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![A big thank you 🙌🏻🇿🇦🇬🇧
unicef_southafrica unicef]()
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2025-04-29 03:06:54
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A big t..
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![Day 1️⃣2️⃣6️⃣ - 16th July 2024
Johannesburg Airport to London Heathrow to Central London (South Africa to UK) 🇿🇦🇬🇧
🛞Miles travelled today 5843
🚗 Miles travelled in Edna 14592
🚙 Miles travelled in Gloria 2719
🛞Total miles travelled by car 17311
✈️ Total miles travelled by plane 5843
The flight home was on a Virgin Atlantic 787. I’d used some of my AMEX points to upgrade to upper class for the 12 hour flight back, and so settled in to the spacious seat 1A, whilst Karen and Weller made themselves comfortable in the back. The onboard service was great, and after dinner the cabin crew invited the others to the bar where we enjoyed some drinks and chatted about memories from the trip. After plenty of drinks, I settled down in the life flat bed for a great nights sleep. Before I knew it we were on approach to Heathrow, I finished up breakfast before strapping in for landing. We finally touched down back home in England after 4 months away from home, after such an epic journey it felt so good to be back home. We collected our bags and cleared the border, before meeting Weller’s Mum who came to pick us up. We just about managed to squeeze all the bags into the car, and she then drove into London to drop off Karen and I back at home. After 4 months of all being together we could finally have some alone time and get back to normal life (although the huge amount of laundry and unpacking still needed to be done, but that could wait until tomorrow, or next week!).]()
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2025-04-29 01:21:17
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![Living the high life ✈️🍾🇿🇦🇬🇧]()
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2025-04-27 21:53:07
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Living..
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![Day 1️⃣2️⃣5️⃣ - 15th July 2024
Johannesburg to Johannesburg Airport (South Africa) 🇿🇦
🛞Miles travelled today 34
🚗 Miles travelled in Edna 14592
🚙 Miles travelled in Gloria 2719
🛞Total miles travelled 17311
Today would be our last day in South Africa and we spent the morning at the hotel getting all our bags packed for the flight home tonight! We had a final breakfast at fsjohannesburg with beautiful views out of the city. After an exceptional final hotel stay we said goodbye to the wonderful team and checked out. We dropped Karen off at the Casalea Spa where she spent the morning getting pampered. Weller and I went to explore the city and went on a tour of Constitution Hill. After an insightful tour we picked up Karen from the spa before heading out of the city into the International Airport. We dropped off Gloria and got all our bags checked in, before chilling in the lounge before boarding. Finally, the gate was announced and it was time to board and head home! We got recognised a few times around the airport which still seemed strange! We boarded the flight and got settled in and ready for takeoff.]()
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2025-04-27 21:44:45
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![Heading home 🇿🇦✈️🇬🇧
Thanks for having us fsjohannesburg
Thanks casaleaspa for Karen's spa treatment!]()
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2025-04-27 21:22:32
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Heading h..
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![Day 1️⃣2️⃣4️⃣ - 14 July 2024
Johannesburg (South Africa) 🇿🇦
🛞Miles travelled today 5
🚗 Miles travelled in Edna 14592
🚙 Miles travelled in Gloria 2533
🛞Total miles travelled 17277
We woke up in the beautiful suites at fsjohannesburg today, and headed to the hotel restaurant, Flames, for breakfast. The restaurant had exceptional views over the city, and one of the best breakfast selections of the trip! After breakfast we explored the hotel, it was spread over a large site with lots of gardens and greenery. There was a well equipped spa with sauna and steam room, and an adults only lap pool. Around 11am we headed to the insideoutcentre , for a private tour with artist and owner Roger Ballen, organised by the hotel. His hard hitting exhibition – end of the game, highlighted the decimation of wildlife in Africa, and after our travels throughout the continent, we’d also witnessed the effect of this firsthand. We had a thought provoking visit, and it was so great to hear his thoughts first hand. After a great visit we headed back to the Four Seasons for Sunday brunch. It was quite the event, with a la carte and buffet options, and even a roaming violinist. In the afternoon we relaxed in the spa and Karen treated herself to a massage. We stopped by the mall to buy some big suitcases for the trip home tomorrow, and spent the next few hours packing – the trip is almost coming to an end. For dinner the Four Seasons executive chef prepared a final celebratory dinner, with five delicious courses, perfectly paired with South African wines – a great way to spend our final night in South Africa! After dinner we watched the Euros final and despite a good effort England left us all a bit disappointed!]()
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2025-04-27 02:15:15
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![End of the game 🦁
Thanks fsjohannesburg for an amazing final stay in South Africa and for organising an eye opening visit to insideoutcentre]()
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2024-12-27 18:01:01
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End of the game 🦁
Tha..
