Japan popularized the animal cafe so I was hoping we’d get to visit one while we were there. Unfortunately, at many, the animals aren’t treated well so I wasn’t sure if I’d find one that I could feel OK about visiting. And then I found an otter cafe in Kyoto! We love otters, especially Beckett and I. I did some research on the cafe and it seemed like a good place – the animals are the owners pets, they rotate them so they have limited time with people, and they seemed healthy and treated well.
I didn’t tell the kids about this place at all as I wanted it to be a surprise. I also knew if I told Beckett that he’d drag us there as soon as we arrived in Kyoto.
After our ninja class and snack, the kids wanted to go back to the rental, but this is when I planned to visit. The kids realized something was up and spent the entire walk there trying to guess what we were doing and badgering me to tell them.
Beckett saw the sign first and then got so excited that he was going to get to play with otters! Unfortunately they were booked up, but we were able to get a spot a little later.
When you arrive, you first wash your hands, then are allowed to enter. You put your belongings in a locker and then have a seat. They have 2 otters out at a time and they just run around, eat, play, and rest while we observe. You’re not allowed to pick them up, but at points, they’d give us food and let us feed them.
They also have a giant water tank where 1 or 2 otters would be swimming and playing, plus a huge room with a glass wall where there were other otters and no people, so you could watch them play, snack, and sleep too.
The experience was amazing. They’re so fun and playful! And they eat so cute – they grab the food off your hand like their paws are hands then feed themselves.
We only had about 45 minutes as we had to get to the GEAR show. But we came back the next day and spent the full hour with them.
The kids both put the experience in the top 3 of things we did on our trip so I’d say it was a definite win!
On our first full day in Victoria Falls, we decided to do a day trip to Chobe National Park in Botswana. The Botswana border is about an hour from Victoria Falls and the park is about 25 minutes past that. Even though we’d just wrapped up 6 days in Kruger, we still wanted to visit Chobe as it’s known as one of the best safari parks in Africa.
Our morning started bright and early at 6:30am when we were picked up and transported to the Zimbabwe side of Victoria Falls. After a brief stop at our tour company’s office, we drove nearly an hour to the Botswana border arriving around 8am. We first got stamped out of Zimbabwe and then we proceeded to wait and wait and wait. We were the only people with our driver, but apparently we were meeting up with another group and a driver on the Botswana side which were both late. It took us about an hour for everyone to arrive and then we were off to a lodge to wait for our boat trip.
Around 10am we headed out on our boat safari which was the part I was most excited about. The boat trip takes place on the Chobe river and goes around an island that is currently owned by Botswana. On the other side of the island is Namibia as the Chobe river forms the border between the 2 countries.
We were out for about 3 hours and we had quite an adventure! We started off seeing lot of different birds (I highly recommend this trip if you’re a bird lover), a couple of crocodiles, hippos, a buffalo, and more.
African Darter. He dives in the water then swims with his head out of the water which makes him look like a snake. We saw one swimming with a fish in his mouth.Heron next to a crocodileFlying heronHippo in the waterHippo out of the waterPied kingfisher
Waterbuck and impalaThese guys landed on the front of our boat and hung out for part of our trip
We also saw a few new things: 2 different monitor lizards, a group of banded mongoose, and a rock python. We pulled right up next to the rock python. Yay!
Banded mongooseMonitor lizardRock python. We were so close to him. Too close!
And then things got interesting. Our boat guide thought it’d be awesome to pull right next to a crocodile. Poor Mara and Beckett were in the front of the boat and were so close! The boat guide then back out and came in even closer to the crocodile – so close that the crocodile swung around then dove in the water to get away. It freaked out everyone in the boat! And if that wasn’t enough, he pulled in super close to another crocodile and proceeded to sit there for a while. The kids tried to move away, but the boat guide told them not to move. After we moved away, Mara burst into tears and went to the middle of the boat because it scared her so badly. I don’t blame her – none of us would’ve been happy to be in her seat either. 🙁
Croc selfies – We are probably 7′ from the crocCroc & Chuck
Video of pulling close to the 2nd croc:
After the crocodile scares, we tooled around some spotting more hippos, birds, and crocodiles.
More hippos. Thankfully we didn’t get too close to them!
And then we headed over to watch some elephants. Two of the elephants did some play fighting while the 3rd crossed the river. Once on the other side, he flopped down in the mud then flopped on the other side to cover himself in mud. Because the mud is so slippery, he had to get down on his knees to crawl out of the mud and onto the land. The other elephants also crossed and proceeded to take a mud bath as well. It was really cool just watching them go about their day.
Elephants play fightingElephant crossing the river
Crawling out of the mud on his knees
At this point, it was time to head the rest of the way around the island, get close to Namibia (but we didn’t land so we can’t count it!), and head back to the lodge for lunch.
So close to Namibia!Beckett approves of the boat safari!
Lunch was a buffet back at the lodge, which unfortunately didn’t have very many options at all. Chuck and I were able to find something to eat, but Mara and Beckett didn’t find much at all. The desserts and drinks were swarming with bees too (no joke) which made them very unappealing. At least we prepared ahead and brought protein bars and nuts so they had something to snack on.
After lunch, it was time for our game drive. We headed out along the Chobe river and got a similar view to the boat safari, but this time on land.
Our game vehicle
Kori BustardWarthog on his kneesRed billed hornbill (I think)
We also saw so many elephants! Chobe has 70,000 elephants in the park, and it was fantastic seeing huge herds of them all over the land.
Elephant drinking waterHippos in the mud (they look like shiny rocks) and elephants on the land
Crawling out of the mud on his knees
We then stopped for a quick drink break and to stretch our legs for a few minutes before continuing on our game drive back to the lodge.
We ran into a group of giraffes, and also got some great views of the Chobe river on the way back. We also saw another rock python coiled near a tree. I don’t have any good pictures – consider yourself lucky as he was HUGE!
African fish eagle
Close to the lodge we ran into a herd of zebra as well.
Our game drive lasted about 2 hours and ended around 4pm. We then left the park and headed straight to the Botswana/Zimbabwe border to make the trek back to Victoria Falls. We got back to the Zambia side of the falls around 6pm and were quite hungry and exhausted. We stopped at an Italian restaurant we’d been at the night before hoping for a quick meal.
Unfortunately everyone else seemed to have the same idea so it took forever to get our food. In the meantime, poor Chuck was so exhausted he threw up and the kids and I were trying desperately not to nap on the table.
Eventually we ate, made it back to our hotel, and promptly fell asleep.
All in all it was a long, but great day. It would’ve been nice if we’d left a bit later so we could’ve eaten a proper breakfast and if lunch was better. But the park itself was wonderful and I’m thrilled we were able to include it on our trip.
Details: We booked our day trip through Shockwave Adventures. They had great reviews and also offered us a great price. What I didn’t realize was that they picked up us 30 minutes earlier so we could get from Zambia to Zimbabwe and then we drove from the Zimbabwe border to Botswana. Other tour companies will pick you up 30 minutes later and drive on the Zambian side to the border which means we could’ve slept in a little more AND gotten some breakfast. There also wasn’t a tour guide for our whole journey and we kept getting passed from person to person (to be expected), but no one really told us what was going on. I understand that others can run late, but I don’t think the hour at the Botswana border was handled well. We also were kept in the dark about the rest of the day. The tours themselves were great though, so it’s hard to be upset. If I was going to do it again though, I’d pick a different company.
After our amazing first day in Kruger, we still had 4 more full days in the park plus the morning of leaving the park. And what an incredible few days those turned out to be as well.
The morning of day 2, I woke at the crack of dawn and went down to the restaurant deck to see if I could catch any early morning predators. I didn’t see much except a mama and baby hippo and some kudu grazing near the restaurant.
