Our flight was at 2 pm from Durban, 3 hours away, so we decided to get on the road by 8:30 to give us plenty of buffer time.   We had to be at the lodge around 8 am so they could take us to the main gate where our transfer van would meet us.

FINAL GAME DRIVE

We could have started a little earlier, but we decided to start at 5:30 and only do a two-hour drive without any breaks.     There was a light sprinkle when we started so we put on the ponchos, but it never rained any harder and ended after 30 minutes.

Getting ready to leave on our final game drive

What’s always interesting about game drives is how different animals will appear at different times at the same locations.   Yesterday we saw Lions along the main road to the lodge.  Today – no lions anywhere, but we saw plenty of wildebeest.    As you drive around the anticipation that something amazing may be around the next turn is intense.

Wildebeest were in the same spot as the lions were yesterday

Wildebeest

Once the rain stopped we spotted a solo male giraffe.

I have seen many rainbows over the years, but what we saw next was the most intense and long-lasting rainbow I have ever observed.   We sat there awestruck, busily taking pictures, knowing that rainbows can be quite fleeting.   Once we had our fill of pictures we simply enjoyed the view and then we noticed that our guide was taking a selfie with the rainbow in the background.   We remarked that when your guide stops to take a picture of something – you know it’s pretty special.

What a rainbow!

We saw a few Guineafowl and some other birds but not much else this morning except the giraffe and the wildebeest.     We were back at the lodge around 7:30.

Here is my Sony RX100 VII on a motion-stabilizing gimbal. This was very effective in producing smooth video while moving

Our guide, Peace

CHECKING OUT

Last night we had everything packed up so we made a quick trip back to our suites to freshen up.    Peace and Sichivolo stopped by our suite to pick up our bags, one carry-on each, and we headed back to the lodge where we would get driven to the main gate to meet our transfer van.   Thanda prepared a “breakfast bag” for each of us to take on our long drive to Durban.

Sipho was our escort to our suite when it was dark

Judy with Peace and Sichivolo

TRANSFER TO DURBAN

Mtoko, from On Safari Africa was waiting for us when we arrived at the Thanda entrance and moved everything from the Land Rovers to the Van and we were on our way.

Our 3-hour drive to Durban passed quickly as we rested and recalled the amazing adventure we experienced over the last three days.

As we passed by Richards Bay, we saw a 3-mile line of coal trucks heading to the port where they would load their coal onto waiting ships.

Hundreds of coal trucks were lined up on the shoulder for the exit to Richards Bay

FLIGHT TO CAPE TOWN

We arrived at the Durban airport around noon which was plenty of time for our FlySafair flight which was scheduled to leave at 2 pm.    Since we were flying domestically we didn’t have the same restrictions on liquids you find on International flights.    But before we realized the difference we had already tossed our bottles of water expecting that they wouldn’t be allowed.

The Durban airport is very modern, not very big, but they had a nice selection of shops and restaurants in the departure terminal waiting area.   The airport is small enough that you only go to your gate when you are about ready to board.

Durban Airport departure waiting area

FlySafair uses Boeing 737-800 and they were in excellent condition.   Our flight took off on time and arrived in Cape Town a few minutes early.

Table mountain was visible on our final approach to Cape Town

We ran into Adeline, who was leading a HAL excursion, at the Cape Town Baggage Claim

Our driver from CitiShuttles was waiting for us outside baggage claim and we were soon on our way to the Radisson Red Hotel very close to the cruise terminal, arriving in about twenty minutes.

RESTING IN THE RADISSON RED

The hotel has a nice rooftop restaurant – very casual with nice views of Table Mountain.    We met Susan here for dinner and enjoyed a nice sunset.

View of Table Mountain from the Radisson Red rooftop restaurant

The Zuiderdam will arrive in Cape Town tomorrow morning and we will return to the ship around noon.