TIA

Go West, for a quick shotleft

One thing that the lockdown travel restrictions brought about by Covid19 is we have been given the opportunity to explore our country and find some gems. We found one such gem in the Western Cape in the form of a fishing town called Paternoster 2 hours outside of Cape Town. A town made up of gorgeous beaches and white houses.

We stayed at Gonana Guest House in a sea facing room where we could walk from our bed right onto the beach. They serve breakfast and have the friendliest most helpful staff, big shoutout to Sis Thandi for taking such great care of us and all your recommendations.

Quick room tour

For 2 overworked girls from the city this beach holiday was just what the doctor order 🙂 . There are quite a few activities offered at Paternoster but to be honest with you the beach was the only thing on our itinerary. The water is cold but you can go in, here’s a quick tip if you prefer a private beach vibe visit Paternoster during the week because we had the beach to ourselves. When the weekend comes the whole town hits the beach, which makes sense because the weather called for it, it was nice and hot.

Our guesthouse house had the best view of the sunset and on a good day you can see dolphins in the water, I caught a sneak peek of the dolphins when we checked in and on our beach buggy tour, but nothing caught on camera.

View of the sunset

We took a beach buggy tour on Saturday morning with Deon a longtime resident of Paternoster who legit knows everyone in town.

POV from the beach buggy

Here is a shot of me staking out the dolphins after breakfast and a few balcony shots.

A Little R & R

We have finally made it to the end of 2020 and so I rewarded myself with a little getaway but not too far from home I’m still quite cautious about Covid 19 and all. So I checked in to the the Cradle Boutique hotel which is about 40 minutes from Sandton. I enjoyed the fresh air, the animals (excluding the monkeys and baboons that pop up anywhere) and feeling like I was far away from home.

We went on safari in the morning, we didn’t see any predators but we saw a bunch of other animals and birds, sidenote I didn’t photograph the monkeys and baboons because those things freak me out so I just sat still and waited for the vehicle to keep moving.

I enjoyed the peace and quiet I would highly recommend the Cradle Boutique for a quick weekend away. A quick tip though the deck/balcony is the best place to chill the pool area is legit directly under the sun your feet will burn taking a few steps to get into the pool. Our balcony was my favourite place to just chill, if for nothing else but the view (we saw Zebras from our deck when we arrived). Bring a book and plenty of snacks and take it all all in.

Getaway Without Getting Away

You know how sometimes you just wish you could get away from the city for a little bit but there’s no time? Well this past weekend I found a bit of a sanctuary in Johannesburg, Northcliff to be exact. I know I was as surprised as you are.

My friends I give you Morrells Boutique Estate, a guest house/ event venue which has the cutest bistro to top of the old school french vibe they have going on. For a couple of days or hours you’ll feel like you’ve left the city for a little bit.

The Bistro

Lunch wash served: Black truffle chicken with parmaham with some fancy named veggies.

Baked vanilla cheesecake with strawberries and honeycomb.

Mombasa the Rundown

Since posting about my Mombasa trip I’ve been getting a bunch of questions from people so I figure I should use this post to address their queries.

Can you fly directly to Mombasa from SA? At the moment no airlines fly directly to Mombasa, I had to connect from Nairobi.

Where did you stay? We stayed at the Behari beach hotel which was quite pleasant and had friendly staff.

What can we do there? Ours was a short trip but here are some of the things you can do while you are there.

1. Also my favourite lay in the sun

2.Go on boat rides and swim in the ocean

3. Go shopping at the markets

4. For the adventurous types windsurfing and kite surfing

5. Go site seeing

6. Or enjoying some cocktails by the water

Would I recommend this trip to other people? YES over and over and over again, Mombasa is beautiful and the people are friendly.

5 Days Of Summer: Part 4

We also checked out the local markets, or the Markiti as it is called. The first market day was really just us looking around and getting our bearings (yes we shopped obviously). The second market day was us trying to find the Masai market which was kinda sabotaged by the rain , the vendors couldn’t set up their stalls properly. Then we checked out the spice market which is more of a food market as it has more than just spices.

Pick a ride

Hitting the town

The markiti was definitely bustling

Market day 2 Masai market and the spice market

Processed with VSCO with a5 preset Our choice of transport came with an umbrella-ella-ella eh

The rain wouldn’t let the Masai market be great as you can see, but Jabu’s dress did add the pretty to the shots.

So we headed to the spice market

5 Days Of Summer: Part 3

Lets take it back to the beach

What is a holiday at the coast without spending time at the beach. Let me just say Bahari beach is a beautiful and eventful beach. You have everything from vendors selling fabric, paintings and wood carvings, then you have people offering camel rides. Everyone is trying to make a buck I was offered a massage and one dude tried to charge us for a tour of the beach he was like ” There are people selling paintings there, the water is over there…” people are such chancers.

The tide is high in the morning so you see no sand for while so the morning started up here and we worked our way down the stairs to explore some more.

Checking on the tide

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Chillin’ like a villian

Tide’s low lets go

Camel rides at the beach

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Local bar

It started to rain on our walk back to the hotel

It started to rain as we walked back to our hotel, and it stopped when we reached the pool so we chilled some more. SAM_1977

I honestly could get used to life at the beach.

5 Days of Summer: Mombasa Part 2

Day 2 was a more traditional tourist day and we checked out Fort Jesus, walked through Old Town and saw the Mombasa Tusks.

Fort Jesus is one of Mombasa’s tourist attractions. It was built by the Portuguese in 1593 to protect their sailing route back to Portugal. The Portuguese regarded themselves as representatives of christianity hence the name Fort Jesus. There is a constant stream of people coming in to see Fort Jesus both international tourists and locals (the cover charge is cheaper for Kenyans).

Walking through Old Town the buildings are beautiful but hella neglected, the different textures make for great backdrops though for our selfies and cheesy tourist shots, so we obliged.

Because it was a Sunday the street was not busy I managed to get the shot of the Mombasa Tusks uninterrupted.

5 Days of Summer: Mombasa Part 1

Travelling drama aside I had finally made it to Mombasa and I was ready to soak up the sun. The rain and the sunshine kept alternating throughout the course of the days but the warmth stayed constant so no jackets and no long sleeves. Just what the doctor ordered.

Poolside

SAM_1747 The view from our room ❤

Our day started with us exploring our surroundings which on day 1 was the beach where we booked our ride on a glass boat and the shopping centre to get money to pay for boat ride and the likes (I didn’t exchange currency beforehand. You know me “rebel”).

And then the touristy fun began, be warned I get trigger happy with a camera so a photo overload is upon you.

Tuk-Tuk rides

Glass boat

Fish swimming beneath the boat

They are called glass boats because they have glass bottoms so you can see the fish once you sail deep enough (If you saw my insta-stories you heard how excited I was to see these buggers)

In the spirit of trying new things I got in the water with the fish swimming around my legs.

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SUNNY DAYS

Sunny days everybody loves them and yesterday was exactly that. So some of my girls and I went to French Toast in Hartebeesport dam for a post birthday lunch. A little fun in the sun was had.

Then it was off to the dam to catch the sunset.

Yeah we don’t know how to pose (but check out my halo)

Thanks again girls for the fun and thank you universe for the sun.

Mozambique pt4

We spent our last night in Xai Xai which is a few hours away from Tofo (yes another long drive). The drive was both interesting and lovely though, we stopped to take roadside pics outside Inhambane.

Not sure what the occasion here was. (The streets of Inhambane)

20170325_125812 Processed with VSCO with kk2 preset Roadside shots

When we got to Xai-Xai however the weather was not so great it rained 😦 . The weather did not stop the shoppers though we still hit the Xai-Xai market for fabric (this market was less intrusive than Tofo market) . We then checked into the Xai-Xai Eco Estate which is literally on the beach, and spent our last day indoors. These pics were taken the next morning before heading home.

Processed with VSCO with c1 preset Processed with VSCO with kk2 preset Xai-Xai Eco Estate The view from the balcony

We stopped for Breakfast in Maputo where the girls did more shopping (yeah this lot can shop ya’ll).

Processed with VSCO with kk2 preset Cafe Sol in Maputo

All in all the trip was so much fun thanks to Omphe,Bathabile,Zandi,Ntokozo,Siviwe,Kefilwe, Prudence,Phaka and Singatha. I highly recommend the Zulu Nomad crew guy but be prepared for the long drives, you have been warned.

Processed with VSCO with kk1 preset No idea what Omphe and I were saying in this shot

Processed with VSCO with kk2 preset Singatha and the girls