Mama and baby hippo and a 3rd hippo in the waterKudu
After breakfast, we checked out of Lower Sabie camp and headed to Satara camp. The two camps are 93km apart and the trip was expected to take 3:45. It took us about 5+ hours, but that included a stop at Tshokwane picnic spot for an unusual lunch. Along the way we saw more giraffe, buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, impala, warthog, and elephants.
ElephantBuffaloZebra and buffaloZebra crossing the roadElephant spraying himself with mud
We also saw a few new animals such as ostriches (that were fighting), vervet monkeys at the picnic spot, and baboons running along the road.
Ostriches fighting
Our trip also took a little longer because we had an elephant in the road that wouldn’t move. An oncoming car tried to go around him, but the elephant promptly put a stop to that and made them back up, so we had to wait for him to move on.
Elephant in the road. Nope, not going to try to go past him!
We also made a pit stop at Nkumbe hill lookout for a great view of Kruger. The landscape was very different here from what we’d seen in Lower Sabie.
View from Nkumbe Hill lookout
Once at Satara camp, we laid low the rest of the day. We still got to see impala, kudu, a tree squirrel, and baboons at camp. There was also a snake at camp, but we’re not going to talk about that.
Baboons playing at campOur hut at Satara and our rental car
Day 3 was supposed to be a low-key day without anything scheduled except a guided night drive and doing some laundry. We woke at the crack of dawn anyway to try to see some predators (they hunt in the early mornings and late in the day). We were out for about an hour before we stumbled upon some Southern Ground Hornbills. We only knew what they were because we’d seen signs about them being endangered and to report them for tracking if you see them, which we did. It was really cool to see something endangered and “rare”.
Endangered Southern Ground Hornbill
We also had some good viewing of the usual animals including a giraffe walking across the road. In fact, I could do an entire blog post of all the animals we had to stop to let cross the road.
Giraffe in the road
We were giving up and heading back to camp for breakfast when we spotted a lion walking in the road. He eventually stopped and looked at us for a while before lying down. He was amazing to watch! We saw him licking himself, but my favorite part was watching him turn towards the breeze, close his eyes, and enjoy the breeze. With our binoculars we got close up views of him too. Eventually he got up and walked into the bush and within about 15′ he was gone from view. What an incredible experience.
Lion enjoying the breezeLion licking his paws
That afternoon Chuck and I went out right before sunset, but we didn’t see anything new. And then that night we went out on a guided night drive from 8-10pm. It’s pitch black out so they give a few people searchlights that they use to canvas the dark. We found a male and female lion hanging out, then we found a male lion sleeping the road. Our game vehicle pulled up right next to him – no joke, our wheels were maybe 6′ from him. He could’ve easily stood up and tried to eat us, but luckily he was happier to sleep.
Lion sleeping in the roadThis shows how close we really are to him. I think that’s Beckett’s head in the way.
We also saw jackals, a genet cat, and an owl as well as some of the usual animals.
Day 4 it was time to leave Satara and make the 4 hour drive to Skukuza camp. We made a brief pit stop at Tshockwane picnic spot for a potty break then motored to Skukuza. The vegetation got so thick near Skukuza that you couldn’t see a thing unless it was right next to the road or there was a mob of cars pulled over pointing out something interesting. We still saw ostrich, 2 more lions, elephants, zebra, wildebeest, impala, warthog, baboon, kudu, and hippos out of the water. And we saw a honey badger!
OstrichKudu crossing the road2 lions on the river bankMom and baby elephantWarthog
Once at camp, we ate lunch then checked into our cottage by the river.
Our cottage in Skukuza
Then Chuck and I went out on a sunset drive hunting for leopard or cheetah. Instead we saw a hyena that trotted beside our car. He was much cooler than I expected.
HyenaHyena
Day 5 was our last full day in Kruger. I woke really early and was treated to a mass migration of birds along the river. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen and lasted a good 20 minutes. There had to be hundreds of thousands of birds that flew by!
Mara was kind of over all the driving at this point, but Beckett convinced me to sign up for a sunset drive with him as he was hoping to see a bushbaby.
Chuck and I were still hunting for leopard and/or cheetah so we went out in the morning, but didn’t see any. We did find a troop of baboons covering a bridge though. They were all over and cars were forced to slalom around them if they wanted to cross. When we tried to cross, we had one baboon jump on the back of our car! He sat there looking into our trunk and at us. Eventually we drove away and he fell off although he tried really hard to hold onto our rear wiper. Crazy!
Baboon on our car windowBaboons all over the bridge
That evening Beckett and I headed out on the most amazing guided sunset drive. You can read more about it here.
Chuck and Mara stayed back at camp and had an African braai. A braai is basically a BBQ and the camps have BBQ grills set up outside the huts and throughout camp. They grilled impala, steak, corn, potatoes, and garlic bread and had a fantastic time!
Mara, grill masterImpala, steak, garlic bread, corn, and potatoes
After our sunset drive, Beckett and I grabbed dinner and on the way back to our cottage, Chuck spotted the biggest porcupine I’ve ever seen. He started following it trying to get a picture and I was trying to light it with my flashlight. That is until the porcupine started running at me, so I promptly turned and ran away. I wish we’d gotten a good picture because he was huge and so cool looking.
Day 6 came and it was time to check out and leave the park. We drove about 2 hours to one of the gates and got one last look at all our favorite animals along the way: giraffe, elephants, antelope, a rhino mom and her baby, and more. We even saw a female lion eating a buffalo kill.
Baby rhino – so cute!VulturesLots of vultures in a tree near a lion killMore hornbills?
We also got a family picture before leaving the park.
Last morning in Kruger
I was only a tiny bit sad to be leaving the park only because the experience was over. Even though I’d been dreaming of an African safari for as long as I can remember, our time in Kruger exceeded my expectations. I’m still blown away by all the animals and birds we saw. And I feel much richer and so incredibly lucky for having experienced this amazing adventure. All of us do. What a highlight of my life!
Here are a few more pictures and video:
My favorite birdWaterbuckShows Mara’s perspective of animals crossing the roadAnother colorful rainbow birdCool treeTermite moundGuinea Fowl – Mara called them African chickens because they were everywhereCrocodile
Day 2 (Lower Sabie to Satara):
Driving Route: We took the H10 north from Lower Sabie camp to Tshokwane picnic spot (approx. 40km and took about 2.5 hours) Animals: Giraffe, buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, impala, warthog, elephant, ostrich, baboon, and monkeys at Tshokwane
Driving Route: After Tshokwane picnic spot, we took the H1-3 to Satara (approx. 44km and took about 2 hours) Animals: Elephant, giraffe
Animals at Satara camp: Baboon, kudu, impala, tree squirrel, vervet monkey
Driving Route for sunset drive (4:30pm): S100 Animals: Zebra, giraffe
Day 4 (Satara to Skukuza):
Driving Route: We took the H1-3 from Satara to Tshokwane. Then we took the H1-2 from Tshokwane to Skukuza. The whole trip is around 93km and took about 4:45 Animals: Ostrich, honey badger, elephant, zebra, wildebeest, impala, warthog, baboon, hippos out of the water, 2 lions, kudu
Driving Route for sunset drive (4:30pm): H4-1 Animals: Hyena, buffalo
Day 5 (Skukuza):
Driving Route: We took the H4-1 to the H12 bridge and back Animals: Baboons on H12 bridge, monkey, kudu, impala and warthogs near camp. Porcupine and a small antelope at camp.
Day 6 (Skukuza to Malelane Gate):
Driving Route: We took the H3 from Skukuza to Malelane gate. It took about 2:15. Animals: Rhino mom and baby, lion with buffalo kill, elephants, giraffe, zebra, impala, kudu, vultures
On our last full day in Kruger, Beckett kept saying that he wanted to do a guided sunset drive. We were surprised as we’d spent so many hours in the car hunting for animals already. I think he partly wanted to see a bushbaby, but he also said he wanted to see more animals. So he and I signed up for it through the camp while Chuck and Mara stayed back to have an African braai. The drive only cost us about $30 for the 2 of us, and I have to say it was the best $$ I’ve spent in a long time. We LUCKED OUT and had the most amazing drive of pretty much our entire trip!!
We left at 4pm and quickly saw elephants, a klipspringer, duiker, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, impala, and more. Some in our game vehicle were probably new to the park as they were so excited about seeing each of these and kept asking to stop. Our guide would stop briefly, but kept telling us that he had news of an animal sighting he was in a hurry to get us to. He didn’t say which animal, but we knew it would be good.
KlipspringerElephant
Eventually we came up a hill and there she was: the most incredible leopard lounging in a tree! I couldn’t believe it! She is seriously one of the most beautiful animals I’ve ever seen! We pulled off next to the tree and sat there for a good 10 minutes taking pictures and watching her. And with the binoculars, we got close up views of her. After a bit, she stood up, stretched, then settled down for a nap on another branch. AMAZING!
Leopard in a treeOpen mouthedShe is so amazing!Stretching kittyRear paws dangling as she napsLoved seeing all 4 paws dangle as she napped!
After leaving her, we saw 2 White Rhinos grazing nearby.
2 Rhinos
Then we saw an African wildcat. He looked like a house cat!
At this point, the sun was setting so we transitioned into a dusk drive. After a bit, we came upon a den of hyenas. The den was right beside the road and the pups sat there looking at us before running in and out of their den and around their mom. The pups were at points maybe 7′ from our game vehicle! They were adorable!
Hyena pups3 Hyena pups and their mom
The sky then turned dark and we got out the search lights to scan the darkness. We found a white tailed mongoose, African wildcat, and Beckett found a scrub hare.
One of the guys on our game drive knew about a lion kill next to the road near camp, so the guide drove us there. And we were treated to watching a male lion feast on a buffalo kill. It was pitch black and we only had search lights to watch him. My pictures barely came out, but still gives you an idea what we saw. Eventually he got up and walked away and we saw a female lion laying there. The way the lion looked at us before he left, Beckett and I were worried he was going to walk out of the bush in front of the game vehicle and attack us.
I navigated us back to the spot the next morning so Chuck and Mara could see, but the lion and carcass were gone. 🙁
Lion eating a buffalo killLove his eyes
We got back to camp a bit after 7pm absolutely giddy by what we’d seen. I thought we’d see a few things, but cannot believe our good luck at seeing a leopard, a lion with a kill, rhinos, and 4 other new animals. This 3 hour drive was another highlight of our trip and something I won’t ever forget. Beckett says seeing the leopard was the highlight of his entire time in Kruger as well.
I’ve dreamed of going on an African safari since I was a kid. Back then it seemed unrealistic and reserved for the ultra-rich. As I got into my 20s, I started seeing affordable deals and knew it could happen someday. So when I first created my bucket list in my late 20s, the African safari was #1 on the travel list. However, it still took me another 20+ years to get there. But I finally got there! And I got to take my kids and husband along which was the icing on the cake.
We arrived at the Crocodile River outside the park around 10am and immediately saw hippos and crocodiles in the river! Upon crossing the bridge, we saw our first giraffe as he casually ate then walked right in front of our car!
Hippos in the Crocodile RiverGiraffe about to cross the road
We weren’t even in the park yet and had already seen 3 different types of animals!
After entering the park, we headed to the Hippo Pools to see more hippos. Along the way we saw a rhino in the distance, more giraffe, a dwarf mongoose, and of course hippos at the pools.
Hippos at the Hippo Pools
We then headed to the Lower Sabie camp. It’s only 34km to camp, but given that you want to go very slowly so as not to miss anything, it took us about 2 1/2 hours to get there. It also took a long time because we kept stopping over and over to see the animals.
We quickly came upon 3 White Rhinos grazing right next to the road! I can’t even describe how excited we were. We sat there for a long time watching them and taking pictures and video. I still feel so incredibly lucky we got such a great rhino sighting!!
3 RhinosClose up of a white rhino
As we drove on we saw warthogs, more giraffes, zebra, wildebeest, and so many impala.
Warthogs. There was a baby warthog, but I didn’t get a picture of him.Wildebeest crossing the roadZebraZebras, impala, and a cool birdI love his stripesHerd of impala with warthogs and a zebra mixed inZebra and impala
After that, we came to some water and saw a huge crocodile basking in the sun. We also saw some neat bird – I think he’s the Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill.
CrocodileSouthern Yellow-billed Hornbill (I think)
Next, we came upon a herd of elephants beside the road. One of them was pulling bark off a tree and eating it. One of the moms had a baby with her and after a while, she looked at us, flared her ears, and made it clear we were no longer welcome, so we quickly drove away.
Elephant pulling bark off a tree and eating it
Next up was more giraffe and hippos out of the water!
Giraffe in foreground with hippos in the backgroundHippos out of the waterPretty heron?!?
As if that wasn’t enough, as we got near camp, there was a mass of cars pulled off looking at a lion! Our first lion sighting in the first few hours!
See the lion right above the tree stump?
We finally pulled into camp around 1:30pm quite hungry. The restaurant was on a fantastic deck with an incredible view. As we ate, we saw at least 10 giraffes across the river and some buffalo relaxing at the water’s edge.
The restaurant at Lower Sabie Camp. Not the best picture, but the only one I have of the deck and surrounds.View from the restaurantBlack bellied starling?!? These guys were all over the restaurant trying to swoop in for a snack.
After getting settled into our cottage at camp, Chuck and I went to Sunset Dam around 4:30pm for sunset. There are usually big cat sightings at the dam, but we only saw more hippos, crocodiles, and a bunch of birds. It was still neat to see though.
Hippo in the water, crocodiles on the edge of the water, and a storkHippo with it’s mouth openBeautiful, rainbow bird. I have no idea what it is, so I referred to them as “fun birds” the whole trip.
At dinner, we were treated to a beautiful sky. We also had a barn owl in the rafters hooting away. And there were impala and kudu grazing in the grasses beside the restaurant. Unreal.
I’m still in awe of our first day in Kruger. It was a complete highlight of my life, and even the kids and Chuck were blown away by all they saw. Definitely a dream come true for me!
Driving Route:
We entered Kruger via the R571 from Komatipoort to the Crocodile Bridge Gate.
After the gate, we took the left fork to the S25, then a left onto S27 to the Hippo Pools.
We then retraced back to the gate and took the right fork onto H4-2 to Lower Sabie camp.
The H4-2 trip is 34km and was scheduled to take 1:20, but it took us about 2 hours.
Animal Sightings:
Before the Crocodile Bridge Gate: Hippopotamus, Crocodile, Giraffe
To/From the Hippo Pools: Giraffe, Rhinoceros, Dwarf Mongoose, Hippopotamus
Along H4-2 from Crocodile Bridge Gate to Lower Sabie camp: Rhinoceros, Warthog, Impala, Wildebeest, Zebra, Giraffe, Hippopotamus, Elephant, Lion, Crocodile
At Lower Sabie camp: Buffalo, Hippopotamus, Kudu, Impala, Giraffe, Barn Owl, and lots of birds
At Sunset Dam: Hippopotamus, Crocodile, Storks, and lots of other birds
I remember watching a nature show years ago and seeing Great Whites leaping out of the air at a place called Seal Island near Cape Town, South Africa. It instantly got put on my bucket list, although it was one of the few experiences on my list that made me really nervous.
It turns out, the great whites only leap out of the air at this one spot and only for a few months out of the year. As luck would have it, that time frame coincided with when we’d be there!
I asked the kids if they wanted to go along, and they were both huge yeses. In fact, I was the only nervous one out of the 4 of us.
So on our 2nd day in Cape Town, we got up at 4:30am and drove an hour south of Cape Town to Simon’s Town. Around 7am we headed out in the freezing cold with our fingers crossed we’d see some sharks. It was so cold out that the 3 of us bought hats at a different dive shop to try to keep warm, yet we still needed their cover ups and blankets to not be miserable.
After 30 minutes, we arrived at Seal Island and started the look out for the sharks.
Seal Island in the distance
The sharks are hunting baby seals that are going out feed with the adults for the first time. So first you find a group of seals returning to Seal Island then watch them to see if they get attacked. I LOVED seeing the seals swimming in – and seeing the babies – and quickly found myself rooting for the seals to have a safe passage even though I really wanted to see a shark.
After about 30 minutes, the dive company, African Shark Eco Charters, towed a decoy behind the boat for about 30 minutes hoping a shark would go for the decoy. Unfortunately we didn’t see any sharks and the other boats didn’t seem to be having any better luck. In fact, it was really quiet out there and nobody seemed to be seeing anything.
We tried towing the decoy some more, then took a spin around Seal Island before anchoring up and chumming the water. Then we waited. And waited. And waited. …And nothing.
Luckily the ocean was pretty calm and flat, but Mara still got sick and threw up a few times. Beckett and I did OK though. Once it warmed up, he was enjoying himself.
We stayed out there an extra hour hoping to get lucky, but finally gave up around 11:30am, took one last spin around Seal Island, and went back to shore.
Our dive company offers a voucher to go back out for free if you don’t see any sharks, so we were hopeful we could go out the next day. But then we found out they were completely booked for the next day which was our last day in Cape Town. It was looking like we got shut out of seeing the sharks and spent a ton of $$ on a boat ride. 🙁
We checked in with the dive company a couple more times in the hope that someone canceled, but they were still full.
Driving back from Simon’s Town
Once we got back to our AirBnb, we called again and this time found out they had 2 spots available. Mara didn’t want to go out again, but Beckett did so we had to figure out who got to go. We decided that Chuck and I would go and the kids would stay home and sleep in which Beckett said he as fine with.
So at 4:30 the next morning, Chuck and I headed back down to Simon’s Town hoping to get lucky.
As soon as we got out to Seal Island, there was a shark attack nearby. I missed the initial strike, but was able to see the shark strike a couple more times.
Then there was another attack!
Shark attack!
Once things died down, they towed the decoy to see if we’d get any bites. And we did!
Shark attack!
They then dropped anchor, chummed the water, and set out the dive cage. Four people jumped at going first so they got all suited up in thick wetsuits – the water is COLD – and waited. Once the crew saw a shark, they hopped into the cage and got an underwater view of a shark swimming by. I think they saw 2-3 sharks before their time was up.
The shark cageCan you see the shark?!?Shark!
Chuck and I were in the next group and hopped into the cage. Despite the 7mm wetsuit, hood, and boots, the bitterly cold water still makes its way in. And our hands were exposed which didn’t help.
Waiting for our turnIn the shark cageFrom in the cageIn the cage
I personally hated being in the cage. I didn’t have a good place to anchor my feet without them sticking out, I was trying to hold on to the top of the cage so my head didn’t slam into it as the water bobbed us around and slammed us into the boat, and I was shaking because I was so cold. I kept thinking about getting out, but knew I’d regret it if I missed seeing a shark.
Eventually the crew yelled that shark was approaching and told us to go underwater and look near the buoy. We had scuba hoses so we could breathe underwater – that’s why I picked this particular company – so we could watch without having to come up for breaths.
I saw a huge shark lazily swim maybe 10′ in front of us before he turned and headed out in the distance. I couldn’t believe it! The water is so murky, yet I still got a good look at him.
We hung out for a while longer in the cage, but didn’t get anymore sightings. Once out of the cage, I realized that I was the only one in our group of 4 to see the shark! I have no idea how they missed him, but felt even more fortunate that I saw him!
Sadly that was the last shark sighting of the day and after waiting around a bit longer, we headed back to shore.
I’m so grateful that Chuck and I got to go back out a 2nd time and that we got to see some sharks. I was sad the kids never got to see one, but seeing as Beckett was throwing up when we got back to our rental, it ended up working out for the best.
After 5 days of island life on Mauritius, we headed to Cape Town for 3 days. Instead of a hotel, we got a condo through AirBnB near the V&A Waterfront. Wasn’t always the most convenient place relative to all the attractions we visited, but the views were nice and we had plenty of dining nearby.
The views from our condo:
The view from our condo – Table Mountain in the distance
The first morning we grabbed breakfast then headed to Table Mountain. The weather wasn’t perfect, but we’ve heard that Table Mountain gets shut down often due to bad weather and wind, so we needed to jump on getting up there when we had a decent enough window.
We drove part way up the mountain, then took the cable car to the top. The car spins so everyone gets a view as you ascend.
The side of the mountain on the ascentThat’s a long way down!
It was freezing up top! It was also a bit hazy so the views weren’t amazing, but it was still pretty cool. It was also far rockier up there than we expected. We spent about an hour wandering around the top taking in the views of the city from all sides.
We gave the kids a camera so they could capture their perspective. We should’ve known this is what we’d find:
At one point we saw a sign warning not to feed the Dassies. What on earth is a dassie? Eventually we found out. They’re adorable!
Beckett fell in love with them and bought himself a stuffed dassie to bring home.
After Table Mountain, we grabbed lunch, then headed down to the V&A Waterfront. The waterfront area has a mall, indoor food stalls, shops, and restaurants. We ended up picking this pub for dinner and the food was awful, but at least their hard cider was good. 🙂
Table Mountain in the distanceV&A Waterfront
The next morning we were up at 4:30am for our Great White Shark trip in Simon’s Town. After the shark trip, we had lunch then went to Boulders Beach to see the wild penguins. Yes, Penguins! They were adorable. We saw plenty of baby penguins and saw them wandering around, swimming, and just hanging out. We even had one “attack” Beckett’s shoe.
Penguin “attacking” Beckett’s shoe:
We then headed back to our condo and relaxed the rest of the day as we were pretty exhausted. Since we didn’t see any sharks, we called the shark company to see if spots were available for the next morning and 2 spots opened up. So the next morning, Chuck and I woke at 4:30am and headed back down to Simon’s Town to try to see Great Whites again. The kids were able to sleep in and had a nice, relaxing morning playing games on their iPads.
Unfortunately Beckett started to not feel well right before we got home and proceeded to throw up once we got back. The poor kid had a fever and felt awful so that shut down any plans we had for the afternoon. Mara and I did venture back to the V&A waterfront to wander around and have a snack. And later Chuck and Mara went out for dinner and brought me home food so I could stay with Beckett. It wasn’t exactly how we expected our last day to go, but such is life. And at least we got to do all the things we REALLY wanted to do.
Luckily Beckett was well enough the next morning for our flight to Kruger. It still took him 2-3 days to get fully better, but at least he could travel.
Overall, I went into Cape Town with high expectations and came away disappointed. I thought I’d fall in love with the city, but I didn’t. It was pretty, and I could see how fun it’d be during the summer. I think Chuck and I would’ve enjoyed it more if we had gone to Stellenbosch to go wine tasting or driven down to the Cape of Good Hope. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy my time there and am very happy we went. But I left not really ever needing to go back.Save
We never went to Sea World while we were living in San Diego despite being a few miles away and hearing their fireworks show every night during the summer. I wanted to take the kids but with all the controversy about killer whales in captivity, I decided to stay away.
However, I had always wanted to take the kids since I remember going as a kid and remember what a big impression it made on me and how it gave me a love of the ocean as a young kid.
The kids and I watched “Black Fish” together and talked about whether it was right or wrong to keep animals in captivity and decided not to go. So we were delighted to hear that Sea World was going to phase out keeping their orcas in captivity and decided that now we felt right about visiting the park.
