I’m back in Dar es Salaam and I’m loving Tanzania a bit more this time around. It might have to do with knowing the place a bit better. Either way, I’ve been staying Seacliff which is an 5 star resort situated on a cliff. I didn’t think I’d enjoy it as much considering I prefer a beach side resort to a cliff but it’s pretty cool to be able to wake up to the sights and sounds of the waves crashing against the rocks below. This time around I spent more time exploring some of the top restaurants Dar has to offer.

Karembezi Café is the Seacliff hotel's restaurant that sits on the cliff with amazing views while it’s still bright outside. The house music gives this place a great party vibe or the perfect place to sip cocktails at. At night, the bottom of the cliff is lit up so you watch the waves and get lost in the sounds of the ocean. It’s a pretty vibey joint as the bar, food and view calls people over to chill. Even on a week night, it’s packed!

Right next door to the Seacliff hotel is Seacliff Village which boasts many stores and ATMs but mostly it’s a place to chill at one of their restaurants. There’s a wide variety of choice from South African favourites like Spur to quaint little coffee shops. The Fishmonger, despite it's name, is an upmarket seafood restaurant. It’s a pity that although this is right by the sea there isn’t an ocean view to check out however the food is of top quality. You should definitely try the platter for one – the lobster, calamari rings and prawns are perfectly cooked. Ask for their version of tartare sauce – it’s a garlic mayo sauce. Mix it with a little bit of their fiery chilli sauce and you’ve got an awesome meal.

If a view is what you're after, there is no better view than the one Cape Town Fish Market has. This is considered the place to be in Dar and I actually think this is better than any of their franchises in South Africa. This restaurant is situated on the banks of Oyster Bay and has views all around the affluent Msanani and Masaki regions. The bay is mesmerising and every so often there are sail boats out and even little sea creatures running about on the shore. At night, the coastline is lit up and the restaurant's blue and white decor gives off a relaxed beachside ambience. The food is delicious and I'd go as far as calling it one of the finer dining spots in town.

Another restaurant around the Msanani Bay is The Waterfront. It's located at Slipway which is a centre with a number of restaurants and market stalls. You have to get to the Waterfront during sunset - it is absolutely breathtaking to watch the skies above the bay turn all shades of orange as day turns to night. Unlike the other restaurants listed above, this one has a few Zanzibari dishes. As much as I'm not a fan of Tanzanian cuisine, I really like the spicy flavours of Zanzibari food.

Trinity Bar and Lounge is a relaxing joint to chill with friends for a drink. The food is average but I really like the beach bar vibe with the thatched roof and all that natural greenery outside that hasn't been paved yet.

For those in the mood for cocktails, Newscafe is all about the vibe. It pains me to convert the prices to Rands as the food and drinks are easily 3 times the amount you'd pay in SA but I suppose this is the case all over Africa. This is the only place in Dar that I know of that has a big range of the designer cocktails I'm used to. Like all Newscafes, the food is average as people are there mostly for the drinks. The ambience is perfect for a party atmosphere. 

Samaki Samaki in Mlimani City has a cute name. It's directly translated from Swahili to mean Fish Fish. They serve all sorts of seafood and they happen to be the resident watering hole. After work, people line up at the bar counters around the tiny restaurant for a beer while catching a game of sport. I love the rustic wooden decor - chairs look like tree stumps. I tried a local fish which was delicious but I have now learnt the lesson of ordering a fillet next time as the local fish have long sharp bones that you only seem to notice in your mouth.

I saved my favourite for last: Alcove. I generally pick the best restaurant within a centre to talk about and although Karembezi makes it to the list from Seacliff, I have to add in Alcove as well. They serve Indian/Chinese cuisine and it's quite a formal setting. The food is absolutely divine. I've only ever had one average dish there - the dal makhani but if you enjoy Indian cuisine, you'll love every other dish you order.

If you think I'm missing a good spot, let me know and I'll make sure I try it on my next visit.

I’m back in Dar es Salaam but this time I’m staying at Seacliff. My colleagues go on and on about how awesome the hotel is so I had to try it out.  Almost immediately, I preferred this hotel to Double Tree. From the time you step into the foyer, it screams “5 star boutique hotel”. The staff all speak English including the cleaning staff which really should be the norm for a business hotel.

The pool where I still need to relax

Reception to chill when waiting for a cab

Upmarket feel

The décor of the hotel reminds you that you’re in an African hotel from the paintings to the colour scheme. I love the upmarket African feel and it feeds through into the rooms as well. I was very impressed with all the little amenities in the bathroom – they even had a dental care kit comprising of a toothbrush and the littlest toothpaste I’ve even seen. I’ve always said that if hotels offer soaps, shower gels and shampoos, they should offer a toothbrush and toothpaste. It’s something a lot of people forget at home. It’s just a pity that this 5 star establishment doesn’t replace it.

A little bathroom basket

I love those brown tones

There are two restaurants within the hotel. Karembezi Café is where breakfast is served every morning and I love the view. It’s situated right on the edge of the cliff. It’s so peaceful and calm in the mornings and at night it has a cool vibe about the place. It seems like the go-to spot in Dar as it gets packed even on weeknights. This restaurant offers a Western menu.

My morning view

Karembezi is situated on a cliff

The breathtaking view looking down

Alcove is the more formal restaurant offering Indian and Chinese cuisine. The last time I was in Dar I wasn’t too happy with the hotel food but almost everything I ate at Alcove has been really delicious! This is by far the best restaurant I’ve been to in Dar. It must just be noted that none of the dishes at this hotel is local – so you’ll be disappointed if that’s what you’re looking for.

A mix of Indian dishes

I notice that while travelling for work, I generally leave the office late so there's only a small amount of time in the evenings and the weekend to actually explore the city. By the time night falls, it's too late to go out and I'm too tired to even want to. I love that Seacliff has two restaurants with such different cuisines to ensure most of their guests palates are catered for. Seacliff Village is right next door with a number of restaurants to try out. So it's just a small walk away and there's more to do.

I'm definitely enjoying my stay here. Looking forward to the next week.

These articles on things singles are tired of hearing started circulating in my news feeds and I loved reading them! Mostly cos they speak truths. Also being single defined me for most of my life and I still take these comments to heart despite being engaged. So here’s my take on them with comments to my coupled up friends who used to give me the same advice.

1. “You’ll find it when you aren’t looking!”

My response: “Seriously? Just because your man found you when you weren’t looking for him, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen to everyone else. “

We want things in all spheres of our lives and we work at making them happen. Why should it be any different in relationships? For most of my life, all I wanted was someone to love me and none of the other successes I achieved. But I also knew a man was not going to knock on the door at my house looking for me.

I went out, tried new things, took up new hobbies – I was hardly ever at home. Did it work? Well I may have never met my fiancé if I didn’t go out one night when a mutual friend invited me. So I found him…when I was looking.

2. “You can’t be happy in a relationship unless you’re happy with yourself first.”

My response: “Really? You have such personal and inter-personal issues and you wanna tell me I’m not happy with myself?”

I agree. If you’re a miserable person and you haven’t “found yourself” you wanna do that first. You really don’t want to impose your issues on another person. That being said, they are many crazy peeps in relationships who haven’t sorted out the being-happy-with-themselves thing first. Most single people know what they want. They aren’t single because they aren’t happy with themselves.

I spent my single days judging my coupled-up friends and I hate to say that I actually learnt about relationships from them. I knew how I didn’t want to treat my man and the unnecessary fights I didn’t want to have. I basically learnt from their mistakes and when I finally got my relationship, I didn’t have to make their mistakes.

3. “You’re still young, you got all the time in the world.”

