South Africa 3 The Kruger!

The day of going into the mighty park of all parks, Kruger, arrived.... whilst I hope to not bore you with details about it here are some.. it was established in 1898 by Paul Kruger, but merged with 2 other parks in 2002 to become part of the Great Limpopo National Park. It is one of the world's greatest national parks, with the highest density of animals (we hoped to see a lot!). There are around 137 animal species and 500 varieties of bird living in the 2.2 million hectares and has many changing landscapes - and weather patterns it would seem for us! (Information from the Lonely Planet). 

When you think of the Kruger (or South Africa), the sun comes to mind.. well we seemed to have arrived in the late rainy season so over our time in the park we had equal amounts of rainy days to sunny days. As you can guess the day we went into the park it was tipping it down! The tent was soaked (we put it away wet more times than dry), this, however, wasn't going to deter us.. we had a date and location with my family who had flow into Johannesburg that morning (after delays due to a faulty smoke detector in the plane.. you would think they would check these things early on..). Arriving at the gate was simple and quick, a lovely ranger arrived with an umbrella to take our details and check in for the first campsite. They have a clever system here that if you are staying multiple nights in the park the campsites check your wild cards and check you in each day.. it's like a treasure hunt, at each site you get a new receipt and check in stamp. If you want to then stay at the park longer you can without having to go to a gate! The weather had not improved however we drove up to the most Northern point, Pfundi, where we saw lots of wet and miserable looking animals - herds of buffalo, nyalas, Impala and elephant. No cats, sadly, but we saw a lot of kills/dead animals. Despite us having arrived with rain, this part of the country is undergoing a 5 year drought and the rain is sorely needed. Animals are dying at a high rate and the landscape is bare.. we chatted to our neighbours at Punda Maria who told us they thought this time 2 years ago was dry until they arrived this year! Early afternoon as we checked we were still hopeful my family would arrive, it would be close but they would make it! We spent the afternoon in the animal hide watching the herd of elephants at the watering hole. 

At 5pm we got the message my parents wouldn't make it, there had been so many road closures and changes that they would miss the closing of the gates by minutes. It was disappointing but what's another night?! Luckily I had the coordinates for Copacopa where we stayed the previous few nights and called them. Cedric, the very lovely night guard with whom we had got friendly with, answered the phone and promised to let them in. It was a shame, but I can imagine a good nights sleep was what they needed! Delayed planes, and road closures are not a good mix for getting places on time! Charles and I sat down to my home made bread and sausage, listening to the elephants in the background. Hyenas patrolled the fences, their whooping loud across the night! Despite the day not panning out how we had expected it was a great first day, we went to bed hopeful the weather would improve.. even slightly..!!

Mum, Dad and Will arrived at Punda Maria around 8am and after bacon sarnies with a catch up we headed off into the park. It was really great seeing them all, especially Will who we had not seen since leaving the UK. Having other people there and someone who has never seen any of the African animals was good fun, we were stopping for every Impala, and when an elephant walked around the corner he just couldn't believe it! It's safe to say that despite out reservations as to whether it would be his cup of tea, he quickly got into the swing of things, stopping at every animal and looking through the binoculars whether they were needed or not! His best wheeze was to put the iPhone camera onto the binoculars to get a better photo -  good idea actually! On our first day we covered most of the common animals, seeing loads of buffalo, however they all looked rather thin. The drought here, despite the rain, has hit them hard! After their first night in the tent at Shingwedzi, everyone was getting into the groove and were excited as the animals kept rolling in; wild dog and hyena to name but a few!

We  had a rather luxurious house in the river at Mopani, a three bedroomed affair with air con and beautiful views. After sitting on the balcony in the restaurant, and having a swim, we went out on a game drive for three hours starting at 4.30 - we would get two hours of light and an hour of dark. Game drives are another 'luck of the draw' thing. It depends on how good your guide is, and again what animals are about! Our guide was ok, he gave us some good information and coupled with Charles, who is an amazing spotter, we saw elephants, tsebes which are rare in the park, roan as well as the normal animals you see all the time including some impala babies which were gorgeous! As the sun went down we were able to use the spot lights with Will spotting a civit (part of the mongoose family). Still no cats, but we had seen a lot of other animals! We arrived back to a drink on our balcony listening to the hippos! 