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![Our last map reel of the trip🥹🥹 London to Johannesburg in 123 days. 🇬🇧🇿🇦]()
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2024-12-17 20:42:01
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Our las..
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![Day 1️⃣2️⃣3️⃣ - 13th July 2024
Rosemary Hill Farm stay to Brits to J’burg Airport to Soweto to Fourseasons J’burg (South Africa) 🇿🇦
🛞Miles travelled today 205
🚗 Miles travelled in Edna 14592
🚙 Miles travelled in Gloria 2528
🛞Total miles travelled 17272
After a comfortable night in the treehouses unfortunately had to wake up very early – 0545am. We packed up and started the drive over toward Brits and the Ukutula game Lodge. langeni_travel had kindly organised an itinerary for today and the first stop was the walk with Lions tour, we got to walk with 3 male lions through the park, they were well trained and the rangers were present all times. It was a great experience, and amazing to see the powerful cats so close up. We then toured the facility, and even got to meet and play with the four month old baby lions, they were cute but very nibbly. After an amazing visit, we stopped by Johannesburg Airport to drop off Kelly who was now flying back to London. In the afternoon we headed to the Soweto District of Johannesburg, for a tour organised by Langeni. Wa had a traditional lunch before a TukTuk tour of the Township, it was informative and eye-opening, and the guide was very knowledgeable about South African history and the Township. We also stopped by Nelson Mandela‘s house who lived in Soweto during his life. In the evening, we headed to fsjohannesburg , for the last two nights of the trip. We checked into the tasteful suites before heading just down the road to marble for dinner. They selected some delicious wagyu steaks for dinner, perfectly paired with some South African wine!]()
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2024-12-13 23:41:30
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![Walking with lions 🦁🦁
Thank you langeni_travel for organising the walking with lion tour and the Soweto tour!
Thank you fsjohannesburg for the incredible stay and the thoughtful pictures of Ibie 🛌🥹❤️
Thank you marble_jhb for the delicious steak and wine 🥩🍷]()
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2024-12-01 09:12:55
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![Day 1️⃣2️⃣2️⃣ - 12th July 2024
Leopard Sands to Rosemary Hill Farm stays (South Africa) 🇿🇦
🛞Miles travelled today 236
🚗 Miles travelled in Edna 14592
🚙 Miles travelled in Gloria 2323
🛞Total miles travelled 17067
We had a lay in today and relaxed in the spacious rooms in leopard Sands. After another tasty breakfast we returned to the rooms to pack up. We had a great experience in Kruger seeing 4 of the 5 big 5! We then started the drive over towards Johannesburg, towards Donkerhoek. It took around 4 1/2 hours, and the South African roads continued to impress. The infrastructure was really excellent, And we had only one friendly police stop to hand out some safety leaflets! We stopped by an astronenergysa and fresh stop to fuel up, both ourselves and Gloria, before continuing the drive. In the mid afternoon we arrived at farmstays_at_rosemary_hill , a unique estate with a variety of accommodations. When we arrived, we started with a 1 hour Segway tour of the property. We’d never driven them before, but the instructor was excellent and it was pretty intuitive, although Karen did manage to take a minor tumble and graze her knee! After the tour we headed to the tree houses where we spend the night. They were modern cabins built into the forest with relaxing views out into the trees. They were comfortable and well equipped, and even had a fire outside to sit by on the cooler evening nights. We had dinner in the close by greenhouse Café, before relaxing by the fire.]()
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2024-11-28 16:04:54
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![Treehouses in the woods 🌳🛖🌳
Thanks rosemary_hill_farm farmstays_at_rosemary_hill for having us!]()
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2024-11-08 20:22:09
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Treehouses in th..
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![Day 1️⃣2️⃣1️⃣ - 11th July 2024
Leopard Sands- Kruger (South Africa) 🇿🇦
🛞Miles travelled today 0
🚗 Miles travelled in Edna 14592
🚙 Miles travelled in Gloria 2087
🛞Total miles travelled 16831
We had another early start today, getting up around 7am. We had a quick breakfast leopardsandskrugerpark before transferring over to a nearby lodge to see the amazing African elephant up close! The lodge housed a number of elephants, kept there due to over population in Kruger National Park. The elephants were well looked after and appeared very healthy. After an educational talk we got to meet the elephants in person. The big boy was named Tambo, and he was massive, almost 3.5m tall, and weighing 2000kg. We got to see him up close, and feed him some treats too. They are remarkably intelligent, and Tambo could act on over 100 verbal commands! After tip toeing on the spot, lifting his trunk and picking up items off the floor on command, we took some great pics. We then headed back to leopard sands for lunch. Once again the food was exceptional, and they have New menus for lunch and dinner every day. The chef was great, and would always make sure there was something delicious to eat! In fact all of the staff were wonderful, so friendly and welcoming! In the afternoon I stayed in to catch up with the daily log and the reels, but the others went out for another game drive, And we’re lucky enough to see a cheatah! In the evening it was Boma night, a local youth group gave an amazing performance before we had a South African braii for dinner. The dancing and food was exceptional, and it was such a great night!]()
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2024-11-07 23:46:26
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![African Elephants 🐘]()
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2024-10-26 18:53:53
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African Elephants 🐘
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![Day 1️⃣2️⃣0️⃣ - 10th July 2024
leopardsandskrugerpark - Kruger (South Africa) 🇿🇦
🛞Miles travelled today 0
🚗 Miles travelled in Edna 14592
🚙 Miles travelled in Gloria 2087
🛞Total miles travelled 16831
Alarms were set for 04:45 today, as we’d planned a morning game drive. We headed to the lodge for a coffee before getting into the vehicle with the guide and driving out into Kruger. Recent wildfires had scorched large stretches of the bush, but there were still plenty of animals around! Almost immediately we saw giraffes, elephants, buffalo and Wilderbeast. The guide then heard reports of lion sightings a few kilometres west, and so we rushed over to that site. When we arrived there were about 5 other trucks present, but we still got a decent view of a mating pair of lions! They were at it on and off for awhile, with a growing audience watching! After about 20 minutes there must’ve been about 30 vehicles there, the road was almost gridlocked! After getting out of the traffic we continued to drive around the park, and we’re lucky enough to spot a leopard too. We had the perfect view, and got great pics of the leopard below the tree! We had some hot drinks before heading back to the lodge. We had a full breakfast when we returned before we had a midday nap. We spent the afternoon relaxing around the lodge, there were exceptional views over the national park, and we enjoyed swimming in the pool whilst admiring the views. From the pool we had views of the river below, with an abundance of hippos and elephants! In the evening we had another great dinner in the restaurant, before settling in for an early night.]()
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2024-10-24 00:23:31
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![✅the big five 🐆🐘🐃🦁🦏
leopardsandskrugerpark]()
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2024-10-18 05:33:18
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✅the big..
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![Day 1️⃣1️⃣9️⃣- 9th July 2024
Chrissiemeer to Nelspruit to leopardsandskrugerpark (South Africa) 🇿🇦
🛞Miles travelled today 168
🚗 Miles travelled in Edna 14592
🚙 Miles travelled in Gloria 2087
🛞Total miles travelled 16831
We had an early start today, and continued to drive up north to Kruger. Here we picked up our close friend Kelly, who joined us for the Kruger section of the trip. It was great to see her after so long away. Once again we headed to Woolworths for snacks before driving another 1.5 hours to the edge of Kruger National Park. We arrived at the beautiful leopard Sands Lodge, built right on the edge of Kruger with amazing views out into the park. We were given a warm welcome by the staff before Checking into the rooms. Each had its own terrace with a plunge pool, as well as a large soaking tub and plush king-size beds. We had lunch in the main lodge, and planned our itinerary for the next few days in Kruger. We then relaxed by our private plunge pools, and did a cold plunge with some bubbles to drink! In the evening we had a great dinner in the restaurant before cigars and drinks on the terrace.]()
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2024-10-16 16:45:35
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![Kruger National Park 🦛🐘🛖
Thanks leopardsandskrugerpark tingana_collection for having us at your beautiful Kruger safari lodge!]()
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2024-10-11 20:30:54
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![Day 1️⃣1️⃣8️⃣- 8th July 2024
Durban to Newcastle to Chrissiemeer (South Africa) 🇿🇦
🛞Miles travelled today 340
🚗 Miles travelled in Edna 14592
🚙 Miles travelled in Gloria 1919
🛞Total miles travelled 16663
We woke up in the Durban apartment and had breakfast. We packed up Gloria and headed into town to stock up on essentials for the next few days - Cigars, phone data and fuel. There was a decent cigar shop in town where we stocked up the supply to keep us occupied in Kruger Park. Next we headed to the beautiful Durban botanical Gardens, the oldest surviving botanical gardens in Africa. We enjoyed exploring for an hour before finding another good spot for a picnic. We made a charcuterie board with some bubbles, and relaxed in the Sun! In the afternoon we started to drive north towards Kruger, aiming to arrive tomorrow. We stopped off in Newcastle for a cheeky Nando’s! Before continuing the drive late into the evening, finally arriving at Chrissiemeer where we checked into an Airbnb for the night. It was cold – 0°, so we lit up the fire and relaxed for the night.]()
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2024-10-10 19:29:53
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![Oldest botanical gardens in Africa 🌺]()
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2024-10-06 18:13:02
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![Day 1️⃣1️⃣7️⃣- 7th July 2024
Mthatha to Shelley Bay to Durban (South Africa) 🇿🇦
🛞Miles travelled today 298
🚗 Miles travelled in Edna 14592
🚙 Miles travelled in Gloria 1579
🛞Total miles travelled 16323
We had a lazy morning in the Myatha hotel, before we packed up and continued the drive. The road was excellent and the drive was scenic. We stopped at some Astron energies along route to fuel up, and had lunch at the Astron fresh stops. In the late afternoon we stopped by Woolworths to stock up on some picnic food! We then headed to Shelley Beach where we enjoyed a picnic whilst was watching the sunset! In the evening we headed to an apartment in Durban for the night.]()
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2024-10-06 14:43:06
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![Picnic on the beach 🧺🏖️
Thank you woolworths_sa for the delicious food!]()
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2024-09-24 07:04:57
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Picnic on the bea..
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![Day 1️⃣1️⃣6️⃣- 6th July 2024
Addo Elephant Park to Mthatha (South Africa) 🇿🇦
🛞Miles travelled today 285
🚗 Miles travelled in Edna 14592
🚙 Miles travelled in Gloria 1281
🛞Total miles travelled 16025
We woke up in the Nyathi rest camp in Addo National Park and were impressed. We arrived in the dark last night and so couldn’t see the view, with the sun risen we could see the beautiful views over the National Park into the valley! The small Villa had a plunge pool and balconies to appreciate the view. We headed to the main camp for breakfast before heading out with Ranger Ryan for a game drive. The scenery was beautiful And we saw large herds of elephants, the park has the greatest density of elephants in all of South Africa! We also saw Wilderbeast, Buffalo, jackal, warthogs, zebras and giraffes! It was definitely one of our favourite games drives so far. Once back to the main lodge we had lunch before setting off again. We drove for about 5h to Mthatha, staying in a simple hotel for the night.]()
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2024-09-20 20:20:02
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![Surrounded by elephants 🐘🐘🐘
sanparks]()
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2024-09-14 20:44:25
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![Day 1️⃣1️⃣5️⃣- 5th July 2024
George to Bloukrans Bungee to Gqerberha to Addo Elephant Park (South Africa) 🇿🇦
🛞Miles travelled today 276
🚗 Miles travelled in Edna 14592
🚙 Miles travelled in Gloria 996
🛞Total miles travelled 15740
We set off early from the farmhouse today towards Bloukrans gorge. We’d planned to do the world’s highest commercial bungee jump today, and Unfortunately it was very windy! It was a couple of hours drive and we were nervous the whole way. As we got closer we drove over the bridge across the gorge, the same one we’d soon be jumping off! We checked in with the bungee team and got the harnesses fitted, Karen was too scared and so this time Weller and I would do it alone. First we had to get to the jumping platform, and rather than walked we zip lined across. Now for the jump, at 216m high it’s the highest commercial jump in the world. I was up first, and screamed like my life depended on it. It was terrifying with a free fall of 4 to 5 seconds. Next up it was Weller, and predictably he jumped off without any issue. With the jump completed, we headed back to Gloria and drove towards National Park, where we spent the night in the comfortable Nyathi rest Lodge.]()
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2024-09-13 22:57:08
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On average, Karen James Spence gets 7K likes and 144 comments per post. (Historical)