My response: “Exactly! I want to spend the best parts of my life in a relationship – showering affection and being showered with love.”

We really don’t have all the time in the world. Life is short so why shouldn’t we want a relationship now? Friends say I just needed to be patient because my fiancé was on his way to meet me at the right time. Tell that to my 40 year old single friends who are still waiting for “the right time”.

Did I waste my youth pining over a man I didn’t have? No. I’m actually happy with everything I did before meeting him. It would have been nice doing all those things with him, though.

4. “You deserve someone who wants to give you everything.”

My response: “Of course I do.”

How does this comment even make a single person feel better? It only makes them depressed that they don’t have it.

5. “You’re looking in the wrong places.”

My response: “Grrr!”

Coupled-up people always think single people are single cos they’re doing something wrong. Nope. It’s cos coupled up people got lucky with love and singles haven’t found that luck yet. Single people know how to “look for love”. It’s the first lesson everyone gives them so they try new things, take up new hobbies, broaden their circles of friends and go out more. I know people who’ve found love at work, at university, chilling with friends, at a bar – you can find it anywhere and sometimes you can go to these places and still not find it – it doesn’t mean they didn’t look in the right place.

6. “You should try online dating!”

My response: “Why don’t you try online dating!”

I totally agree with this one. If I didn’t find my fiancé when I did, I would have tried online dating a few months later. It’s a place that’s filled with other single people – they are all looking for someone. It’s not like going to a bar where most of them aren’t trying to find someone. One of my favourite couples met through online dating. They both happen to be awesome people and they are happy.

Awesome people do exist in online dating portals. Yes, there are tons of weirdos on there but there’s no harm in safely trying. There's also a ton of weirdos in real life too.

7. “You’re too picky.”

My response: “OMG! There are women out there with height requirements! All I want is to meet a man and see whether we click.”

I’m a simple girl – I didn’t have a list of requirements. All I wanted was someone who will treat me right and love me unconditionally – was that too much to ask for?

8. “Oh hey, but also, never settle.”

My response: “So tell me more about the parts of your other half you weren’t picky about – you know…the parts you settled for.”

Nuff said.

9. “You need to put yourself out there more.”

My response: “All you did was stand there and look pretty while Mr Right came running to you. What do you even know about putting yourself out there?”

Most coupled up people know nothing about putting themselves out there. I wasn’t afraid of going up to a guy and making conversation, I had so many circles of friends, hell I even had hobbies that interested boys. What more did you want me to do? And how much of putting myself out there have my coupled-up friends ever done?

10. “I’m engaged!”

My response: *blank stare*

Just a few months before meeting my fiancé, I asked the universe to stop with the engagements, weddings and babies. I’m happy for them – I really am. It’s just their happiness made me so reflect on everything I don’t have in my life and depressed me. Take your good news to your coupled-up friends dammit!

In fact, when I got engaged, I took forever to tell my single friends because all I remembered was my single-reaction to other people’s news like that.

I’ve been quiet on the blog mostly because I’ve been too busy dreaming about my honeymoon. When I was a little girl I dreamed of spending my month long honeymoon cruising from Durban to Italy and then spending the rest of my honeymoon in romantic cities like Rome and Venice before jetting back to reality.

A lot has changed in the time I grew up like realising that no one can take a month off if one has to work for a living and that dreamy holidays are really expensive!

What hasn’t changed is my dream for ultimate luxury in a romantic setting. And so I’ve been dreaming about the Maldives ever since I heard about it. All I knew before now was the Maldives is made up of a couple of islands and that’s at risk of disappearing cos they haven’t quite learned from the Emirati how to build their own islands. Oh and let’s not forget the awesome villas on stilts and that there’s not much to do other than honeymoon ;-). You do get villas on stilts in other holiday destinations but they are few and far between. Almost every resort in the Maldives offers villas on stilts! How romantic is it being secluded in your own little house over the ocean with a calm lagoon that’s like a pool right at your doorstep!