The next few days were spent in similar fashion, again seeing the antelope animals, as well as some other smaller predators; jackels and hyenas! We stayed at some great camp sites, Lataba and Tzendzi (a 'rustic' camp, well as rustic as camping in South Africa gets.. it still had lights in the bathrooms, toilets and hot showers..!). The campsites here are nice and actually very well priced (no daylight robbery like in Namibia and Botswana!). They all, in general, have electricity, braai grids, water and good facilities.. they even have a washing up area with a boiler for instant hot water! 

On Sunday we were meeting Ronel and Mandy at a guest house in Olifants, further down south. We hadn't seen any cats or larger predators so we were raring to get down to where there was supposedly a higher concentration. We drove down to meet them, arriving at our four bedroomed guesthouse again over looking the river. This was not before we saw a huge crocodile cross a bridge, slide into the water and then come back out with a turtle in its mouth.. the poor turtle didn't quite know what had happened with its legs waving about in the air.. Being with the parents we had been very lucky to stay at some rather nice places and was lovely to relax in different surroundings! Also not putting up and down the tent late on in the evenings and at the crack of dawn was also great! Mandy and Ronel had come up from the south of the park and had seen everything.. cheetah, leopard, lion, families of hyenas, you name it they saw it! They had had a great drive up which made us all very jealous but they only had three days and we had more so was great for them! As they arrived we got settled in, went for a swim and just caught up. We had a great braai in the evening, it was nice to cook and have every one there around the table outside. 

The next morning wasn't particularly early as we had a morning river walk booked for 8am. All 9 of us were driven to the starting point, where there were 3 buffalo waiting for us.. they are quite aggressive animals so there were a few nervous people about but the guides were great as we shimmied past them (they did however keep an eye on us as we walked along!). It was a real experience waking through the bush with the sounds, animals and smells (good and bad) all around! We also saw giraffe, impala, and kudu as well as seeing and hearing lots of birds. The guides were telling us all the rhymes for identifying birds from their sounds... some rather amusing! It was all over a bit too soon but we all went back having had a pretty unique experience.. Poor Mandy did loose her phone out of the side of the car but the guide went back and found it.. a little battered but still useable! The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent having lunch over looking the park and then in the pool! We had booked another sunset drive so all jumped on the full lorry to be greeted by Patrick our guide. I am convinced that all Kruger guides have the same key facts about each animal as Patrick asked the same questions each time as the first guide did, gems such as..Why are zebras always fat? (Because they have bacterial in their gut which makes them have lots of gas) and how can you tell a male and female giraffe apart? (How fluffy their horns are). He was a little put off that we all already know the answers, and even more so when our key spotters, Mandy, Charles and Ronel kept spotting things he hadn't.. he became a bit quiet after that and after him telling them they were wrong about a Martial Eagle (they were right), he got the hump and didn't do much talking! We did see lots of different animals, a genet and a hyena added to the list!

We decide to drive part of the way down with Mandy and Ronel who were leaving on the Tuesday. They had a lot of luck driving in, so we had hoped it would rub off on us! We had also decided to change our booking so we would arrive a day earlier at Satara camp where more sighting had been recorded. On the drive down we saw 2 rhino and many hyena (some with cubs). It was nice to see other things apart from the game animals and we were all in high spirits. It was great spending time with Mandy and Ronel, a change in pace and new people to talk to was good fun!

Arriving down south marked a slight increase in animal spottings, around Lower Sabie we finally saw some lions (from afar) and then some more closer up, which Charles saw with an impressive spot! Next to the road we watched a leopard, who was not fussed we were there, and on the same day eight white rhinos and countless hyena. Things were beginning to look up! On a night drive going from Satara (our guide Mimi being the best we had had.. no repeated questions and more than happy to stop for animals), we saw bush babies, African wild cats, lions, hyena and luckily a porcupine which really added to the drive! It was the best we had been on, 2 hours in the dark with spot lights looking for eye reflections.. such good fun and a real different feel to the park after dark!

Moving towards the West of the park we finally saw a cheetah, something I hadn't seen yet either! It was magnificent and hearing it chirrup to its mate was pretty impressive! One night in a tented house was a little bit of luxury, despite the ants in the bed, and we were off again driving back to Lower Sabie and its camp site to spend two nights there. We had a fantastic experience with a pack of eighteen wild dogs which made our morning. They were playing with a kill, then play fighting and afterwards found a rag which was also torn to pieces.. they also chased a hyena which strayed a little too close! This was the end of our run of good luck and the rest of that day and the next felt long due to lack of sightings.. it was hard for Charles and me who have seen all these animals but desperately wanted to come across them for the family.. we still hadn't seen a lion up close which was beginning to become a disappointment! Arriving back at camp after long days was tough, tempers would fray sometimes (mine was when for the second time that day I couldn't use the only washing machine in the camp site because the staff were washing towels in it which threw me other the edge!), but after the first beer and shower all calmed down! We had some great braais, some amazing steaks and lamb (bought by Ronel from their local butchery), pork and even kudu one night.. I was also beginning to perfect my braai bread which always went down well! Some nights we did quick dinners, mince or curry but this was rare, it was nice to have a fire and sit down with everyone reflecting on the day!

Charles and I had planned to leave on Sunday to track down to Cape Town, however after another long day in the Hilux (when we stayed more than one night at a site we would go in one car), we decided to stay the last night in Pretoriuskop to try and get some prime animal sighting in..  we left Lower Sabie at the crack of dawn and drove across seeing African land snails on the road (pretty cool), and then 4 more rhinos! A joke was passed around that we had seen more rhino than lion which is fairly rare! After lunch at the campsite we headed out again, seeing some very nice kudu and loads of woodland kingfishers. Finally we spotted two lions who doing what they do best.. sleeping! It was hard to see so we pulled over onto a sandy lay by (with car tracks on) to wait it out. Now, I don't normally name and shame, or publicly complain on my blog about specific people but this lady deserves a mention.. she was a game driver for a company called Nhongo safaris, who like a lot of other private companies run from Pretoriuskop carting bus loads of people around the park. She parked up, then moved, and then moved again, her guests saying they couldn't see.. instead of asking us if we could maybe move she took a photo of us and told us we were illegally parked (we were on the road and there were no double yellow lines). She was intimidating and rude and we moved on after that, seeing her reverse into the 'so called illegal' space we had vacated! It was very off putting, not at all in the spirit of the Kruger - everyone looking out for each other - and put a dampener on us seeing a lion. I can't imagine how she treats her guests! This feeling was short lived as we saw a herd of roan antelope (very rare), beautiful water buck and then a mother and baby rhino running across the road - they are surprisingly fast - which we wouldn't have seen if we had stayed watching the lion.. silver linings! A few beers, chicken curry and evening goodbyes to Will as we would be leaving earlier than them, and an early night to finish off the Kruger! What a good two weeks!  

My thoughts on Kruger.. there is no doubt it is one of the most commercial parks in Southern Africa, but it is one of the best value. Our wild cards were worth it for the time we spent there (it pays for itself after 5 days), and the accommodation is fairly cheap (the cheapest we have seen) at about £8 per person per night for camping - even the small houses are good value. The campsites are quite tame compared to Botswana, they are all fenced and all (even the more basic), have hot showers, lights and running water. It takes a bit of the wildness out of it but with the amount of predators who are very opportunistic (in Satara we had a hyena who every night would sit next to the braai on the other side of the fence) perhaps it is for the best! Pretty much every camp site has a shop, restaurant, swimming pool, alongside various accommodation types for all budgets. Very few however had great views, so camping is the best option a lot of the time! 

Up north there is a lot less in terms of predators, but we did see herds of herbivores; buffalo, elephant and zebra daily which we didn't see so much of down south. We also saw the rare antelopes roan and tsessebe here also. The landscape was dense Mopani, dry but very beautiful - it was amazing to watch it turn green and shorts emerge on the trees as the rain fell. Moving into the South, which despite our luck, is known for its many predators.. it was much more busy, South Africans on weekend visits and lots of older couples on holiday. The campsites were packed and not always as nice as up north... there is nothing like lying in bed hearing the neighbours around your snoring! Will got up for the toilet one night and said it was like a choir as he walked passed the tents! The landscape down south was stunning, more how I would have imagined.. green, hilly and rocky. There were thousands of Impala but not much else in the way of antelope. 

