Tuesday, May 11, 2010


The Long Beach

On the first night of our honeymoon I had to include The Long Beach. Labeled as the most romantic accommodation right on the beach, it was simply a must. Thanks to Gail at The Last Word she could luckily get myself and my Husband a night at The Long Beach.

I know Cape Town very well so I have been to Kommetjie before and i know that side of Cape Town is almost like a well kept secret. A almost more than 180 degree view off the ocean in absolute lush surroundings we find The Long Beach. When i say its right on the beach i really do mean it. We were literally i think like 3 meters from the beach. The famous Long beach is a beach that stretches for approximately 8KM. Beautiful white sandy beach with options of horse riding on the beach. Surfing, swimming (if you can handle the cold Atlantic).

The Long Beach is absolutely stunning with 6 rooms all with Sea Views. Your options are Premier Suites or Superior Doubles Suites. We stayed in a Premier Suite.

The suite was absolutely massive! we had a beautiful view of the sea from our bed and then you can sit on the balcony and soak up the lovely sun from the loungers there.

The staff was so warm and friendly and the welcoming was great. We sat had a well deserved drink with our host and then off to our room to enjoy the start of our Honeymoon.

We did not organise dinner at The Long Beach but opted to eat out at a local restaurant Called "The Bistro". Its a short walk from the Guest House and was so lovely to be able to walk to a place to eat and back.

When dinner is organised a special turn down can be arranged as part of the honeymoon. I have colleagues namely Mari who has been there before also loved it and mentioned to me that the food is also very good! So keep in mind when booking there!

coming home after our meal we had drinks in the lounge had a chat to the night manager who is very entertaining! then off to bed, where we were spoilt with a big bottle of bubbly a candle turn down and CHOCOLATE MOUSSE! I promise it was the best chocolate mousse ever. we slept like babies after a good wedding and i still wish to this day we had spent the whole honeymoon at The Long Beach.

We enjoyed breakfast with the rest of the guest overlooking the beautiful ocean. The sunset and rise was very very beautiful.

I totally recommend The Long Beach to all as n romantic getaway or just a a stunning place to go and enjoy Cape Town and yourself.

I cant explain how much we loved it so please go and experience it! Its very worth your while.

Friday, May 29, 2009

TRavelling in The Northern Cape South Africas Hidden secret





Myself and a colleague recently travelled to the Northern Cape as part of a educational for work purposes. WOW! what an experience! This is truly a place yet to be discovered.

Living in Clanwilliam along the West Coast of Cape Town, we are very use to tourist popping in and out and experiencing what we call life! So going to the Northern Cape was something new to me! I have been around and pretty close to some areas in the Northern Cape nothing came close to what we experienced here!

Left for Upington at 5am drove through what is known as the karoo. Sheep farming world. Now before i left i was informed to keep in mind that the people from the NC ( Northern Cape) are the friendliest people but also not the fastest people you will come across. Absolutely nothing related to their IQ but more to their mannerisms. They farm there is vast spaces between them and the next town, so everything is slower. They are in no rush at all. When they plan a trip on a Friday morning to go into Town from the farm, it's a day trip. Small town, small amount of people so every one knows every one!

This is exactly what makes this area so incredible! If you have a problem they stop to help, and if they cant help with it, they know exactly who to phone to help you. This sometimes means you will end up meeting some one with great stories to tell and experiences to share! Perhaps you will end up with an infamous NC farm supper! O the lamb is amazing, they cook like angels in the NC.

So arrived in Upington, Van Rhyns Dorp, Calvinia, Brand Vlei, Keimoes ( amazing wine village that is my favourite to drive through, a real gem!) and Upington.

Met Ginny at the airport and off we went first stop ( after lunch obviously) Augrabie Falls! Part of SAN Parks this reserve is well known. The Augrabie Falls are part of the mighty and well known Orange River! We got there before the rain so the falls were pretty timid. But looking at the images they have there it could get even better. Talk about amazing sunset! They have self catering units for the family to be together.

Yet if a South African braai is not what you are after there is a restaurant that servers various foods for all.

Slept one night there at Augrabies then after breakfast the next morning it was off to Kamkirri Lodge, Kamkirrie means place of the leopard! Kamkirri is on the banks of the Orange river and to get to the lodge we got taken by boat across the river to the lodge.

What an awesome place. Living at a dam already the water factor already gets all my liking and i loooved the atmosphere! A massive lapa ( thatched roof deck) with big comfy chairs and a massive big screen ( which at that time was showing the IPL). So our feet had hardly touched dry ground and off we were on a Quad Bike trip around their farm. Remember this is also wine country not as well known as Stellenbosch and Franschhoek but the wine is great!

Off on the quad bikes we were and got to see the farm with Spring Buck wondering around and one very rowdy male Ostrich!! All kind of terrain wet, dry and rocky. Loads of fun a definite must do!!!

We also spotted a Fish Eagle soaring pretty lower than they usually do! This must be my favourite predatory bird ever. Talk about beautiful!

Back at the lodge we got all settled in, and got ready for lunch on the deck over looking the orange river with birds frog fish you name it the sound was there!

10Km river rafting was what we were in for next. Yay! Loved it as well as i have never done this before. Tale note River rafting not white river rafting as the rapids are not as rough!!

Well needless to say we survived and we enjoyed every moment from the rapids to the calm feeling of floating along one of the most magnificent Rivers in the world.

Unfortunately i had to cut my trip short but Ginny went on to experience more of the NC the part of it known as the Kalahari. Kgalakgadi Park was where they were heading to !Xaus Lodge.

I Will definitely recommend the NC to anybody for self drive of adventure tours.

I cant wait to go see the rest of it!

Laré

:)

Monday, April 6, 2009

We are hosting the IPL what to expect and how to experience it.

South Africa has been elected as the host nation for the 2009 Indian Premier League. The Indian Premier League (IPL) will take place from 18 April until 24 May at eight different venues across South Africa. There will be 59 matches in total involving the eight franchises of the Indian Premier League.

Interestingly, the IPL has chosen to have ‘roaming’ teams. This means that each team will not have a home base in a particular South African city, as is the case with most large scale international sporting events of this nature. This is because most people of Indian origin living in South Africa are in Durban and so any team based in Durban, would have a huge ready-made ‘home-base’ of Indian fans. So instead each team will have its fair share of the popular Durban crowd support by rotating their matches.

The majority of matches will take place in Durban (16 matches) and Pretoria (12 matches) with Cape Town, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth hosting 8 matches each. Other matches will be held in East London, Bloemfontein and Kimberley. The two semi-finals will be in Pretoria and Johannesburg on 22nd and 23rd May whilst the final will be in Johannesburg on Sunday 24th May.

Tickets for the earlier matches should be readily available, given the change of venue from India to South Africa, so this is an excellent opportunity to enjoy world class cricket in sunny and warm South Africa.

Cedarberg African Travel will be able to assist with arranging tailormade accommodation, transport and flights to all the Indian Premier League matches. We can also put together safari visits to the game reserves in between the cricket matches.

Contact us with your specific arrangements.

Alternatively we have a series of three night tours on offer in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg/Pretoria which will enable you to plan your IPL tour of South Africa. Contact us to ask us for these tour itineraries.