Before I get carried away, I realise that the Maldives is expensive. For a villa on stilts, it averages about R100 000 depending on currency exchange rates and the type of resorts just for accommodation only! So my dream honeymoon was simply that to be for a while – a dream. After all my complaining about spending money for the wedding, you know how important it is for me to save my money for a costly wedding. But this is something I really wanted and was really excited for despite the illogical spend of money. Even travel agents were suggesting I do Mauritius – a 5 star resort for less than half of what I’d pay for in the Maldives. And apparently the groom also needed to have a say in the matter *rolls eyes*.

I pretty much hijacked the honeymoon planning from him by looking only at the Maldives and sadly suggesting Seychelles and Mauritius whenever he wanted to get involved. R100 000 is enough to buy a car cash and that is way too much to ask someone to consider so I always had a feeling that the Maldives will never be mine – from a logical-thought perspective.

Luckily enough, I have a fiancé who wants to give me the world and through some tough negotiations with travel agents, Flight Centre finally came through with a quote we just couldn’t say no to. We increased our credit card limits and thought like pre-credit crisis Americans and said, “Let’s book it” – the money to pay back the credit cards will come. And the worst that will happen is a bad credit record…but at least we’ll be able to say we honeymooned in the most romantic place on earth.

After spending practically all my free time googling Maldivian resorts, keeping a spreadsheet of the accommodation costs at various resorts, wondering which accommodation type to choose and speaking to agents, I finally settled on Meeru Island. Check out their website! I simply cannot wait!

After booking and actually being happy to pay so much for a 7 night stay, I was so humbled when I realised just how lucky I am to be able to afford such a lavish honeymoon while having to spend a small fortune on a big fat Indian wedding this year. I truly am grateful to have well-paying job and a partner who earns a similar salary to me. I know I’m one of the lucky few in this country to be able to experience this! Knowing all of that still doesn’t make it easy to get up and go to work every morning :-p

I put the wedding planning on hold cos I was too immersed in the honeymoon dreams so I should get back to that. But I can’t stop thinking about the honeymoon now so if you have any tips on what to do in Maldives or how to prepare for it, let me know. 

A number of my friends got married over the years. When I spoke with them they were all full of excitement as their faces lit up to talk about planning the best day of their lives. Now that I’m getting married, people are asking me about the wedding and my face darkens and I have the grumpy cat look going on. With brutal honesty, I tell everyone exactly what’s happening. And you know what; it’s not all sunshine and roses.

I am lucky. I don’t have overbearing parents or in-laws demanding things or loudly giving their opinions. I generally do what I want to do within certain constraints. I’m luckier than most brides. My biggest problem about the whole wedding thing was the cost. Weddings are not cheap and although my inner princess wants a fairytale wedding, my outer independent-woman is like, “Woah Sunshine. What about your other ambitions that your money needs to buy?” So now I’m trying to balance the finances for a wedding, a honeymoon and a house.

Of course, if I wasn’t at the getting-marriage stage, I wouldn’t have to throw away money on a wedding, my apartment would still be sufficient and my holiday would be cheaper. Basically, I’d be winning financially and splurging on myself.

Whenever I talk about the cost of a wedding, people help by telling me to go all cheapo. But I don’t want a wedding I can afford. I want to be able to afford the wedding of my dreams.

Everyone talks about this once-in-a-lifetime wedding day experience. It got me thinking that my honeymoon is also a once in a lifetime experience. If I had to choose between the two, I’d pick the honeymoon. It’s where you’re away from everyone and just enjoying each other’s company. It’s a magical and special start to your married life in the perfect honeymoon destination you’ve been dreaming of for years. My dreams are all about the Maldives.

I noticed my conversations about the future have started to involve kids. Within 6 months, I’ve gone from wanting to live in an apartment that I own to wanting a big fancy house.