Doing Kruger as a family was great, having them there to share the experience made it more interesting for us (especially when Will was seeing all the animals for the first time)! Seeing them get fed up of impala was also amusing..! Having a reason to cook in the evening and try out new foods was fun, chatting about the day around the fire helped us relive and not forget what we had seen! It also sometimes caused disappointment, especially with the lack of lion spottings but as I keep saying.. it is luck of the draw! Charles and I are now heading down to Cape Town, we have 9 days to pack in as much as we can along the East coast before meeting up with Gill and Roger who fly to Johannesburg on the second and then CT on 6th. There is so much that we won't see but I do feel with this country we can easily come back in future! 

 (Buffalo)

 (Impala-la)

 (Croc with poor terrapin)

(Baby Croc)

 (Southern Ground Hornbill)

 (elephant)

 (leopard)

 (rhino)

 (lions from afar)

 (cheetah)

 (baby zebra)

 (wild dogs)

(wild dog)

(hyena)

(fish eagle)

 (kingfisher)

(roan)

 (Will)

(breakfast in the rain!)

 (bino-phone trick!)

(Kruger river walk)

(woodpusher sticker added to the others!)

#southafrica #africa #kruger #savetherhino #nhongosafaris #overlanding 

South Africa 2

Please excuse the lack of photographs at the moment.. (now updated on all blogs I hope 14.11.16) I am currently experiencing technical difficulties with my blogging app.. nothing is ever easy!

Arriving back in South Africa we spent a night back in Nelspruit at a much busier campsite than when we had left it. There had been an all weekend running race on  so the camp site was packed - we took the last spot and claimed our area! It was buzzing most of the night, it didn't help that we were next to the local shabeen (pub) that was pumping util 2am. At 5am we were woken up by our neighbours who had forgotten that tent canvas isn't sound proof, so we started Sunday rather early and with a frosty 'good morning'! By 8am we were raring to go, having had 3 cups of coffee to kill some time. We drove the short 60km to Hazyview a small town before the southern point of Kruger. Arriving at the immaculate Kiaat Campsite, we had lunch and planned our time there in the boiling sunshine. That afternoon we booked (and paid for on credit card - this fact is relevant) an Ariel zip line over the forest (1.6km of zip line) for the next morning, so arranged to stay in Kiaat for 2 nights with the lovely owner who allowed us to use her washing machine free of charge!

Well waking up the next morning the heavens had opened and the thunder gods were at war.. the rain was lashing down with our back canopy of the tent becoming a lake! As the lightening came down we realised we really didn't want to go zip lining and postponed it till the next morning.. one of the first things we have booked and paid up front for, and we had to post pone it! The rain kept going strong until 2pm when finally it subsided, we had been watching movies under the canopy in the mean time! We had to get out and do something as cabin fever had set in so we drove to the nearest mall to grab a coffee! Bizarrely as we parked we saw a Toyota we recognised.. it was Eve; we had met her and her father at Ngepi Camp (see Namibia blog), who were travelling Southern Africa together (see Figure of 8 Africa on Facebook). She is working at one of the game lodges here, and as we walked back to the car she was waiting for us! It was great to catch up and chat.. what a small world! The sun made a tentative effort to come out that evening, and despite us not enjoying it, the 37mm of rain recorded by the campsite owner was sorely needed for the region. She had told us it was the worst drought since 1905 and the area was struggling.

Tuesday came and the sun was out (suncream on by 7.30am), and we drove to the Skyline tours for 8.30am. After our briefing we were let loose on the Ariel zip line. It was pretty cool, once you got over the 'hope I'm not going to fall' fear, the view was amazing and was the peacefulness. As all things it was over far too quickly (it took us 1.5 hours), and whilst I would recommend it, it was quite expensive! Lunch was a pizza at a local restaurant with a glass of wine, whilst clothes and groceries are comparative to the UK here, eating out it so much cheaper... two pizzas, plus drinks and coffee for £20, you certainly wouldn't get that back at home!

Since leaving on this trip Charles has been desperate to get on a motor bike, if I had a pound for every time he said 'this would be nice on a bike' we would have been able to have funded another year. The previous day when going for coffee we saw an off road bike tour for two hours for £35. I managed to convince him to do it, which is harder than you would think.. he has all these things he wants to do then decides not to at the last minute!  That afternoon,after our lunch out, we drove to a lodge outside of Hazyview where for the next two hours Charles got to go off-road biking with a guide. The tour group was Adrenaline Adventures (see Adrenaline Adventures Hazyview on Facebook) who had been up and running for 6 months. Charles' guide put him through his paces on a Kawasaki KDX200, and his face was like a child's at a Christmas! He came back buzzing, said it was the best money he had spent in a long time - it was at the right level for his ability, and got to go on some amazing trails! Anyone heading that way, he said, and likes motor bikes, should give it a go! I meanwhile, sat in the bar and drank wine, winners all around!!

One more night back at Kiaat, then off on the Wednesday. This wasn't before I got my treat in! There was a stables nearby where you could go on mountain hacks. I arrived and spent the two hours on a horse around the mountains. My guide was fantastic, she knew about the local area, farming and nature and kept me entertained and on my toes for the two hours! We spend the last 20 mins rounding up loose horses which really tested me! Having only been on a horse once (in Malawi) since I was about 12, cantering up and down fields was harder than I remembered! Safe to say I wasn't walking elegantly afterwards and for the next few days was very stiff! Our time in Hazyview had been a real success, and our next stop wasn't far.. Hoedspruit another pre-Kruger town and the attraction we had both been waiting for!

Before reaching Hoedspruit we drove through the Blyde River Canyon, the third largest in the world.. I presume after the Grand Canyon and the Fish River Canyon. Driving through it gave us more stunning scenery. We stopped off at God's Window, a look out point for miles around but were much more in awe at the view at the Three Rondevaals. The weather was stormy in the distance which just added to the dramatic effect of the mountains around us!

After a night next to a fishing dam, where Charles had spent time fishing that night, we woke up again to torrential rain! Thunder and lightening from both sides of the valley crashed until gone 10am. Myself, having developed this annoying habit of waking up at 5.30am, had made coffee in the flasks and taken it back up to the tent. It isn't often we lie around in the tent after we have woken up but the thought of a soaking tent, and soaking clothes kept us up there until 9am! Finally we concluded we would have to get up, and put the tent away wet, not something we like to do especially as we weren't staying in it the next night. After getting some food we arrived at Jessica's house....

Jessica is a hippo.. a tame hippo who lives with a game ranger and his wife on the edge of the Kruger. Having spoken to Shirley, his wife, I had arranged to sleep at their site that night in their tree house. We arrived there at 10.30 and got on the tour to see Jessica. I LOVE hippos, they have so much character and the noise they make never fails to crack me up! Meeting Jessica, I was a little star struck! She was found orphaned due to flooding when she had just been born and had been raised with them. Now she flits between the wild pod and the rangers house, doing star appearances in between, we were able to feed her sweet potato, Roibos tea, as well as give her a little kiss! It was incredible, just being so close to one of natures biggest killers, the biggest killer in Africa, to be able to see her whiskers on her nose, as well as her amazing teeth! It was an incredible experience! We couldn't check into the tree house until 2pm so headed out to an Italian for an amazing lunch of a burger for Charles and gnocchi for myself; washed down with wine and coffee! Arriving back we checked into the treehouse, a three bedroomed house, for our exclusive use! It was homely, basic, but our room was separate accessed by a staircase into the trees.. pretty cool! Next to the Blyde River we spent the afternoon watching Jessica, and Richie, another rescued hippo!

From Jessica, and after having fed her 2 more times, we drove up towards the northern point of Kruger, a town just outside. Arriving a couple of days before gave us time to sort out the car, free up some space and buy food and drink for the Park! Seeing the family was getting close and we were beginning to get excited for the Kruger with them!

(the sunland baobab.. the largest in the world.. it did have a bar inside it but it split!)

#africa #southafrica #adrenalineadventures #jessicathehippo

South Africa (round 2)

I meant to post this blog a few days ago however thanks to a new update on my iPad I didn't even want, my normal blogger app is now not working! Great when you have been writing and it crashes.. lots of swearing at Apple, and now 3 'In the pipeline' blogs to forever stay in the pipeline.. anyway I felt I had written too many blogs about the trip to keep you all in suspense about the final hurdle so I found a new blogging app, and despite the text on screen not keeping up with my typing, has proven thus far to work! May just mean I have to actually proof read my work!

Driving into South Africa from Botswana wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. We had been across here the previous time we have visited Pretoria so we knew the formalities! This time we had to sort out the carnet and also hope I had counted how many days I had on my visa correctly. Leaving Botswana we had to get the Carnet closed, a simple enough process - stamp out of Botswana and the customs officer to fill out the closing page. Because of the 5 country secure customs policy these borders don't often close Carnets so we did have to instruct the officer however once he knew what he was doing it was all fine and our carnet was free to be sent home to get our deposit back (around £400). On the South African side, after explaining about our Carnet expiring, the customs officer agreed to give us a Temporary Import Permit (or TIP), the biggest problem being she couldn't be bothered to do it..! They gave us 6 months for free which will be more than sufficient! The customs officials in South Africa really know what they are doing, and they don't take rubbish from any one.. on the incoming side of the desk a truck driver was trying to get through without a TIP, the customs officer was having none of it and a male officer stepped in as he was disrespectful to the female officer attending him! It was good to see! We left the border only after we were stopped for a pula check by a policeman who was searching for pula as he was 'taking them'.. taking them for his own pocket more like.. despite having 600 on us I politely told him unfortunately not we had spent them all on fuel! Funny how quickly you learn to stretch the truth in Africa!

We arrived in Pretoria at Charles' family around lunch time and were treated to a braai. Mandy arrived home from work, she is now back in the real world, and it was nice to catch up and get up to date with their plans for the future! Things seem to be moving forward steadily for them which is great (they are still posting as Where to Next Africa on Facebook).

We spent a week in Pretoria with the family, the first few days we spent some time shopping - stocking up on bits and pieces, clothes and shoes - and getting the car serviced and washed (!!). This was a painful affair as we only wanted the oils changed but things kept being found that really needed to be fixed.. a small, cheap job turned into an expensive and long job, however at least the car is running fine etc! Mandy had three days off over the weekend so we spent Friday with her and Ronel at the Cradle of Humankind. It was a interactive museum documenting the earths evolution, it was great and included a boat ride through different kinds of rock! We also went to some caves where they found some of the earliest fossils of man - this was hilarious, us four definitely being the naughty school children at the back.. our guid was very funny also attributing and crediting the first 'pout' to Mrs Ples, an example of the first modern woman (or could be man they still aren't sure!). Our journey home included seeing lions, bison, brown wildebeest and a white tiger! Very surreal and only in Africa!

Saturday we went to a beer festival at the Pretoria Botanical Gardens with Megan, Charles and Mandy's cousin, and Matt, her husband. The weather was amazing, and the selection of beer and cider was huge, as well as cheap! The music was pumping and it was a really great day! Arriving home we realised we should probably eat so we headed off to Ocean Basket for sushi! All in all a great day!

After spending Sunday chilling and braaing, Charles and I decided to head off on Monday to explore a little! We drove to Bela Bela, to a hot spring resort.. it was a little like an African Butlins, but the pools and hydropool were lovely! The weather again fantastic as we lazed about around the outside swimming complex! I keep referring to the weather because after crossing the border the weather in general got colder with rain and storms most nights (Ronel and Mandy were convinced we brought it with us!). It was a little too commercial for us and we headed towards Mablingwe, a private game reserve the next day to spend the day and evening. The private reserve was amazing, it wasn't expensive to camp and you could drive around the beautiful landscape with a fair few animals and some spectacular private homes! I had a sneaky look at them online and there were some huge ones.. 7 bedrooms with a gym, swimming pool and private watering hole.. how the other half live!
As the afternoon rolled on the storm clouds began to close in, there is nothing like a storm when you're in a tent (we had experienced this once in Angola), so we got everything ready to weather it out! The rain was pelting down, the thunder rumbling and the lightening ripped across the sky, we soon realised our awning was doing very little to prevent the rain coming in so for the first time on the trip we put the sides up. This helped a lot even when the hail started raining down - this was so strange! In true African style the storm began as soon as it started and the sun was back in the sky! We settled down to our braai and wine finishing of the day in style!

Wednesday was my birthday so back to Pretoria we went to go out for dinner with Ronel, Mandy, Megan and Matt. I was very spoilt, Charles made me breakfast, we went out for lunch and dinner was a very nice pizza and the Village Bistro! A very lovely day, and very lucky to spend a second birthday on the road!

Having around two weeks to spend before my family come over, we decided to head out towards the North Eastern part of the country to end up at the top of Kruger. Our first post of call was Dullstroom, a small English type town set amongst rolling hills and beautiful scenery! Journeying there went past Belfast and were shocked to see so many trees down. They weren't cut down but blown over, roots were up on pine trees that used to stand meters tall, rows of trees and branches ripped off, alongside tin roofs and metal littered across the ground. It was such a shock and we were told they had had a small hurricane type thing in the last few days! Arriving in Dullstroom we realised there were very few campsites, we had an inkling that was the case so headed towards the accommodation centre. The ladies there were fantastic, finding us a one bedroom self catering house for a really good price, they also managed to give us huge discounts so despite it being more than we would normally pay it was cheap in comparison to the UK. The house was fantastic, it was the first time we had rented a house and it was such a luxury! Oven, fridge, toaster, kettle, sofa, DSTV (decent television), two bathrooms, a bath and a very comfortable bed! It even had a small outside area and a braai! Three nights we had booked for and they were well worth the money!

We set off to explore the town the first afternoon - set amongst pine trees, it was a long high street with lots of craft shops, restaurants and coffee bars! We got slightly waylaid by the self proclaimed 'English' pub which was a good substitute and arrived back at the house slightly merry! It definitely felt like we were on holiday! Our second day, after a coffee, we drove the 21 km to Tolteldoos, again the drive was stunning, rolling hills, cliffs and green grass lined the way there, zebra, bonte-bok and heartebeest grazed by the road sides. Animals out of the way it could have been Wales.. we arrived in the small, farming village and stopped off at 'The Cheese Shop'. Our cheese platter of 8 cheeses was amazing, and the home made chutneys topped it off! I am normally a cheddar girl but there wasn't one cheese, including the stinky one, I didn't like! As we drove back we past a biker group sat outside the shop having a drink, we joined them and after getting chatting got given a Honda African Twin hat - Charles was rather happy! We got chatting to Ross who owns a farm in the area, and before we knew it we were chilling at his house by the pool overlooking the surrounding countryside! His hospitality was amazing, and we left after dinner to drive the dodgy road back to Dullstroom!

Saturday, our last day in luxury was spent wandering around the surprisingly busy town.. we have yet to buy many souvenirs and as the trip is coming to a close we are now 'panic' buying! This plan is to our detriment because in South Africa and the more touristy places the prices are a lot more along the West Coast.. serves us right for being tight at the beginning! We managed to find a cheese shop so bought some locally made cheese and munched away on it back home! We won't be making cheese eating a normal thing.. back to the exercise!

We moved towards Sabie along Long Toms pass an alp like road twisting and winding through the mountains. The scenery was awesom and made the driving far more intersting! The car complaining a couple of times.. funny smells coming from the gear box but after a quick cool down and coffee it seemed to be ok!

In Sabie we camped a night there.. back to reality, but we met up with Max whom we had met in Botswana. He came for a beer and invited us to his the next night about 30 minutes away. Leaving Sabie the next morning we visited Chimpanzee Eden, a chimpanzee rescue place. It was a great place, on our tour the guide, who was very knowledgeable, told us the back stories of the 34 chimps they have there. It was amazing to hear the levels of cruelty some of them faced in circuses and private houses.. makes you wonder! The work they were doing there was great, but as like most charitable organisations very under funded. It was definitely worth a visit however! We stayed the night with Max in White River, it was a beautiful house with a very comfortable bed.. having stayed in a proper bed under a proper roof more often than our tent in the last two weeks I feel I may have to get used to being on the roof again!

Leaving White River we stopped off at Max's wood workshop where his family make custom wooden furniture. There were some beautiful pieces, the smell of the wood reminding me of my Grandfather's garage! Funny what smells can do! We had a vague plan to head to Nelspruit, mainly to get an electrical plug converter.. despite us having a South African plug adapter, in most campsites they have electrical hook ups for caravan and trailers.. not useful for us! Finding one in campworld we spent the afternoon walking around the Botanical Gardens. For 30 rand each it was a bargain, with different sections - the river, rainforest and medical gardens. Another successful day trip!

Spending the evening in Lake View Lodge (incidentally with no lake..), we had a little look on the map and realised that being so near to Swaziland we may as well pop in. With the two weeks left before Kruger we have a lot more time than when we are bombing down to Cape Town after. A quick decision, again demonstrating how often our plans change!
#africa #southafrica #overlanding