August 21- 28, 2023

(Sanbona, SA)

We had a rainy last few days in Cape Town and then drove out to Sanbona for safari. My family first went on safari in 2009 and we all fell in love. There is something so soul touching about being in the lion’s kingdom. We stayed at Gondwana lodge which is a beautiful property on the reserve.

The vibe:

Elephants, Jeeps, and beanies.

Doing:

It’s winter in South Africa right now so it was freezing cold and windy, especially in the open car but we bundled up with blankies and hot water bottles. I will say, the other places I’ve been on safari were more parks (aka the animals are already there and they protect the land around them) vs. a reserve (where they protect the land and then bring in the animals for conservation). So there were definitely less animals than I was used to seeing but we were able to get a lot closer and it was still an amazing experience. Because it’s winter, everything was so green and lush, the landscape was amazing and so beautiful (and we saw rainbows!).

We also had time on our last day in Cape Town to stop at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens which I highly recommend. We had a lovely afternoon tea in their restaurant.

Wearing:

The bead work here is incredible. It’s not really my style (too much color lol) but it’s really amazing artisanship. On my last trip to Kenya i bought a bunch of stuff i never ended up wearing so this time I was good and didn’t but i love looking at it.

Watching:

On theme this week, I watched “The Elephant Queen” on the plane ride over. This is filmed so beautifully and follows a group of elephants as they migrate. You will fall in love with poor, sweet little Mimi and Wei-Wei. I’ve been soo into Planet Earth (and climate change) recently so this was right up my alley.

We also drove past where “My Octopus Teacher” was filmed here in Cape Town, i never watched it but will be adding to my list of nature documentaries.

Eating:

Soup. All our meals at Sanbona were coursed and so I had a lot of good soup. Tomato potato with basil oil (everyone was skeptical but it actually slayed) and a delicious vegetable cream soup and a mushroom soup. I always forget how easy it is to make soup and how good it is so will definitely be making more soups. Now I just said soup 10 times and it doesn’t sound like a real word. Soup soup soup.

Also tried this like peppermint (+ amaretto?) liqueur that came with my dessert, at first i really didn't like it but at the end i really did. I wish I could remember the name.

Reading:

Read “My Sister, the Serial Killer” by Nigerian author Oyinkan Braithwaite. This book wasn’t amazing TBH but big wwyd (what would you do) vibes. My sister said if I was a serial killer she would 100% turn me in, i told her I probably wouldn’t lol.

Also subscribed to CNN’s 5 things newsletter this week. These last few years I have been so bad about keeping up with the news and being an educated member of society hahaha. I know there are better sources but this drops 5 things in your inbox every morning and has been a great starting point for me.

Listening:

So i have been watching Bon Appetit and the test kitchen for years on youtube and they started a podcast a few months ago called Dinner SOS. (i sent in my cooking problem and hopefully they’ll let me on – Leah if you see this please text me back :) This one just really soothes me, Chris Morocco is the host and I love him. They recently had Mark Bittman on as a guest too and I will 100% be ordering his cook book, “How to Cook Everything.”

Love you all <3 have a great week little chickens. Thanks for reading :)

Read last week's post here