Hells Kitchen in South Africa

15 million people live in the gateway to South Africa but unfortunately we got to spend very little time here. For the rest of the group I was travelling with, this was to be their final night in South Africa before heading back home while I would be heading south into KwaZulu Natal for a second week in South Africa.

We checked into the Protea Hotel Balalaika in Sandton. I never did find the reason why the hotel has the same name as a Russian stringed musical instrument so if anyone can tell me, I’d like to know. Having been without access to shoe shops for much of the week, the girls in our group were straight off to the nearest shopping mall while I took the time to catch up with emails and news via the hotels WiFi connection.

As it was the final night of the Familiarisation trip, we all ate together in a restaurant next door. The food was excellent (as it had been all week) and the drink flowed pretty freely. After the meal ended, we moved back to the hotel bar and I enjoyed a few bottles of Castle at incredibly cheap prices. Eventually, we called it a night as we had one last activity in Johannesburg before heading back to the airport where the rest of my group would fly home and where I would collect my hire car to head down to KwaZulu Natal.

The activity was a cook off hosted by Samp & Souflee (http://www.sampsouffle.com/). We met up with 2 other groups who had also been to South Africa for the past week and from there were split up into 3 groups. The idea was that each group would be responsible for preparing a course for a 3 course meal under the guidance of a chef. Our group was responsible for the main course and making the bread for the soup. The main course was venison (Impala) with an assortment of vegetables and paleta (basically, mashed up sweet corn). Our group worked pretty well together and for what looked to be a very nice meal, it was surprising how little time and effort it actually took to make. Things like this make you realise just how lazy we are when it comes to convenience food. Proper cooking doesn’t actually take too much longer and it was good fun.

All courses of the meal were wonderful and at the end of it, we had time to chat and relax which was a nice way to end an excellent week. We were also presented with a few momentos of the day; an apron, oven gloves, a jar of sauce, a BBQ tool set as well as some brochures. With time pressing, we loaded up and headed back to the airport. From here, my new found friends would fly back to the UK and I would continue my adventure in South Africa for another week.

If you would like to contact us for more information about seeing the Big Five in South Africa, please visit our website here (http://www.big5.explorertravel.co.uk/)

Hells Kitchen in South Africa

Dawsons Game & Trout Lodge

Dawson Lodge is situated near Badplaas about 4 hours from Johannesburg in a beautiful setting surrounded by hills and a trout lake. In addition to the Lodge, there is also a cottage next to the trout lake which is ideal for anyone who wants to fish for trout. Most of the group stayed at the Lodge while I stayed down at the cottage. It’s a self-catering unit which is very well equipped and even has satellite TV.

We arrived late afternoon so there wasn’t much time to do anything after check-in before diner was ready. Prior to dinner, we were invited to watch the chef show us how to prepare a trout which although I’m not fish eater, was very interesting. Its always amazing how simple professionals make their job look.

As with everywhere we’ve stayed, the food was wonderful and the whole group dined together on one long table which added to the atmosphere.

The following morning after an excellent breakfast, there was the option to take part in various activities such as archery, quad bikes and horse riding but most people decided to enjoy the opportunity to sleep in a bit later than we have able to all week. I’d woken up early to try to take some pictures as the sun rose. It’s a wonderful sight in the African wilderness to wake up as it gets light and then to see the shadows cast by the mountains retreat as the sun rise. The morning mist soon disappeared and a glorious blue sky was soon in its place.

If you would like to contact us for more information about fly-fishing and other activities in Mpumalanga, South Africa, please visit our website here (http://www.big5.explorertravel.co.uk/)

Dawsons Game & Trout Lodge

Mala Mala Game Reserve

After the 1 hour flight from Johannesburg, the journey from Nelspruit took around 2.5 hours but once we arrived, it proved to be well worth the effort. Mala Mala was South Africa’s first private game reserve and borders Kruger National Park’s western boundary and is well established as a premier safari destination in southern Africa and the world. There are 3 accommodation options at Mala Mala; first is Rattray’s on Mala which is a small exclusive camp accommodating a maximum of just 16 guests at any one time. No children under the age of 16 are allowed. Second is Sable Camp which is another small exclusive camp although the age limit for children here is 12. Finally, there is Mala Mala Main Camp, where we were booked in. Although it is a larger camp, it retains an intimate atmosphere with a capacity of just 36 guests and it is a child friendly camp.