No wonder I’ve been depressed about wedding finances! Every time I think about the budget, I have to wonder whether I can also afford my fairy tale wedding, dream honeymoon and my grown up home. And the last thing I want to do is be in debt after getting married.

So I decided to logically think about the finances properly. I started a detailed wedding budget based on figures from my friends’ weddings. Please include everything – costs of all functions, outfits, honeymoon, etc. You want to know what the total budgeted amount is without the surprises. The fiancé and I were quite depressed after this exercise so give yourself a bit of time getting used to how much your weddings is going to cost. If money is scarce and important to you, like it is for me, you’ll never get over what a waste of money this whole thing is.

Wooo-saaa. Let’s get rid of that bit of negativity at the end there and get back on track. About a month later, I actually sat down with the fiancé and discussed our finances at a high level. You can go into detail if you want but it’s like slitting your wrists. When you focus on how much you spend and your inadequate savings skills, you’ll soon want to cut down on everything you think you spend too much money on, only fuelling the depression further.

We discussed how much savings we have at the moment, added in how much we expect to save every month until the wedding, added in any bonuses we (read: I) expect until the wedding and then deducted any big expenses we (read: the fiancé’s second masters degree) expect. We then compared that total to the cost of the wedding and we realised that we can actually afford the wedding and honeymoon. The house just needs to wait a while.

I’m still not getting everything I want this year but at least I know that I’m not going into debt because of this. The finance depression does get easier. Staring at the budget means that costs aren’t a big surprise – just a big amount. It feels good knowing that by the time my wedding comes, we will be able to pay for the whole thing. It’s still a horrible feeling whenever I have to give my money away and I still try to cut down on wedding costs.

It’s for everything that I want to do with my hard-earned moola that I imagine I will still be singing the wedding bill blues until well after the wedding is over. It will be a year of wanting what I can’t afford and settling for what I can. It’s be a year of mood swings from excitement to sadness. I know my friends hate it but I probably won’t be the radiant bride thrilled about everything within the wedding process. All I know is that once I’m married, all this will be worth it.

So now that I’m getting married, I suppose I need to start planning my wedding. Like most girls, I have an idea of how my fairy tale wedding is going to pan out. That was until I found out how much weddings cost! Even a small wedding costs about as much a new car.

I’ve spent the last few months angry with the world at how much I will have to pay for a wedding. If it was up to me, I’d get registered in court and then live happily ever after. After all, it’s the wedded bliss I’m after rather than the day itself.

It was me against the world so I had to have the big fancy wedding. I’m still going to be complaining about this for a while to come. Now I know nothing about the nitty/gritty of weddings so I enlisted the help of a wedding planner, Golden Thread Events, recommended by a friend. I spoke with many people about my choice on whether to go with the planner or not and it seems most people were against the idea of throwing away money to someone when I could do it all myself.

Living in Joburg and having a wedding in Durban doesn’t afford me the opportunity to be as involved as I liked. I don’t have someone to run around for me and the quoted price for the wedding planning services was very reasonable – about the price of a few trips to Durban – and having someone do the running around for me will save me lots of trips to Durban.

I met the person behind the business, Nita Maharaj, and immediately took a liking to her. I was all wedding averse and she got me so excited about getting married! She’s really easy-going and allayed all the fears that I had.

I contacted Nita in September and I’ve already given her way too much work when I only finalised the date in December. She’s been extremely supportive and provided me with three months of guidance and assistance before I even paid her! She’s super quick and I’ve been in Durban for a week and she’s already organised meetings and viewings with various suppliers. I’m probably leaving Durban before the year ends with my venue, most of my decor, photographer, videographer and various entertainment booked. Plus there's tons of ideas that I need to go over so I can bug her again on more things to book.

Did I mention that she’s also uber creative and comes with amazing ideas limited only by the budget *sigh*. If you need an events coordinator, check her out www.goldentreadevents.co.za and tell her I say hi.

