Ever since Ama Waterways brought out their Africa Safari and Wildlife cruise brochure, I dreamed of going on it and even had the cover pinned up on my wall.

Well my dream finally became a reality recently and it was even more amazing than I could have ever imagined. My pictures were almost the same as they had portrayed in the brochure as we were able to get so close to the animals on the river (and on the land Safari in Kruger) and I was also able to get some fantastic videos of them in their own environment that you can view at the end.

Their Stars of South Africa itinerary starts in picturesque Cape Town, where one could easily spend a week touring around the area as there is so much to see. We did a full day Cape tour which starts out going to Boulders Beach to see the African Penguins (could have watched them all day) then onto the famous Cape of Good Hope sign and Chapman Peak Drive.

Since we had gone in a day early, we were also able to visit Table Bay Mountain, Robben Island and the Cape Winelands area and we still didn’t see it all !

Then onto Botswana for the most incredible river safari where I couldn’t stop taking video of the Elephants (by day 3, my husband said, you have enough footage of the elephants!!)
We got to see them playing in the water, spraying themselves as it was so dry and watching the babies learn from their mommas. Of course we also saw Giraffes, Impalas, Hippos, Cape Buffalos, Lions, Warthogs and many beautiful African birds too. We also visited a local village which was very humbling. These are just a few of many pictures I took:

Then it was onto to Victoria Falls to see one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World where the sound is so loud that the African name for the falls translates to “the smoke that thunders” The Victoria Falls hotel is filled with old world charm that feels like you’ve been transported back in time where you can peruse its history filled walls.

A quick plane ride to Johannesburg brought us to the big city where we overnighted before doing a full day tour of the city and Soweto (SouthWest Townships) that was very interesting (and sad at the same time as we saw some new townhomes that had been built to replace the tin shacks that still sit empty)

Another quick flight took us to Kruger Park to do our land safari where we were lucky enough to come across so many lions (that again – I just took way too many videos of!)

Within one day, we were fortunate to view the Big Five that everyone aspires to see – so amazing. Kruger was experiencing a major drought when we visited which was not good for the animals but great for viewing. We had morning (6am to 9am) and afternoon (4pm to 7pm) safaris which gives you an opportunity to see different animals who are more active at different times. It was so hard to narrow down the pictures to just a few and I will post some more again soon.

If you dream about Africa and its on your bucket-list, my advice is to make that dream become a reality and you will never regret it for a minute !

Video clips of the trip can be seen below: