Off we went to the northeastern Mpumalanga region heading for Kruger Park. We drove about half way and stopped over in a sleepy village called Dullstroom. This place reminded us of a little Canadian town; it had nice, cute cafes, and shops for beads. We stayed the night and the next morning headed out to Blyde River Canyon.
ng fun, we even had our first bribery incidences; one involving a corrupt park ranger and the other with a bogus speeding ticket that we had to “pay right there”. Got out of the canyon and rolled into Phalaborwa, which is one of the gate towns for Kruger Park. At five thirty the next morning we went to the gate and got our tickets squared away and then we were off!
We drove through the gate and within 2 minutes we saw our first Impala, within 4 minutes we saw our first giraffes, and within 10 minutes we saw our first elephant. The park was so beautiful and wondrous that it’s really hard to put into words. We drove over hills and valleys, through dense thicket and scrub lands. The rivers we crossed gave us the opportunity to get out of the car because the bridges are a safer place to get out. Hippos and crocs were relaxing together while Waterbucks were drinking. Amazing wildlife was all around us. The day was spent driving up to the northern camp of Mupani and back down to the central camp of Letaba; we saw Impala, Steinbok, Hippos, Crocodiles, Elephants, Zebra, Giraffes, and Waterbuck, plus a rare endangered Horn Billed bird.
At Letaba we stayed in a nice cozy Safari tent that had four soft beds waiting for us! Quite the first day! Much excitement and so much wildlife!
The next day was just as exciting! We saw a Rhino off in the distance sleeping, and later it walked straight in front of our car! A huge herd of Elephants drinking and grazing, our first Gazelles, and our first Buffalos, plus a weird tall bird that looked like a roadrunner, and other amazing birds like hornbills (Zazu), and warthogs. we ended the night staying in Olifant’s River camp in a round hut for the three of us! Olifant’s is the only camp built on a hill in Kruger and the patio had an amazing view of the forest below; we watched the Giraffes graze as we ate dinner! That night the three of us went on a night drive through the park to see all the nocturnal critters! Springhares, hares, a Genet, and some elephants and hippos were the highlights of the night!
Our last day came sooner that we thought. We got up early again to get a whole day in. Right away we saw a hyena walk right in front of our car and pass within inches of the door. We looped back around to the camp and we found some lionesses that were laying on the tar road.
Turns out that those two lions had seven lion cubs with them! We watched little baby cubs crawl around and walk all over for about an hour! They blocked traffic and ran around exploring together as a small pride. It was really a highlight of the park! Then later on we drove south towards Satara rest camp and came upon some cars. Turns out there was a Leopard right next to the road sleeping in a tree!
We watched him sleep for a while before continuing south. We spent the day driving south towards Pretoriaskop to leave. More Elephants, Giraffes, Rhinos, and loads of Impala later we got out of the gate with only minutes to spare as the sun was setting! Kruger Park was truly an epic experience that we’ll never forget.
Back to Joburg to return the rental and pick up our car after the money transfer went through. We loaded up and headed south to a small town called Parys which is situated in a huge valley that was created by a meteor around 250 million years ago. In the morning we had a little hike around the guest house and then drove the crater’s rim to get a better view. Then onto another small town called Clarens. This place was the picture of small town. Our guest house was called the Blacksmith’s Cottage and was just like snow whites house. Alex wasn’t feeling well the next day so Elspeth and Sarah went on a drive around Golden Gate National Park and did a small hike. Alex scored some tickets to a concert with Elvis Blue, the winner of South Africa Idol, for that night and we all went. The opening act was a pair of guys that played covers, and one guy was a super hippie, but he taught himself to play violin in a local cave he lived in. The locals we all so nice and the drinks were given to us liberally!
On to the Drakensburg mountains, gorgeous views of the whole range of mountains from our hostel. The afternoon was spent drinking and playing banana-grams. We met many couples there from France, Germany, India, and South Africa during dinner. We were convinced to do a hike around the mountains and so we signed up to do a trek the next day at a feature called the Amphitheater. The morning started off cold and really foggy.
The hike was steady but soon turned into us all climbing up a 250 meter gorge to the top. Our legs were burning all the way up and when we summited the view was fantastic. The clouds had burned away and the view was of the whole valley. We later saw the worlds 2nd highest waterfall on our way down, which was really just a trickle down a cliff, but still! Steel ladders were strung down the side of the cliff face which made for an extremely scary descent. The first part was a 9m ladder that wasn’t so bad and then an 18m ladder that went over a cliff that you couldn’t see. The descent was very scary for most but when we got to the bottom we both felt a sense of accomplishment and general badassery!
Driving from Drakensburg to Coffee bay the next day was a long and troubling trip. Fog so thick we had to drive about 15km/hr on a highway, wrong turns and rain made the day really tough. We got in really late (i.e. 9 o’clock) and had to spend the night at a guest house that was “organic” and really into the “hippie” vibe, our room had a bird nest in it and smelled of pot, straw, and cat pee. We left quite early the next morning to escape and got to a hotel on the beach called Hole in the Wall, not because its hidden, but because it’s situated right next to a natural formation called Hole in the Wall that was carved out by water long ago. We went on a hike to see the hole and ended the day watching Whales jumping and playing off the coast! What a treat to watch from the coast as the sun was setting low.
The Nelson Mandela Museum in his home town of Qunu was on the way to Chinsta which was our next stop down the coast. After an amazing visit to the museum Some hostel are really cheap and shabby, this was a mecca for backpackers and travelers. Right on the beach with free activities and great family style dinners. We signed up for a beach horse back ride the next morning, and the ride turned out to be a lot of fun. Running on the beach with the horses and sea breeze in your face was such a great way to spend the morning. We all had different rescued horses that all had their own personalities. Alex’s was the lead horse, while Sarah’s was a follower of Alex’s. Elspeth’s horse was the horse with the worst past and liked to keep near the rear of the pack. We spent the rest of the day driving to Addo Elephant Park, which is a small national park. We did another drive around the park to see Jackals, Zebra and a troop of Elephants that had about 100 females and a bunch of males playing in the water hole. We parked our car and watched the fun/chaos for about an hour. We later saw lions sleeping in the bushes, some Elands and the famous Dung Beetle, two different snakes cross the road and many more birds.
Wow, this sounds so amazing! I expected to hear about some of these animals, but whales were a surprise! Glad to hear you're having so much fun and seeing so much!!
ReplyDelete