We started off by visiting the orca and dolphin show that was happening right after we entered the park. The orcas are such magnificent creatures and I was taken by their power and size.
Then we went to watch the orcas swim. This was a really cool experience as some of them came right up to the glass over and over. The kids seemed to love seeing them up close.
From there, we went to a Sea Lion and Otter show. We LOVE otters in our house so there was no way we were going to miss seeing one. He was adorable and the sea lions were great too.
Then we wandered around the park and rode some rides. We also found a spot where the kids could feed and pet sting rays which they loved.
Then we wandered over to the penguins because Mara loves penguins!
From there, we wandered to the arctic exhibit to see the polar bears and beluga whales. Mara fell in love with the beluga whales! We spent a long time at tank level watching them swim.
We also met a walrus that kept swimming up to the glass and flipping right in front of the kids.
All in all it was a great day at the park and I was glad that the kids could fall in love with the ocean animals.
Santa Cruz was the last island we visited on our trip. It’s not the biggest but has the largest population and is the tourist hub of the Galápagos. Most visitors we talked to said Santa Cruz was their least favorite island and I think we’d agree. It’s not that there is anything wrong with it, but it’s busier and more touristy and just didn’t have the character like San Cristóbal or Isabela.
That said, it did have a pretty harbor and reminded us a bit of Thailand.
We arrived on Wednesday morning after a 3 hour ferry ride from Isabela which was our longest ferry ride, but also the calmest. Luckily we were able to check into our hotel, Suites del Sol, and relax a bit. Wednesday was a pretty chill day of just walking around the town, getting our equipment fitted for our Gordon Rocks dive, and getting to bed early (again!).
Thursday we were up early (again!) for our dive to Gordon Rocks. Later that afternoon, we strolled around the main town looking for souvenirs for the kids and soaking up the sights. We also wandered down to the fish market where the fishermen bring their catches at the end of the day. It was quite a sight with a sea lion and many pelicans trying to steal any fish they could get.
Friday was our last full day on the island so we took the day to relax. We did hike to Las Grietas which is a swimming hole set among a crack in the lava rocks. There weren’t many fish in it and the water was very cold, but it was still a neat place to visit.
We were also lucky enough to spot a marine iguana swimming and were able to get in the water quite close to him. Unfortunately our pictures didn’t come out.
After getting cleaned up, it was time for cocktails, something that was mostly absent from our entire tropical beach vacation.
That night we ran into our Australian friends, Laith and Katie, and said our goodbyes. It’s funny how many times we saw them on our trip and it was such a pleasure to get to know them.
Our Australian friends Laith and Katie
On Saturday morning, we realized our flight had a delay so we had time to run back down to the pier to say goodbye to the island (and of course ran into Laith and Katie again!). We were treated to the pelicans and blue footed boobies diving into the water for their breakfast. We also got to see a marine iguana swimming.
And then it was time to leave which consisted of taking a pickup truck taxi to the ferry landing, then taking a ferry to Baltra, then taking a bus to the airport and then, finally getting on the plane. 🙁
One of the things we were most looking forward to on our trip was diving with hammerhead sharks. We had 2 chances – one at Kicker Rock off of San Cristobal and the other was at Gordon Rocks off of Santa Cruz.
Gordon Rocks is known as “THE” place to dive with schools of hammerheads in the Galapagos without doing a live-aboard. It is also considered an intermediate to advanced dive due to currents (it’s nickname is the “washing machine”). Most of the good dive shops won’t take anyone with less than 30 dives (I’m at 40+, Chuck is at 30-ish) and they make sure you’ve been diving recently too.
I’ll admit, I was actually nervous about this dive. I think I read too many stories online about the dive being difficult and even a case where a diver got swept a few miles away by the current (they found her a while later). Someone online was also telling a beginner that wanted to dive there to “Google ‘Gordon Rocks’ + death” as apparently people have died there. So yeah. Crazy current, being known as a “washing machine”, people dying, advanced dive credentials required. Oh and schools of sharks. Yep, I was a bit nervous.
At least my nerves were calmed when we went to the dive shop the previous day to get outfitted for our equipment. Once they heard we dove Kicker Rock a few days prior and had plenty of dives under our belt, they said we’d be fine and it’s only horrible a few days a year.
Ok, deep breath.
The morning of, we took a pickup truck taxi to the ferry landing at the north end of the island then headed out on the boat.
After about 45 min, we stopped to do a check dive. Then we took a 5-10 min trip over to Gordon Rocks. After about 5 minutes of the crew checking the current, it was time to go.
The dive entrance was different than normal because of the current. Our group got ready, sat on the side of the boat and waited. When our dive guide said “Go”, we immediately back rolled into the water, met at the back of the boat and descended quickly so the current didn’t sweep us away.
As soon as we got down to about 40′, I saw 2 hammerheads swim by on the sea floor (they were about 60′). And, that was the only hammerhead shark sighting we saw the entire dive. Sigh. 🙁
We swam around for about an hour but really didn’t see much: a sea turtle, others saw a golden ray, some fish. Very disappointing. The current wasn’t too bad though so that was good.
We were bummed coming back to the boat and got more bummed when we found out the other group saw a huge school of hammerheads. Guess we just weren’t in the right place at the right time.
After an hour surface interval (that was quite wavy and making me nauseous), it was time for dive #2. We knew the hammerheads were out there so our fingers were crossed.
Not long after we descended, we started seeing the sharks. Hammerheads, Whitetip reef sharks, Blacktip reef sharks, Galapagos sharks. Some were together maybe 20′ away, some were alone maybe 10′ away. Plus we saw a pair of spotted eagle rays. THIS was the dive we were hoping for. I was so calm yet excited when I saw the hammerheads. I kept saying to myself “I can’t believe I’m seeing this. I’m so lucky.”
Not me, but another girl in our group. Look how close!
Reef shark
There was definitely more current on this dive but nothing too bad. The only interesting thing was the up/down current that would make you ascend or descend a bit. It was subtle for me but Chuck got caught in it a bit more. Nothing too scary or a big deal, but I can totally see why this is an advanced dive.
Soon it was time to get back on the boat and head back to Santa Cruz. We were treated by a whale sighting on the trip back. At first they said it was a baby humpback whale, but I’ve seen enough of them to know it was something else. When I saw the head, I thought it was a pilot whale. But watching the video back, I’m starting to think it was a beaked whale, maybe a Cuvier’s beaked whale. Not sure, but still a cool sighting.
After lunch back at the harbor, we took the trucks back to the main town and that was that.
Logistics: We went diving with Academy Bay Diving out of Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz. They did a pretty good job so I’d definitely recommend them. We met at the dive shop at 6:30am, left the shop at 7am and returned around 2:30pm.
Before we came to the Galapagos, we each picked which experiences we most wanted and also which animals we most wanted to see. Near the top of my list was penguins! Yes, they have penguins in the Galapagos! They can only be found on 2 islands but only 1, Isabela, is (semi-)easily accessible to those doing a land based tour. We knew adding a 3rd island to our trip was going to keep us really busy, but I didn’t want to miss the chance to swim with wild penguins, so we figured out an itinerary that included Isabela and figured out that snorkeling at Los Túneles, aka The Tunnels, was the best place to go.
Los Túneles is about a 45 min boat trip from Puerto Villamil, which is the main town on Isabela. It’s a rocky trip out but we were lucky that it wasn’t too bad on the day we went. We were also REALLY lucky that we had some great animal sightings on the trip out. We saw a massive manta ray somersault out of the water twice, a baby hammerhead shark, and mating turtles.
We first stopped at an area outside of the Tunnels where we snorkeled for 2 hours. There weren’t that many fish or even coral, however, there were a lot of other cool things: Huge sea turtles munching away, lots of reef sharks hanging out in a cave, a marbled ray, a massive lobster (thing had to be 5lbs!), a big parrotfish, and a really cool eel that looked more like a sea snake than an eel. However, the highlight of this snorkel, for me at least, was seeing a seahorse!