We arrived quite late in the afternoon and after check-in we opted to go out on a game drive although by now it was practically dark and the chances of seeing much were greatly reduced.. Just before we left, we were briefly introduced to Michael Rattray who founded Mala Mala over 40 years ago. He had just finished a work out in the gym – not bad for a 76 year old, he pointed out. Mr Rattray also added that although it was not an ideal time, if we didn’t go out on a drive, we definitely wouldn’t see any game. I personally didn’t expect to see much but it was the chance to drive out in the open air in Africa and I hadn’t come all this way to sit in a hotel room. As it happened, we got lucky. After about an hour, we got a report that a leopard had hidden a kill from earlier in a tree which we found. We sat and waited for a while to see if the leopard would appear and although we didn’t see the mother, one of her cubs made an appearance. After a few minutes, we relocated to try to get closer and after a while we ended up just 20 metres from the cub who by now was relaxing in a tree. We just sat and watched this beautiful animal for a while and I still don’t know how our tracker managed to spot him.

Eventually, we headed back to camp where we were due to have a Boma. The food and drinks were excellent and all the staff working tireless to make sure nothing was left unattended. When it was time for bed, the wardens walked us back to our rooms. As we were reminded, Mala Mala is a lodge in the middle of a game reserve and as such, animals can come and go through the camp as they please.

The following morning started early with a 6:30am call as our morning game drive was due to start at 7:00am. In addition to the drive, we would also have breakfast in the bush. The drive was fantastic. Not only did we see the Big Five – Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Elephant and Rhino, we also had the added bonus of a rare Cheetah sighting as well as Zebra and many other smaller birds and animals. In all we were out for 5 hours so when we got back, it was time for lunch. We were briefly entertained by a pair for Vervet Monkeys jumping from tree to tree but moments later a large heard of elephant walk past the hotel terrace less than 200m away.

This set us up very nicely for the afternoon/evening game drive but not before we spent half an hour looking round the other camp, Rattrays on Mala Mala. This is there exclusive camp with a capacity of just 16 guests. The rooms are even more spectacular that the suites at Mala Mala with guests having a private plunge pool, TV and internet access in the rooms. The view from the rooms over looks part of the Sand River so it is a great place to combine relaxation and game viewing.

We moved on to the evening game drive and we were lucky enough to see some giraffe up close and as night fell we moved down towards the river where we found a hippo grazing on the land. This is one of Africa’s most dangerous animals and we sat and watched him from only a few metres away for quite a while before moving on.

That night, we ate around the Boma again and I was very fortunate to sit next to the CEO and founder of Mala Mala, Mr Rattray and his wife. Our meal was briefly interrupted by a small scorpion appearing on the table next to Mrs Rattray but it was dealt with and we had a wonderful evening listening to his stories about life in Africa as well as many other things.

The following morning, there was time for one final game drive before we were due to check out and the highlight was finding a female leopard and its cub who were quite comfortable to have our vehicle positioned less than 10m away and this gave an excellent opportunity for some close up pictures. We headed back to camp and were given a tour of the facilities before leaving.

I can’t speak highly enough of Mala Mala, everything and everyone who is involved with the place.

My Big Five sightings at Mala Mala:
Day 1: Elephant, Leopard
Day 2: Elephant, Leopard, Lion, Rhino, Buffalo
Day 3: Leopard

If you would like to contact us for more information about seeing the Big Five in South Africa, please visit our website here (http://www.big5.explorertravel.co.uk/)

Mala Mala Game Reserve

London Heathrow Terminal 5

Its common knowledge that Terminal 5 had its fair share of problems but in recent weeks the criticism has stopped which generally means that things are starting to work properly. So when it was announced that I would be flying to South Africa on British Airways as part of my destination familiarisation trip, I was actually looking forward to using the terminal to see what all the fuss was about.

Terminal 5 is an impressive, spacious building currently servicing a number of British Airways destinations. There were plenty of check-in machines and counters making the process very easy. Before going to security, there were a number of facilities including foreign exchange counters, shops and cafes.
Getting through security was reasonably quick and this led through to the duty free shops and other facilities. There was a good selection of bars and cafes although I didn’t notice a pub/bar that you would find in most UK airports. There were a couple of places that you could buy beer but these were primarily eating establishments.

It was pretty hard to find fault with the terminal. Everything ran smoothly so it seems that they have got over the problems that were so well reported in the first couple of weeks after it opened. However, it is not running at full capacity yet so it will be interesting to see if they still run that smoothly on a regular basis once British Airways have moved all the flights over there.

For the latest information about British Airways and its operations from Heathrow Terminal 5, please visit their website here

London Heathrow Terminal 5