So there I was having a lovely conversation with friends one evening until someone told us a funny story about how he was stopped by the cops and only then realised that his licence expired. I then pulled out my wallet and realised that my licence had been expired for 3 months already!

My mood quickly turned as no one wants the schlep of having to renew their driver’s licence. I procrastinated for a bit while lamenting about how the God, the universe and useless government departments all hate me. But I had to get it done as I had a long drive to Durban to prepare for. Also, driving around with an expired licence is a huge risk. I’m not worried about the cops as much as I’m worried about insurance companies refusing to pay out if I’m in an accident.

The entire process made me very miserable and to avoid you that misery, I decided to put together a list of things you need to bring with you in order to get your licence renewed.

• Time. Finding time was my biggest issue. The licencing departments are only open on weekdays until 3pm. This means trying to find the right time to leave work. I suggest taking an afternoon off or going super early in the morning but make sure that you don’t have any meetings that day – you might not make it back in time.
• ID photos. You might have heard of digital photos. Yeah they take em out during the application process and you might have taken them out the last time you applied for or renewed your licence. It’s really just for the traffic department to feel like they are technologically advanced because it does nothing for your application. You’ll still need 2 ID photos. You can get them outside the any of the licencing stations for about R50 for 4 black and white photos.
• A photocopy of your ID. Now if you call them, they won’t tell you about this bit (that’s if they answer their phones). All they say is that you need your ID. So if you don’t bring it, be prepared for a 15 minute brisk walk in the hot sun for the photocopy station very far away outside the licencing department. No one will make a copy for you during the application process, even though they should. Oh and you can’t take your car cos it’s a mission to find parking and you really don’t want to go through that twice.
• A black pen. There are no pens for you to use in this little office and if staff do have pens, they taunt you with the fact that it’s all blue.
• About R300. Of course, government does not embrace the information age. Make sure you have enough cash as they do not accept cards. R300 is enough to renew your licence and get a temporary licence.
• Good eyesight. The eye test is gruelling and tests peripheral vision which is not easy for people who wear glasses. If you have bad eyesight, get a script from your optometrist. You don’t want to waste a two and a half hour wait just to fail that eye test.
• Snacks. The whole process took two and a half hours. This doesn’t even count my earlier trip to the Midrand licencing department which was a waste of time since their system was down. Whatever you do, make sure you have something to snack on in case you find yourself passing your lunch time in that queue.
• A fully charged phone to keep you busy while you wait. Enough said.

Good luck renewing your licence and hopefully these tips help. 

Instead of setting New Year’s resolutions, I decided to reflect on the various things I’ve done this year and make some realistic plans on how to improve my own happiness over the next year. Here’s a few of my 2013’s highlights and plans for the next year.

To love and be loved

A culmination of things this year brought me so much closer to my boyfriend. It took a while for him to figure it out but it feels incredibly amazing to love someone wholeheartedly and to be overwhelmed by his loved in return tenfold. I spent the first half of the year playfully googling about weddings and whispering about rings. Surprisingly, my boyfriend spent the next half of the year talking wedding plans with our parents and looking at grown up houses :-).

I love our relationship’s growth over the year and all that talking and dreaming is slowly becoming a reality. We’re getting married next year!!! And although I have my reservations about weddings, I cannot wait until after the wedding when I’m actually married.

New work beginnings

I always say that a 9 – 5 job will never provide me with happiness. It’s the perks of working like getting a salary and all the things outside of work that make me happy. My move to a new job brought a salary increase, a workload increase, 6 months fully paid maternity benefits and travel opportunities. Although I’m in tears every time I find myself at OR Tambo for work, I get an opportunity to see countries I wouldn’t ordinarily visit on my own.

I love the benefits that my company has to offer and my boyfriend loves them more. He plans on having me stay put until I exhaust those maternity leave benefits. With wedding planning, I’ll be far too busy to even consider a career move next year.

