June 19

My Trip | A Honeymoon under the African sun

June 19, 2014

From the penguins wiggling across Boulders Beach to the traditional dancers shimmying in the firelight of the safari boma, our travellers, Marlene and Philip Cunningham perfectly captured what we call the SOP, in their video of their African honeymoon. SOP. Spirit of Place. In this case… the Spirit of Africa.

No doubt it helps that Philip is a Digital Media Production Coordinator, but I like to think that the video owes a large part of its inspiration to the magic of Africa. To the epic landscapes and wildlife sightings you can see in the images below. And not solely Imagine Dragons’ On Top Of The World lyrics.

The Cunninghams travelled with us from London to Cape Town and the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve, on a honeymoon adventure organised by our consultant Samantha. Read what they had to say below.

We’d like to thank them for sharing their adventure with us and invite you to join in on the journey:

Who: Philip and Marlene Cunningham (It was our honeymoon!)
When: May 13, 2014 – May 24, 2014
Accommodation: Queen Victoria Hotel, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, and Savanna Private Game Reserve, Sabi Sand

“After a day tour in London during our 14 hour layover, we landed in Cape Town on a cold rainy winter morning. The next day we had the first of our two tours with Rhino Tripping. The Winelands tour was fantastic. We visited three vineyards and our favorite was the last vineyard, Fairview. Here we had a wine and cheese tasting and we especially enjoyed this one because we liked the wine and Marlene LOVES cheese. It was the perfect end to our day. 

Also, we had no one else on our tour so it was a private tour with Carel which I think enhanced our experience. Carel was the best tour guide we could have asked for.

Touring the Cape Winelands

Touring the Cape Peninsula

The next day we went on the Cape Peninsula tour. I think this was our favorite day of the entire trip. The dramatic scenery of the Cape was something out of a movie. We loved the rocky cliffs and the brightly colored water. Along with seeing the beautiful scenery that South Africa has to offer, it was our first chance to see some of the diverse animal life in the country. We visited Boulders Beach and saw the penguin colony. Who doesn’t love a penguin?

Also, we had our wedding at a zoo which enabled us to have an animal at our wedding. The animal we chose was the African Penguin so it tied in perfectly with our wedding. We climbed to the lighthouse atop Cape Point, avoided the baboons as they stole other tourists prized snacks and had an up close and personal experience with an ostrich who was curious as to who was in our vehicle.

On our final day in Cape Town we went to the top of Table Mountain and visited Camps Bay. The weather was bright and sunny which allowed us to really take advantage of the views offered at the summit of the mountain. Eating dinner along the promenade and then watching the sunset from the beach was the perfect way to end our time in Cape Town.

On safari at Savanna Private Game Reserve

On safari at Savanna Private Game Reserve

On safari at Savanna Private Game Reserve

Up next, the safari, which was the part of the trip we were looking forward to the most…

After arriving at Savanna we were quickly out on our first game drive. The game drives were phenomenal. There were multiple times we saw the Big 5 on one game drive alone. We saw both male and female lions, elephants, giraffes, wildebeests, impala, cheetahs, hippos, hyenas and daily sightings of leopards. Including a mom and her two baby cubs that were only one month old. We had incredible luck on the game drives.

Our favorite moment from safari was one morning after leaving camp, we stumbled upon a herd of elephant. They were walking all around the vehicle and were so close that we could have reached out and touched them. All of a sudden, an injured cape buffalo and her calf showed up next to the elephants. Then, our tracker Nordick, spotted a leopard in the grass stalking the buffalo and her calf. Finally, three hyenas approached waiting for the leopard to make the kill. It was nature at work and it was very surreal to have it happening all around us. Savanna was amazing.

We throughly enjoyed the fireside dinner which included a performance by a local choir. After creating a private, romantic dinner for us right outside our tent, on our final night they surprised the entire camp and had cocktails under the stars in the bush.”

On safari at Savanna Private Game Reserve

On safari at Savanna Private Game Reserve

An African Honeymoon

“I’m going to remember all the people and all the beautiful places that we saw in Africa”


To experience Africa for yourself, get in touch with one of our travel experts to find our more about an African safari and to start planning yours.

For a taste of what Marlene and Philip got to experience, and we’re not just talking cheese, take a tour of the Cape Winelands, Cape Town, Savanna Private Game Reserve and the Sabi Sand in our videos.



Tags


You may also enjoy 

About the author 

Tamlin Wightman

Tamlin has been exploring, writing about and photographing Africa ever since her first job as a photojournalist for Getaway Magazine. She's lived on an island, eaten with lions, sailed catamarans in the Indian Ocean, tracked wild dogs with Kinglsey Holgate, and white water rafted down the Zambezi and has kept just about every airplane ticket that has crossed her hands.

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}
>