Garden Route to Knysna, through ever changing scenery.

Eventually arriving at our accommodation in the Elephant Hide in Knysna.

The suite looks out over the lagoon. We went along the Waterfront drive to the Dry Dock restaurant for dinner.

When we returned our sheets had been turned down for us and the curtains closed. It was very cosy.

Today we visited Boulders Beach at Simons Town, to see the African penguins, the smallest of the penguin family.

We also saw some ‘dassies’ or rock hyrax.

We then drove to the Cape of Good Hope passing many baboons on the way.

Matt, Kat, Ezra and Andy climbed the many steps to the look out.

Then we drove to Cape Point for a snack. The queue for the cable car was too long so Matt, Kat and Ezra walked up!

We ended the day with a lovely meal at ‘Jake’s’ restaurant.

Today dawned bright and sunny so we all set off to Langebaan. The journey took 2 hours but we went via Chapman’s Peak, a coastal route with amazing views, so it was worth it.

A view of Noordhoek Bay looking down on the view from our villa.

We were heading for lunch at a beach BBQ restaurant called Die Strandloper. This would have been Matt’s birthday treat yesterday but the weather made us postpone it.

All 10 courses were cooked on the BBQ. It was delicious.

The seagulls enjoyed the scraps.

It was very scenic.

When we had finished we drove back to our villa, getting closer and closer to Table Mountain.

It was a lovely day with good food, fantastic scenery and amazing company.

Today was Matt’s birthday. Unfortunately the day dawned wet and windy so we changed our plans. We drove to the V&A waterfront – the dock area where the area has been revived with lots of shops and restaurants. We met up with David, Val’s brother, who lives in Seapoint, Atlantic Seaboard.

We had lunch at the Time Out restaurant. Pizzas, tacos, wings ……

After an amazing lunch we walked around the docks before heading back to the villa before the rain came back.

Back at the villa we had a South African meal – Vetcoek – cooked by Val and Kat, which was lovely.

This was followed by a lovely ice cream gateaux for Matt’s birthday.

Had a lovely day but hoping for better weather tomorrow.

We left Heathrow at 10.30pm, crossed the Equator, and landed in Cape Town at 11.00am the next day.

After picking up our hire car we drove to our villa ‘Anastasis’ in Noordhoek just south of the city centre.

Matt, Kat, Ezra and Val were already there.

The villa is beautiful with stunning views.

After a visit to the local supermarket for supplies we had a walk along the beach.

Huge Kelp plants look like alien beings.

The sun was going down and the temperature dropped.

We went to the Toad in the Village restaurant for a rack of ribs.

Looking forward to lots of family fun days, starting with Matt’s birthday tomorrow