Travelled to developing countries

I visited Thailand on holiday and through work I was able to see Mozambique, Tanzania and Zanzibar. All of these countries have their own beauties and natural wonders that one cannot truly appreciate without actually being there. And only once I had visited these lands, did I appreciate being born in South Africa. We have our own poverty like all these countries but we are so developed in terms of infrastructure, economy and international affairs.

I will still have to travel at least 4 times for work next year within Africa so I don’t have to look hard for these travel opportunities. Although I’m swamped with work, I will try to squeeze in as much of the local life there as I can.

Explored my backyard

When stealing some time for romantic getaways, my boyfriend and I are limited to holidaying in South Africa. This year I went to Hartbeespoort Dam and did all the touristy stuff that I missed out on the first time around. I went to Eastern Cape for the first time and fell in love with PE before exploring the Garden Route.

With saving up for a wedding, I can’t really afford little local getaways next year. I plan on being in Pietermaritzburg in April so I definitely want to explore that little town and if I have time between wedding planning, I’d love to show my boyfriend’s family around Durban.

Became a homeowner

My new job is taxing – I spent most of this year working solid from the morning until I needed to go home but the salary increase is rewarding. It’s because of this that I was finally able to buy my very first apartment. I know all about the financial advice about property and investment. And then there are the people who criticise moving jobs for money. All these people with their advice often don’t realise just how hard it is to save up for a deposit on a house. I’ve made many sacrifices for it but I’m glad that I have my own place which I intend to keep for a very long time.

I want a big house to move into after I get married but with the cost of a wedding, it looks like I’m not going to get my big house next year but I’m definitely going to be saving up whatever my wedding doesn’t steal from me.

As always my aim for the coming year is to be happy. People, circumstances and things change and we need to change along with it. That might mean changing my plans in order to achieve my ultimate goal for 2014 and the rest of my life: happiness. Wish me luck ;-).

My weekends are usually filled with socialising, being out and about and trying to squeeze in some rest and relaxation time. A while back, my friend invited me to her birthday braai which was celebrated a little differently this year. It was an afternoon of playing with puppies from a shelter, the Ark Animal Centre in Fourways.

My friend asked us to donate things to the shelter instead of buying her birthday present. What a cute idea! That morning we bought tons of stuff that the animals and people caring for them would need. The cost of running the shelter is about R60 000 a month – most of this is used to pay for dog food and the vet – so they rely heavily on donations to care for all their dogs.

As soon as we arrived, we brought all our donations to their offices where the cutest dogs were all running around between us. These dogs were let loose but not at all dangerous – they seemed to love seeing so many people coming in and out and enjoyed all the random pettings.

Doggies checking out their presents

Pretty soon, we were put to work by the birthday girl. She told us that we’d be giving little puppies a bath. Ark Animal Centre specialises in caring for pregnant mom doggies so they have a lot of pups. The puppies are kept in little areas according to their litter or breed or size. They keep the different puppies apart for health reasons and even when visitors come in to play or choose a puppy to adopt, they are required to sanitise before entering different puppy areas.

This dog was just received so she was all alone being slowly introduced to the other dogs

Puppies wanting attention

Check out those floppy ears!

The one on the right stole my heart

I have never had any pets so bathing them was a first for me. Some of the puppies were so tiny and scared of the water and others loved being pampered. I stole out some time to play with all the puppies – one of which stole my heart and I wished I could take him home. :-(

Me with a clean dog

Trying to escape the bath

Afterwards, we started a braai at the back and mingled with the people that care for the dogs. I have such respect for these people who give up so much of their time for these animals and they know each animal by name! They also rehabilitate dogs that may have had traumatic experiences and try to rehome them.  

Our braai

Me, the birthday girl and the angels that take care of the dogs

We found a newborn! He woke up for this pic

If you’re interested in getting a puppy, please look at adopting from a shelter. There are so many dogs out there that I cannot understand the concept of breeding dogs to sell them. Ark Animal Centre will assist with the whole adoption process.

