September 9-23, 2017- Unlimited exploration. That’s what South Africa got to offer from a Sunday Market straight to the wild.
Arrived at O.R. Tambo International Airport @3PM and the first thing I noticed is people are really friendly but be extra careful as some are friendly with motive especially those who need cash from you. So Jay, one of the owners from Lakeview Backpackers came to pick me up and also offer to drop me in one of the superstore nearby to buy some drinks and foods.
Didn’t really plan much activity on the first day of arrival especially after a long 16 hours flight (include transit).
Backyard of Lakeview Backpacker, Joburg
So it was Jay who recommended me to rent a car and explore Joburg as public transportation is not that efficient and also I will be able to explore more with my own ride so I decided to rent a Hyundai Accent from Europcar to start off my trip the next day. It was spontaneous decision like this makes trip rather more interesting!
Some pointers in driving around Joburg:-
There is 4 lane in highway so always keep to the most left hand side as people drive really fast on the outer lane;
Driver is on right hand side;
Include car insurance when you fill up the car rental form;
South Africa does not require you to have international driving license as long as your current driving license have English language;
Never ever put expensive equipment (especially cameras) on any part of the seat and it’s better to put it under your feet or on the trunk which is not visible;
Always lock your door no matter what;
Lastly be vigilant!
Once you are buckle up, let’s explore!
First, let’s head over to Rosebank Mall to visit the Sunday Market. It is a 35 minutes drive from O.R. Tambo International Airport to Rosebank. Basically this market sell stuff from local South African as well as other countries’ delicacies, product, art, clothes, jewellery and etc which is located at the upper car park area.
Below is just pictures to show how the interior of the market looks like. Basically the concept is almost similar to sunday market located in other countries.
Chill and Kids Zone @Rosebank Sunday Market
So I had the Chicken Wrap with Bread for lunch which cost ZAR 60 (equivalent to BND6)
They also sell some interesting items such as below.
Interesting canvas for sale mostly with Winnie The Pooh with some meaningful quotes in it.
I only spend roughly an hour plus here and decided to head on to my next destination, The Lion and Safari Park.
It was also Jay who recommended me to visit the Lion Park as it allow us to see lion up close rather than from afar. The drive from Rosebank to Lion and Safari Park took me around 45 minutes. Upon arrival, first you are required to park your car at the parking area and head to the counter to purchase ticket. There are different purchase options and since I opted for Self Drive, I paid R165 for it. You can refer to the full price list here from their official website.
It was my first experience doing a self drive in a Safari and driving at my own pace without any guide is something different and definitely worth trying out. This safari is actually enclosed in a huge area so I don’t really call it the wild because the animals are all well protected within an enclosure.
So it’s a group of Wildebeest in action while I cruise around the Safari @Lion and Safari Park
From here on, you will go past several enclosure and next enclosure is more for wild animals such as Zebras, antelopes, wildebeest, ostrich and etc.
A group of resting Antelope@Lion and Safari Park
5 Zebra and counting just grazing around @Lion and Safari Park
You also had the 2 Ostrich lovebird @Lion and Safari Park
Next stop is the Hyena enclosure. Hyenas are kept in their own enclosure away from other animals. And we were required to get off from our vehicle to visit them but worry not, there are cage surrounding the area so they can’t harm you.
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Wild Dogs have their own enclosure as well which is shown as per below. It was their feeding time when I arrived.
Wild Dog feeding time!
Another snap from my vehicle with the Dogs running and playing around
Continue to feed feed feed!!
Right after the Wild Dogs section, we came across the Lion enclosure. And it was also for this particular reason which makes me want to visit Africa, Kingdom of the Lion King!
One of the Lion just sitting around lazily. I was told that Lion is the most lazy animal in the wild and they don’t even hunt. The hunting is normally done by the female lion.
Look at how huge these Female Lions are. Female lions are the one who bring back food from their hunt while the male lions just wait for their wives to bring back the food.
It’s feeding time for these couple. Luckily for the female, they don’t need to hunt for their partner as the zookeeper provides them with food.
So yes I was proven right because all of the king are just lazily sitting around. The so called King of the Jungle also known as King of the Laziness.
I guess they were just wondering “when will my husband start to act like a man and hunt for himself?”
It took me roughly around 2hr 30mins to finish the self drive tour. It was an eye opening experience for me especially the fact I am driving in my own vehicle and just cruising pass these animals which we always watched from National Geographic channel since we were kids. R165 does not go to waste so if you are in South Africa and wanted a closeup of lions, do drop by Lion and Safari Park.
Note to self: Spontaneous decision might be risky but it is definitely worth a try. Why you say so? Because at the end of the day we will only regret over things we didn’t do rather than the ones we did.
Next up: Something About Pretoria
The South Africa Adventure- RoseBank and Lion & Safari Park September 9-23, 2017- Unlimited exploration. That's what South Africa got to offer from a Sunday Market straight to the wild.
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