I recently returned from an epic trip and return “home” to a place near and dear to my heart: South Africa (and surrounds).

I had lived and worked there on two separate occasions and stayed with two different families, living as their “daughter” in both…and I had not returned for 16 years.

It wasn’t because I didn’t want to go back, its just that life, well…happened: I became super busy with my career (with little to no vacation); I met a man who became my husband…who had kids of his own, and all our vacations were dedicated to go to or receiving them on our collective time off.

Once the post-COVID re-opening of the planet happened, I decided it was time to return to South Africa and I wanted my husband to know it through my eyes and love it as I do; and so I planned the trip of a lifetime, but surely it will not be our last.

I am happy to share this trip with you, and actually had meant to do so along the way…but it was too epic for one blog post, so I will be sharing a series of posts, which will do a deep dive on each of the locations/portions of the trip summarized below:

Summary of the Epic Adventure

1. It all began with two days in Johannesburg/Sandton for shopping and eating and some local visits with family (Cradle of Humankind)
2. Then it was onto Pretoria where my “Sesi” drove us 3 hours each way to visit the village of Moletji, outside of Polokwane in Limpopo Province. It was a beautiful family reunion, where all came to see their prodigal daughter after 16 long years.
3. After a night at my Sesi’s house, she took us to the Rovos Rail train station, where we spent three nights in luxury locomotion on our way to Cape Town.
4. Once we arrived at Cape Town station, our rental car was waiting for us, where we drove to our luxury boutique hotel in Camps Bay. We stayed at The Marly for another four nights and made visits to Table Mountain, The Wharf, Hermanus, Cape Point and Constantia (and shopping).
5. We then drove to the winelands and stayed 2 nights in Franschhoek at the Franschhoek Country House and Villas for Wine Tasting and Gourmet meals (and shopping)
6. After we thought we had our fill of wine (I think we had more than 65 South African wines at this point), we headed on to the Cape Town airport and caught our flights to Ngala Safari Lodge’s airstrip, where our guides were waiting for us to begin a two-day Safari in a private game reserve within Kruger National Park. Our stay there included an exclusive night at the Ngala Tree House!
7. Our next Safari adventure took place at the marvelous Phinda Game Reserve in Kwa-Zulu Natal, where we spent three glorious nights at the Phinda Rock Lodge and had some of the best sightings of my life, thanks to our guide, Lucky and tracker, Bongani! The staff became like family and we were sad to leave.
8. We were sad, until we arrived in our next location: The Tongabezi eco-lodge. Here we were about 20 km from Victoria Falls, and had gorgeous accommodations overlooking the Zambezi River, complete with sunsets and hippo sounds and of course excursions to the “Mighty Musi oa Tunya” (Victoria Falls) herself!
9. Again, sad to say goodbye to our new friends at Tongabezi, we drove over the border to Botswana and onto Ngoma Safari Lodge, where we spent two nights overlooking the Chobe Delta and excursions to the place of the Elephants (and giraffes and zebras and hippos and crocodiles and baobab trees): Chobe National Park.
10. To bring our safari adventures to an end, sadly….we were whisked away from Chobe by plane to the Okavango Delta and stayed our last three Safari nights at Xaranna Okavango Camp and stayed in a luxury tent (where we were kept awake one night by the sounds of lions and elephants…they seemed way too close for comfort, but we were perfectly safe).
11. We ended the trip back in Jo’Burg for three nights with my “sister” Nita and her son Reece (now 16, but born when I was living with them)! We celebrated the end of our journey with family and friends and finished off with a tearful goodbye and the promise to return again soon.

Like I mentioned…an epic trip! And the best news is that my husband had such a wonderful time that he is already talking about “when we go back” again.

Mission accomplished!

Please don’t hesitate to contact me, if you are interested in learning more about this amazing adventure and would like to replicate all or part of it! I’m at heather@heatherlaneadventures.com and happy to help you plan your next trip!