A newly adopted pup

This cutey also got adopted later that day

If you can’t adopt, you can sponsor a pup and you can visit as much as you like – kinda like having a dog if you can’t keep one in your apartment. The Ark Animal Centre loves having visitors to give the puppies a cuddle or take the dogs for a walk so if you want to volunteer you time or have a day like ours, just give them a call.

If you want more information, check out their website: www.arkanimalcentre.co.za. Donations are much needed and if you want to contribute financially, their banking details are:
Ark Animal Centre
FNB Cheque Account
Account number: 62335841301
Branch: Broadacres
Branch code: 204809

There are so many ways to help

I left with a heavy heart knowing that I couldn’t save all those dogs but at the same time I have never felt so much love within an organisation. Somehow I just know that these dogs will be fine. And I can’t wait to organise another fun day like this where I can go back to play with them.

While planning my Garden Route Trip, The Whale Watchers kindly offered me a discounted rate on their whale trip. I have been wanting to see whales since last year when I holidayed in Cape Town in winter so I was pretty excited to go on this trip. In fact, it was probably the part of the Garden Route trip I looked forward to the most.

The briefing room

On their website, the Whale Watchers state that if you don't see any whales on a trip, they'll let you come back on another trip for free. So when we arrived at the new harbour in Hermanus for our 9am whale trip, I was a bit worried that we might not even see any whales. Our guide assured us that although it was almost the end of whale season, the bay was still filled with mother and calf pairs. 

That made me really excited and so we started on the briefing session where the guide told us all about the Southern Right whales that are popular in the bay, their anatomy and how to spot them. Pretty soon, we were on the boat jetting off to the bay. The waves were quite high but we were fine sitting in the bottom area of the boat. It took about 15 minutes to get to the bay and all the while, I was just enthralled by the stunning coastline and the amazing feeling of speeding through the ocean. When we stopped, we all went to the top of the boat to see if there were any whales nearby. Now the waves were pretty high so I tried to keep steady by sitting down.

Our guide showing us a whale's tooth during the briefing

The exciting walk to the harbour

That's our boat!

How awesome is that view!

I kept calling the mountains dirty :-). Looks quite dusty

Pretty soon, we were spotting whales and looking at them in awe. Big mommy whales were floating on the surface with baby whales nearby. We even saw some baby whales playing by jumping out of the waters closer to the shore. All the while, our guide told us more about the whales. I learnt that these whales usually mate in Hermanus and are pregnant for just over a year. During this time they migrate to the Antarctic. When they migrate back to the Hermanus area, they prepare to give birth and move to the bay where the waters are less rocky. When a mommy whale is ready to give birth, she is helped by a mid-wife whale who assists to carry the newborn calf to the surface to take his first breath of air. How cute is that! I thought we were the only animals that need birthing assistance. 

That black spot in the water is whale!

Another whale a little closer

Awww...a mother calf pair

We were given lots of stories and info like that while we were moving between whales or just staying in one spot watching a specific whale. The rockiness of the boat got too much for my boyfriend who needed to run to the side of the boat to throw up. The guide was so sweet and kept telling him that it's fine and that it happens all the time. He even got him some water and a brown paper bag for round 2. Lesson learnt: take motion sickness pills even if you think you don't them. 

Pretty soon, the hour was up and we were making our way back to the harbour with some complimentary chips and cooldrinks. Although the excitement of the whale watching was over, the ride back was pretty amazing too with spectacular views of the ocean and the shorelines. 

A cute seal statue at the harbour

I was really happy to have seen whales in their natural habitat. If you want to experience a whale trip, check out The Whale Watchers website and contact them. The whale trips are R650 per person and it is really important to book in advance as all the whale watching companies book out fast because of the amount of tourists in the Western Cape. I would also suggest going earlier than November so you can see a lot more of these marvelous giants.