I also found one of the more interesting things I’ve ever found in the ocean – a $5 bill. If you don’t know, I tend to find money all over the place and have found random money in many of the countries we’ve visited even if we’re just there for a few hours. Usually it’s pennies or some other small coin, but this time, it was a $5 floating in the water. I asked our group who lost money out of their pocket and no one had so they clapped for me and my good fortune.
The money fishSeahorseSea turtleSea turtleHuge lobsterMarbled rayEel that looked a lot more like a snake9 Whitetip reef sharks in a caveThe Chuck fish
After our snorkel, we headed over to The Tunnels to see the penguins. We weren’t sure if we’d be able to get in as other boats were having trouble, but our captain surfed us in no problem.
I was so excited to see the penguins and we quickly got into the water to get a closer view. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any penguins swimming in the water as they were content to hang out on the rocks.
There were also blue-footed boobies hanging out on the other rocks, so we were able to swim near them for a closer view.
A pelican then flew in and landed on one of the rocks. So cool!
After snorkeling here, we headed over to the actual Tunnels which were so pretty. We ate a quick lunch then headed up on the rocks for a look around.
Then it was finally time to head back to Puerto Villamil. However on the way we were treated to some jumping manta rays.
We then came upon a rock that had Nazca boobies alongside Blue-footed boobies.
Then it was back to the dock and our hotel.
Logistics: We booked our trip with Scuba Galapagos which is located in The Wooden House hotel. I was able to arrange the trip via email before we left the US. The trip was $90USD pp which included lunch. The good: They were really good at spotting wildlife. The bad: the boat didn’t have a bathroom or any shade which would be nice on a 6 hour trip, lunch was a warm ham sandwich, and we had a 1Km walk home from the dock after the trip. Lastly, the guides spoke both Spanish and English, however, most of the people on the boat spoke Spanish so they didn’t bother to translate as much into English for us English speakers. This made us feel a little clueless on some things and ignored other times. Overall, they wouldn’t be my first choice, but they were a fine choice and we had a magical day so I really can’t complain.
Isabela was the 2nd island on our trip. We mainly wanted to go there so we could snorkel with penguins and seahorses, but also because everyone said it was their favorite island. We only had 1 late afternoon/evening and 1 full day on the island so we didn’t have time to do much.
We arrived on Isabela after a long day of ferry rides starting at 7am with a 2 hour ride from San Cristobal to Santa Cruz, a 5 hour layover on Santa Cruz, then a 2 hour ferry ride from Santa Cruz to Isabela. I was so happy to finally get there, partly because it meant I could get off speedboats and partly because it was gorgeous there!
When we arrived, we realized the dock was 1km from the town so we hired a taxi – more like a huge sightseeing thing that I wish we’d taken a picture of – for the ride to our hotel, La Gran Tortuga. I guess the hotel was full because they moved us to a room a block away which turned out to be just fine.
Our first impression was that we loved the main town, Puerto Villamil. It is so tiny and full of character and we loved that roads aren’t even paved.
We didn’t have time to do much except check in for our snorkel trip, get some laundry done and eat dinner. For dinner, I took a risk and ordered fish and it was outstanding. Best meal of my trip so far. Unfortunately, I woke quite sick the next morning (maybe it wasn’t the fish?!?!). Really unfortunately, it was also the day of our big snorkel trip to see the penguins so I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to go. Luckily I rallied and we had an amazing day!
When we got back into port, we saw some penguins swimming around the dock. They are so fun to watch!
There were some massive marine iguanas hanging out near the dock too.
We then wandered to Concha de Perla near the dock to see if we’d get to swim with penguins and/or sea lions. Unfortunately neither were present although Chuck did get to swim near a marine iguana.
The next morning we took the 6am ferry from Isabela to Santa Cruz. We were sad to leave as we really didn’t get to spend enough time on Isabela. Next time!
Kicker Rock is one of the better-known dive sites in the Galapagos, and we were so eager to get to diving that we scheduled this dive for the first day of the trip. It’s one of the prime spots for hammerheads, and you occasionally get good sightings of big fish as well.
We checked in for equipment fitting the night before, then met the boat at 7:30 am for a ride out that was about 45 minutes. We had a brief skills test in a shallow area on the way, then it was go time!
As it turns out, we were a little disappointed with what we saw on the dives. We caught a couple glimpses of hammerheads, one good Galapagos shark, but that was it for the big stuff. Some days there are lots of sharks, and they even had a sunfish show up recently, but it just wasn’t our lucky day. That said, we got to swim into a giant “bait ball” with thousands of fish, a very unique experience.
This video has the best highlights, including reef shark, Galapagos shark, sea turtle, spotted eagle ray, and the bait ball.
Skirting the outside of the giant bait ballInside the bait ballGalapagos sharkSea TurtleHello from Chuck
After the diving we went to a little bay and had lunch on the boat, then got to explore on the beach for a bit. Tracked down an iguana and saw lots of cool wildlife, with a guide there to explain some of what we were seeing.
Nice spot for lunch!Tracking down an iguana.
The other notable part of our diving here was running into new friends from Australia, Laith and Katie, whom we ran into about 10 other times throughout the week. We envied their trip, as after the Galapagos, they were headed to Peru to hike the Inca trail to Machu Picchu!
We booked directly with Wreck Bay diving for $160 pp. The boat was reasonably nice and shady and we got a pretty solid meal after the dives. Definitely worth considering them if you go.
San Crístobal Island was the first stop of 3 islands on our Galapagos tour. Just looking out from our room near the harbor, you could see sea lions, crabs, pelicans, marine iguanas, and more.
The afternoon of arrival, we just laid low and checked in at the dive shop. Next day was diving at Kicker Rock, and the final day there was spent on an island tour.
2 full days is plenty for the island. Everything that you can see is easy to get to, so you wouldn’t really have much to do if you stayed longer.
View from our roomSea Lions are everywhereAnd they take over.The Sally Lightfoot Crabs are very cool.Big ol’ marine iguana just hanging out.Cool Opuntia (cactus tree)Typical street in town
On our last day there, we did our own island tour that took us to the Galapaguera de Cerro Colorado Tortoise reserve and breeding center, plus down to Puerto Chino beach.
First tortoise we sawMore tortoisesA few young ones.
Puerto Chino beach reminded us a little bit of Kua Bay in Hawaii. We were both homesick a little bit.
Puerto Chino beach
We struck out on finding blue-footed boobies here, so our taxi driver took us back to a spot near town where we found them, plus a cool view of the town.
Blue-footed Boobies!Pelican flew in and landed.View of town from area near Playa MannGreat rainbow to finish the day.
We stayed at Hotel La Zayapa, which worked out very well. Fantastic location, nice views from the room and very clean. Nothing fancy about it, but a solid mid-range choice.
For my 45th birthday, Chuck surprised me with a reservation to scuba dive in the main tank at the Baltimore Aquarium. If you’ve ever been to the Baltimore Aquarium, this is the monster tank that you walk down and around at the end. I used to visit this aquarium as a kid and loved visiting this tank at the end of our visit, so I was really excited to be able to get in the tank and swim around!
You arrive a couple of hours before your dive for an educational class about the aquarium and the work they’re doing there. They also go over the dive plan and tell us where certain animals like to hang out, certain areas not to disturb and other information. After the education, we were taken on a tour of the aquarium and learn about some of the other creatures. And after that, it was time to suit up.
We then headed up to the top of the tank, got our dive equipment on and in we went!
We had about 50 minutes in the tank to swim around and interact with the fish. My favorite things to do were picking up the gravel from the bottom and letting it slowly slip out of my fingers. The fish LOVE this and would come swarming around the gravel.
My other favorite thing to do was to interact with the kids that were watching. The kids there were so intrigued and amused watching us divers in the tank and would High Five the glass to us.
Overall, it was pretty cool thing to do. It wasn’t the most exciting dive I’ve done, but since I grew up loving the Baltimore Aquarium and especially that huge tank, it was a thrill to get inside of it for an afternoon.
Well, it’s certainly been a full day. We moved out of our Almunecar house this morning and drove down to Southern Spain so we could hop over to Gibraltar. There’s not a ton of things to do, but we went to the top of the rock, moseyed around town, and got our fill of British food and cider.
We parked in Spain and walked across the border because the exits from Gibraltar back up as much as 2 or 3 hours at times. As it turns out, there was no wait either way, so we’d have been fine driving.
When you cross into Gibraltar, you have to go through a rudimentary passport control. Even though we were going from EU/Schengen into UK, they didn’t stamp our passports or even look closely. Really just a passing glance at our passports and off we went.
The first thing you get to do is cross the airport runway. Yep, due to the big rock, the only place they can land planes is right next to the border, so you get to walk across.
You have to wait at a red light when planes are taking off or landing.Had to get a picture on the runway
After getting across the runway, we caught a bus into the middle of town, where you catch the cable car to the top of the rock. For a 5 minute ride, the price was pretty steep – about $50 US for the four of us round-trip.
This view is your reward at the top.
We got to see a plane take off while we were up there.
You can see across to Africa (Morocco) pretty well. You actually can see that from down below, but the view is better at the top.
That’s Africa in the distance coming in from the left
A few minutes later, it got quite cloudy!
And oh yeah, THEY GOTS MONKEYS!!!!
This guy was quite the celebrity
After about an hour up on top, it was time to head back down and wander around.
No big happenings after that, just eating and various spottings of British stuff!
Within the medina (old city) in Marrakech, Jamaa el Fna Square (hereafter, “the square”) is at the heart of the action. This is what you picture when you think of Marrakech and is what you see in movies and TV shows.
It’s a huge open area, ringed by restaurants and shops. During the day, it’s populated by snake charmers, henna ladies, monkey wranglers, and orange juice salesmen. We didn’t take any pictures of the monkeys because it was really appalling how they were chained by the neck and dragged around.
We’d heard a lot about how aggressive the entertainers were and it was fairly true, but not a big deal if you’re prepared. When you take your pictures with the snake people or others, whatever you offer, they’ll try to get 5 to 10x as much. You just say no and ask if they want what you’re offering or nothing. Then they’ll just back off, take it, and move on.
To some extent, they can sense who’s uncomfortable and will probably pressure you more if you are. At the end of the day, you have the power because you have the money. It’s not like you have any contract to give them a certain amount. I gave the snake guys about 20 dirham ($2.50), but it’s not like there’s a posted price. Just seemed reasonable to me.
In the late afternoon, the cobras and monkeys clear out, restaurant stalls set up, and the crowds build. We visited the square several times during our 2 days in Marrakech and have stitched together a photo tour to give you an idea of what’s going on.
Here’s the snake charmers. There were about 3 little setups like this in the square. The guy standing up makes the noise you associate with snake charmers, but it’s really just to draw a crowd. It has nothing to do with “charming” the cobra.
Step right up and see the cobra!Beckett was fascinated by the cobras, but didn’t want to get too close. They’ll let you sit really close if you want to.UNLEASH THE FURY!
And who doesn’t want to wear a fez?
Here’s a glimpse of more of the daytime action at the square:
Lots of stands selling fresh squeezed OJ
Around 4ish, a huge cluster of pop-up restaurants start to assemble in the middle of the square.
They assemble and take down these stalls every day.
Night falls, the crowds pick up, and the restaurants are in full swing.
As you walk through the restaurant stalls, each place has one or two wranglers that shove a menu in your face and try to get you to eat there. Mostly you just walk by them, but it’s annoying when you actually want to read the posted menus and they won’t leave you alone for 2 seconds.
We stopped and got kebabs, tagine, bread, couscous, and fritters for about $17 total.
We also had a separate stop for some mint tea and dessert.
A few more random pictures of the action:
Finally, here are a couple videos where I pan around the square.
We were excited to visit the when we arrived in Chiang Mai. In fact, it was one of the first attractions we went to after we got settled in. And it was probably our most visited attraction for the entire time we’ve been here for a few simple reasons: feeding the animals is fun, its cheap if you go before 4pm, and there is a great play area for the kids! Oh and there are lots of animals to see as well.
There are really 3 types of experiences you can have there.
Outside the park entrance you can feed giraffes and sun conures, see a few big tigers, and even get a picture taken with a baby tiger. You do pay for the food and the picture, but there’s no admission to see it.
Enter the park and just do the “walking tour” only. You see a good amount of animals, and the cost is modest. $5 for the for of us before 4 pm, or $10 after 4. There’s also a kids play area (both indoor and outdoor) that costs a little bit more, but is a great way to let the kids run around while we chill.
Do the real night safari, which is a tram trip through an additional section of zoo you can’t get to on foot. The “night safari” is the big draw, but we’ve done similar tours in the past, and at the prices they charge, it wasn’t much of a temptation.
When we first entered the grounds, we saw deer wandering around and had to be careful not to hit them.
After you park, you’ll see giraffes and zebras in a huge enclosure and if its after 3pm, I think, there are people selling baskets of various plants to feed to the giraffes. We’ve had a great time feeding the giraffes. The best time was when I was bending over to feed the little giraffe and got knocked (hard!) upside the head which caused me to stumble. I thought the big giraffe had just bumped into me but came to find out from Chuck and other spectators that the giraffe mistook my head for food and proceeded to try to eat my head before spitting me out. To add insult to injury, he started stealing food out of my basket as I recovered and tried to figure out what exactly had happened. (In all seriousness, I wasn’t hurt and now it makes for a great story)
There are also deer you can feed and bunnies to watch. Once done there, you start walking past the tiger cages. Man these are some big boys. There is also a little place where you can feed a baby tiger and get your picture taken for $5USD.
He doesn’t seem happy to have his picture taken
Behind the tiger cages is a bird enclosure where you can feed the sun conures. This is so much fun as they’ll land on your hand and gently peck food off your palm. Beck has been skittish about letting them land on him but once he was brave and let some eat off his hand. Mara has been pretty fearless and lets them land all over her.
There is a bird on your head
Why do animals keep trying to eat my hair?!?
After we’re done with that part, we usually wander to the entrance and actually enter the park. (yes, you can enjoy the stuff outside for free). From here, you can wander around to see the animals, attend a show if one is going on or head to the play area. For 40Baht ($1.30), the kids get an hour at this great indoor/outdoor play area. This was so nice to have during the rainy season and also made a great place to meet up with friends which allowed the kids to play while the adults could talk.
At night, there is definitely more to do. There are show performances, once they brought out animals for us to hold, and one evening there were horseback rides.
Albino porcupine
Yep, that’s pretty much my reaction to a python tooSome of the performers with Mara
A few times we’ve eaten dinner at the Giraffe restaurant there (not the buffet restaurant downstairs, but the restaurant around the corner upstairs past where you feed the giraffes). The restaurant overlooks the giraffe enclosure and tiger enclosures and the food is pretty decent and reasonably priced.
Overall, it’s definitely worth a daytime visit. I’d recommend hanging out until about 6 or 7 pm to see all the animals and activities they bring out as the rush of tourists comes in for the safari.
Sadly we had to deal with Mara’s first love and first heartbreak all in a single day. Her name is MaeKwan and she’s an Asian Elephant that Mara got to take care of for the day. Leaving her at the end of the day was such heartbreak for Mara and she refused to leave and couldn’t stop hugging her.
And that pretty much sums up the day.
