Johannesburg, South Africa
I was up early the next morning. I was due to get my rental car from Avis at 8:00AM, so I went down to breakfast at 7:00AM. The breakfast buffet was good, though not overly large. However, definitely enough to choose from.
Hyatt Breakfast
Hyatt Breakfast
After breakfast, I check out and walked down the hall to Avis where I picked up my rental car and then set off for Hartbeespoort.
Rental Beater
First stop was a 90 minute horseback "safari". While I had a relatively good time, it felt a bit like a canned experience. We saw some animals fairly close up, but I greatly preferred the game drive in Kenya. I suppose the animals here were essentially wild, but they were definitely used to seeing people and horses so it didn't really feel like we were seeing wildlife. It felt more like visiting a zoo or an amusement park ride than a safari.
That said, I only had a day in Jo'burg and was struggling to find things that looked interesting. This seemed a good option at the time and it was a decent way to spend a couple hours. The price was also quite reasonable at around $20 US.
Arriving at Horse Safari
Arrived a bit early
Horses
Horses
There were a fair number of people booked for the same time slot, so they broke us up into several groups. I was put with a family of five from Texas who were all accustomed to horse riding. They also declined the helmets, I wore a helmet though. This was my second time on horseback, so I was at a bit of a disadvantage. We set off and we saw a single giraffe a few minutes later.
Giraffe in the Bush
Giraffe
Giraffe
Giraffe
Group
Wildebeest
Wildebeest
Wildebeest
Wildebeest
Wildebeest
Wildebeest
Group
Game
Game
Impala
Reindeer
Kudu
Oryx
We eventually found the zebras. The guide Blessing called out to Jeff the Zebra and Jeff came trotting over to greet Blessing. Jeff was a bit skittish around new people, but he was fairly brave for a zebra and obviously habituated to meeting people.
Jeff and Blessing
We then each had the opportunity to pet the zebra, though I declined the selfie.
Jeff the Zebra
Lurkers
Jeff
Kudu
The "safari" ended at the start point. Below is my horse Sugar. Sugar was stubborn and independent, but I good horse.
Sugar
Next up I'd booked an elephant interaction at a place 30 minutes away. I arrived a bit early again, so I waited around while the rest of the group showed up. I should have done more research before I chose this activity. There were at least 50 other people in the group and the whole thing was more a petting zoo than anything else. The tour began with a spiel trying to get us to buy a DVD of ourselves with the elephant and went from there. It took about 2 hours and most of that time was spent waiting around for everyone else to have their turns. It was a bit boring.
It was also relatively expensive for what it was. The activity cost about $55 US. By comparison, I had a private encounter (feed, then brush/wash) with an Asian elephant in India for about an hour last year and that cost $65 US.
Then there was another fellow there around my age who decided that since we were both there alone that we should be best friends. I tried to be friendly, but they guy was a bit annoying. Anyway...
Elephant Sanctuary
First activity was feeding the elephant a handful of food pellets.
Elephant Feeding Time
Elephant Feeding Time
Elephant Feeding Time
Elephant Feeding Time
Next up, we got close up to the elephant and were allowed to touch their trunk, tusk, elbow, tail, etc. That was pretty cool. Meanwhile the handlers encouraged the elephants to participate by bribing them with food. No whips, crops, etc.
Touchy Feely Elephant Time
Touchy Feely Elephant Time
Annoying dude in blue
Touchy Feely Elephant Time
The final activity was walking with the elephant while holding the trunk. I didn't really like the idea of this one, so I passed when it was my turn. I was ready to be done.
Elephant Walk
Elephant Walk
Toilet Break
We passed through the monkey sanctuary on the way out and saw a ring tail lemur from Madagascar. Also saw this small deer-type animal (name escapes me).
Monkey Sanctuary
Since I was at least 90 minutes away from the airport, I decided to head to JNB for my flight. I went via the Hartbeespoort Dam, which was a bit of a cluster f*. Being a single lane, traffic takes turns. That's how it's supposed to work. So I arrived and stopped at the very long red light. As soon as it turned green, 5-6 cars came through from the other side. Nice.
Once they'd passed, we went through. However, when we got to the tunnel (still one lane), there was a line of oncoming cars blocking the way. I don't get why, but people were freely running the red light from the other side. Traffic was snarled for about 10 minutes while the other traffic reversed back out to the main road.
Hartbeespoort Dam
Hartbeespoort Dam
The rest of the ride was uneventful and pretty pleasant. I arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare before my onward flight, which would give me time to do some gift shopping.