Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Mossel Bay & African Oceans Guesthouse (Nov 8th)
Today we are staying in a beautiful room in a guest house called Africa Oceans. Apart from the safari, this is the most expensive night of our stay in South Africa, but it is definitely worth it.
The guesthouse isn't really in Mossel Bay itself, but it has a lovely setting and our room, the honeymoon suite has a big balcony with a great view over the beach and the ocean, a big plush bedroom, a kitchenette and a good sized bathroom, not to mention the fluffy bathrobes.
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Here's the view from the balcony:
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We drove into Mossel Bay itself for lunch. It doesn't appear to be the most picturesque or exciting place, but there are plenty restuarants.
We spent the remainder of our afternoon after lunch just lazing by the pool and drinking some chilled vino on the balcony - bliss.
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There was a free minibus pickup service in the evening which you could use to go to any one of five different restaurants. We had a lovely seafood dinner in a resturant called the Kingfisher which was very nice.
Not a very eventful day, but relaxing and enjoyable and I would highly recommend the African Oceans guesthouse if you are looking for somewhere luxurious to relax. You can
read more reviews of African Oceans here.
Labels: Accommodation Reviews, Garden Route, Mossel Bay
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Review of Leeuwenbosch, Amakhala - Eastern Cape Private Game Reserve
Here's a quick review and some photos of Leeuwenbosch, which is in the
Amakhala Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.
We stayed in Shearer's Lodge, which is a former sheep shearing building and an alternative to staying in the main house at Leeuwenbosch. Our room was very spacious with a large bedroom area and a living room area with chairs, a table and a sofa.
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The bathroom was pretty big with a nice bathtub and a separate walk in shower.
Check in time is 2pm, but we arrived early around 11am and they were happy for us to sit on the verandah with a drink and our room was clean and ready for us before 2pm.
We picked the all inclusive option which includes all your food (and lots of it), drinks (including wine, beer and spirits) and two game activities per day. Current rates in the high season are R2180 a night per person, but check the website for the latest prices.
Food is in a very nice communal dining room and includes cereals, fruit, yoghurt, juice and a cooked breakfast at 10am, a cooked lunch (e.g. rice and a hot dish) at 2pm, then a three course dinner followed by cheese and tea and coffee at around 8pm. There are also snacks and drinks on all the game drives. Both of us enjoyed all the food, especially dinner. Here's a piccie of me outside the building where the dining room is.
The grounds in Leeuwenbosch are very pleasant - lots of nicely manicured lawns and flowers. It's very peaceful and there is a small swimming pool with sun loungers:
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The staff at Leeuwenbosch are great - very friendly and welcoming and excellent highly knowledgeable rangers for our game drives. I would definitely recommend this place to a friend.
Labels: Accommodation Reviews, Eastern Cape, Safari
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Review of Blackheath Lodge Cape Town
Blackheath Lodge is a lovely guesthouse situated on Cape Town's Atlantic Seaboard, just under Signal Hill. It's a beautiful Victorian house which has been lovingly restored by the owners Antony and John. There are around 10 rooms in the guesthouse, a nice living room area, pretty garden area with a small heated swimming pool and a verandah overlooking the pool for breakfast or drinks.
Our room was in the attic and very spacious with a big king bed, good sized bathroom with a shower, lots of cupboard and drawer space, air conditioning and a reasonably priced mini bar/honesty bar.
Here are a couple of photos of our room:
The view from the shower in the morning:
Blackheath Lodge is in a nice quiet residential area and it is a pleasant 30 minute walk to the V&A Waterfront or around a R25-30 taxi fare.
The owners were extremely friendly, welcoming and helpful and Antony made it his business in the morning to help all the guests plan their day, make bookings for people and suggest itineraries. The other staff were also very good and Jean-Claude the security guy was very pleasant.
Breakfast consisted of fresh fruit, yogurt, cereals, fresh baking (yummy cinnamon croissants), toast, muesli, coffee, tea, juice and smoothies.
Over all we had a fantastic stay here and I highly recommend it for anyone staying in Cape Town.
You can read more
reviews of Blackheath Lodge on TripAdvisor.
Labels: Accommodation Reviews, Cape Town