Once again, I lack the adjectives to fully describe our day at the Patara Elephant Farm. Amazing. Educational. Incredible. And dare I say that this day will have a lasting impact on my kids.
They picked us up at our house, then drove about 20 minutes to part of their farm/reserve. There we were able to meet, feed, interact with and even get run over by some mamma and baby elephants.
This little guy was so playful and rammed into me a few times. Stepped on my toe too but it didn’t hurt.
We even got to interact with a baby elephant that was only 6 days old. So. Freaking. Cute!
After meeting these guys, we drove about 5 minutes to the main event. We started with a presentation by the owner about elephants, conservation, their mission at Patara, and some of the realities of the elephant population. He gave a great talk that was neither preachy or dramatic but set a great tone for the day and made what we were about to experience even more meaningful. It also made me regret going to the Maesa Elephant Camp which I’d already had mixed feelings about.
After getting our mahout clothes we went to our camp area and got to meet our elephants. (Mahouts are the elephant caretakers. At Patara, these guys are from the Karen hilltribe and the women of the community make these shirts and riding pants.)
First up was learning how to tell what mood they were in, how to approach them and how to make friends with them (Hint: have lots of sugarcane). We then fed them and learned their names and some Thai words to communicate with them.
Meeting and feeding MaeKwan. You can stick the sugar cane way back into the elephant’s mouth.Meeting and feeding MaeBonChon
Then we learned how to check their health. We learned to inspect dirt marks on each side of them (to make sure they’re sleeping evenly on both sides), checking their toenails for sweat (they only sweat thru their toenails), check the tear marks under their eyes and of course, the ins and outs of checking their poop. How many poops? Color? Size of fibers inside the poop? Smell? Squeezing it to make sure it holds moisture. Yeah, seriously. But it is an important part of taking care of them and really can tell you (well, them) a lot.
Hmmm, elephant poo
After we checked to make sure they were healthy, it was time to clean them off. This entailed whacking them with bunches of leaves to remove the dirt they blow over themselves. Then we walked them to the shower hose and hosed them down.
Brushing dirt off MaeKwan (she gets to eat the leaves when we’re done)Taking MaeKwan for a walkBeckett hosing MaeBonChon down
Next up was learning how to mount our elephants and ride them bareback, mahout-style. Chuck got on using the trunk to hoist himself up and I mounted mine by using its right front leg. Somehow it seems a long way down when you’re sitting up there. And with only a little rope to hold onto behind you, it was actually kind of scary at first.
We rode them for 45 minutes out of camp, up a muddy, steep hill and down the other side. Eventually we rode them along the road (what a treat for the drivers driving by) then down another muddy hill to the waterfall. I have to say, riding an elephant is EXHAUSTING! You’re trying to hold your legs up over its ears while balancing as its climbing up and down (and ripping various plants out of the ground to eat while its walking) all while holding onto a rope behind your body.
It was made tougher because I had Beckett in front sitting on the elephant’s head and he was holding onto my legs and nothing else. If the elephant dipped her head and he wasn’t holding onto me well, he would’ve slid down her trunk like a giant slide. So I’m holding on for dear life to him in front and the rope behind so we both didn’t fall off. After a while my legs started to tremble so I had to shift position which made it easier to maintain my balance.
Despite all this, at one point the elephant dipped to the side and turned its head which caused me to start to fall off sideways. A quick yell for help and the mahout came to my rescue and hoisted me back on top.
Once we were almost to the waterfall, Beck got off and walked because he was too tired of holding onto me. It was MUCH easier to ride after he got off, however, everyone seemed so worn out when we arrived at the camp!
Despite all that, it was such a cool experience. The scenery we went thru was gorgeous and the elephants can handle hills and mud much better than I can.
Chuck mounting MaeKwan via the trunk
I’m on an elephant!
Hello down there…So beautiful
Luckily when we arrived at the waterfall it was time for lunch. I gorged myself on fried chicken, coconut and other yummy things.
After lunch, we changed into our bathing suits and bathed the elephants in the water. The elephants seemed to love being in the water and were lounging around as we scrubbed them down.
Scrub a dub dub, 8 elephants in a tub
Then it was time for some group photos where we got sprayed by the elephants. I must say that I loved this part!
One of the highlights of the day for me
Sadly, our day with the elephants came to a close and after a brief final ride, it was time to say goodbye. As a parent, this part was heartbreaking to watch. Mara refused to take off her mahout clothes, kept hugging MaeKwan and kept saying she wouldn’t leave. Beckett then gave MaeBonChon a goodbye pat and burst into tears. Both kids had to be led away and Chuck had to carry Beckett and put him in the car. He proceeded to sob the entire ride home.
Goodbye my friend
To say that this experience had a big impact on them is an understatement. We didn’t just see elephants like you do in a zoo or feed them in passing. We got to know them a bit, earned their trust and spent a day helping these gentle creatures.
Mara said her favorite animal is now an elephant and I hope that she carries a little piece of this experience and her love of animals for the rest of her life.
Logistics: Patara Elephant Farm has earned its ranking as the #1 activity in Chiang Mai on TripAdvisor. The work they’re doing is awesome and if you’re ever looking to support an animal charity, please support them. Its a very pricey day out but money well spent.
The normal price for this program is 5,800 Baht per person ($190). However I read a blog post elsewhere about a a cheaper option (4,200 Baht pp) where 2 people share 1 elephant instead of everyone getting their own. I doubt adults can do this (each adult needs their own) but if you have young kids, this is the way to go. I’m kind of glad each kid didn’t have their own elephant as I think they got more out of it by sharing one with mom or dad.
I’m also so happy our kids were old enough to enjoy this activity (Beck is 7 and Mara is nearly 9). I actually wouldn’t take kids much younger than this although I know some do and have a great day.
Some advice:
– I’d recommend wearing light long pants. They do give you mahout clothes to put over your clothes but I wore capris and their pants were short on me (darn long legs 🙂 ) and I got chafed while riding the elephant. If you’re petite, you should be fine, but if not, longer pants are probably better. Chuck wore shorts and was fine though so long pants aren’t necessary.
– They take photos and videos all day (our CD had 981 photos from our whole group) so you really don’t need to bring your own. They give it to you for free at the end of the day.
– Take or wear a bathing suit and bring a towel. They move your bags for you while you’re riding the elephant and there are changing rooms at the waterfall so you can change there. After bathing them, you have the chance to towel off and change back into regular clothes. I had strap-on water shoes which were nice to have in the water (there are some rocks in there) but Chuck and the kids went in barefoot and were fine (flip flops in there isn’t a good idea).
– They provide water throughout, there is access to a bathroom except during the ride and you’re provided with a big lunch so no need to bring much unless you have allergies or need snacks frequently.
– Sunscreen and bug repellent is a good idea as well.
There is a market on Canal Road near our house that pops up on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights. Its a locals market and it gets so crowded that its hard to get by on Canal Road and they have a traffic cop directing traffic and pedestrians.
Chuck stopped by once and was the only foreigner there. He was so amused by the market that he took all of us there later. We have no idea what the market is called, however, we refer to it as Turtle Market because they sell live turtles (amongt other things) there.
Some of the awesome things we saw for sale: live turtles, live snakes, live eels, and live frogs. Fighting beetles. Every part of an animal butchered and laid out, often covered with flies. And of course the usual things like premade food, vegetables, fruit, clothing and snacks.
Snakes and eelsFighting beetlesDeath match!Hmmm, chicken carcassesPig partsNormal food like vegetablesChilisFood stallOverview of the market
The market is located at Wat Tong Kai, just south of the intersection of Canal Road and Night Safari Road, about 15 minutes from the old city. 18.737701,98.931153
After 30 minutes, we arrived at Seal Island and started the look out for the sharks.
We gave the kids a camera so they could capture their perspective. We should’ve known this is what we’d find:
