Day 13/14

Checked out of resort, and on the road by 9.15am, we decided to have a last coffee, and something to eat at Penny's Bridge, Hazy View. I couldn't face a waffle, but Bry managed a couple of pancakes wth lemon and sugar. An hours drive to Nelspruit (Kruger) Airport followed. Very pretty terminal with thatched roof and ornamental gardens.
Then an hours flight to Jo'burg with S Airways, surprisingly efficient and complimentary soft drinks & crisps. Arrived at 2.30pm, long wait ahead as our flight doesn't depart until 8.30pm.  By the time we had collected our luggage and transferred to the International Terminal another hour had passed, Main terminal is lovely, plenty of interesting shops and restaurants too. Seemed like as good idea to spend our remaining currency, which was very easy to do.
Flight took off on time, and landed ahead of schedule at 6.20am. We anticipated a long delay through immigration; but pleasingly we were through inside 15minutes. In fact we had cleared the terminal with our luggage inside 40 minutes.

Next stop Bristol, dropped Bry off, and headed on back to Bovey. All ok at home, grass looks like a field, too long to mow, will buy sheep tomorrow.

Well that's it, it's all over now, after all the time spent planning it, it went so very fast. save for the memories, it has been such a meorable trip, and we have had such goood fortune. Found it quite emotional at times, we alll missed Stu so much, he really should have been with us. Felt his presence quite often, especially at times of hilarity or mischief, such as when the Gt White tried to kiss Bry, or Bill's dodgy traffic cop, or the  evening at  dodgy gay restaurant that made us weak with laughter.

I really did see 60 in with fun, and Bry's 30th next week will not be forgotten. Hope you have enjoyed sharing it with us.

Apologies again for spelling and grammatical errors caused by hasty posts. Hope to add some photos in the near future.

Day 12

Day 12

Very bad night for me. Think the African sun has addled my brain. Bry and I had bought a surprise gift for Bill whilst in Cape Town which we had planned to give him last night. After a fruitless search of a our luggage, we remembered putting it in our dirty laundry bag for our onward flight to Kruger, and of course we forgot to remove it again before taking the laundry to the local laundrette – BUGGER!

We decided we would not get it back and so wrote it off to experience and planned to replace it today. During the night, I suddenly realised that I had done the same thing with a very precious and sentimental gift of a ceramic Raku Warthog, that Bill had bought me as part of my 60th birthday present. I found this very distressing and  consequently didn’t sleep the rest of the night. The following morning, after confessing  my stupidity to Bill, we made a quick return visit to the laundrette and much to my amazement the staff had  indeed found our parcels and returned them to us. Much is often said  about the dishonesty of local Africans and our experience yesterday with the crooked cop endorsed this. However, this experience in the laundrette has done much to restore our faith in the basic honesty of the very friendly and hospitable locals. They have been without question so delightful

Now it was time to set off for our final day in Kruger in search of the elusive lion and anything else we might see. We entered via Phabeni Gate and headed back towards Skukuza. The first 50 minutes we saw nothing other than a few yellow billed hornbills – was this going to be another fruitless day?

The temperature was already in the 30’s and maybe the animals were sheltering in the shade. A stop at Skukuza to check on the days sightings encouraged us to head back on the Lower Sabi road where lion had been sighted the previous day. Ten minutes after leaving Skukuza, we were very surprised to suddenly see a leopard sunning himself on the roadside verge directly in front of us. We stopped for the obligatory photographs and the leopard obligingly stood up and walked across the road posing for us. YAY – that was now 4 out of ‘the Big 5’, just a lion left.

We pressed on and after another ten minutes a queue of several parked cars and caused us to stop as they were – obviously looking at something, although we could not make anything out . We enquired from the driver of one of the vehicles what they were watching and he said that there was a lion in the gorge below. As we were able to get manoeuvre closer, we were able to see a fabulous stud lion with a wonderful mane prostrate on the rocks below, in the shade. He was so very well camouflaged and could have been so easily could have been missed. HIGH FIVES ALL ROUND – our own Big 5 completed!

(Yes, the Lion is in this picture, he is lying flat out on the floor of the gorge, his mane showing from left to tail on right in centre of picture, & well camouflaged)


Elated, we pressed on in the searing sun, this road skirts the Sabi River, and frequent pull ins at view points eventually rewarded us with two fabulous crocs sunning themselves on a sandbank, one on particular was a very big chap, not that I would argue with even some of the little ones.

Today was the day of the Elephant, numerous sightings followed including several with much younger ones, and in particular two with such sweet babies. Aaaah.

Headed back towards Phabeni Gate to leave the park, we particularly like this exit, as after leaving the park, it is possible to stop on the river bridge, where hippos and crocs seem to be everyday, and sure enough there were a couple of crocs on the sandbank, and several hippos in different parts of the river. Time to say Goodbye to Kruger National Park. It has been fabulous, much more than i expected and I wouldn’t hesitate to return.

Headed back to the resort for a much needed shower, it’s been a scorcher of a day, over 35c at times. Glad rags on and then headed out again for our final meal at a restaurant nearby that we had seen earlier in the week, and it was offering several game dishes on it’s menu. Bill opted for a regular steak which looked and tasted excellent, whilst Bryony and I chose an Ostrich & Kudu kebab. in retrospect, a mistake, we both love ostrich; but the kudu wasn’t nice. it was very strong, much stronger than venison, which I don’t like anyway but Bry does. Still to compensate I had my last “Don Pedro” of the holiday, and very good it was too. Back to finish the packing as we leave at 9am tomoz for the flight to Joburg, and then catch the flight to Heathrow tomorrow evening at 8.30pm

Day 11

Day 11

Another lovely cloudless morning, but blooming cold though! I had my usual early morning walking along the river, and the birds were again numerous and varied. The highlight being several good sightings of a Giant African Kingfisher, a beautiful and enormous bird, twice the size of our normal kingfisher, black and white coloured with a bronze breast.

Today, we set off for Blyde River Canyon, with several stops en-route at points of interest.

Here I must confess to a major boob on the map reading front and we ended up on the Sabie road rather than the Graskop road. However there were no complaints as we made another stop at our favourite coffee shop for elevenses and more retail therapy!!

 

Suitably refreshed, we set off again to Graskop.  Two minutes later, sirens and flashing lights in the rear view mirror, and we made an unscheduled stop at the request of a traffic copL  Neither Bryony or I were driving, so you can draw your own conclusion as to the identity of the driver J. Out here STOP” signs are on the major roads, and the minor road junctions have priority.  Bill slowed down at the sign, and as the road was clear continued without actually coming to a full stop. The police officer, pointed out the offence to Bill, and said it was a fixed penalty offence, incurring a fine of 750R = approx £65. We claimed ignorance of the law, but accepted responsibility. However, as we only had 450R in cash. The officer, suitably chastised Bill, and took the 450R and sent us on our way. No doubt the cash went into his back pocket, but we also got away with 50% on the fine, and learnt a lesson on SA Highway Code.

In due course we made it to Bourke’s Luck Potholes. A stunning geological formation in the Blyde River Canyon caused over millions of years. This is where according to local mythology where the River Blyde (Joyful River) is joined by the Treur River (Sorrow River) and the subsequent erosion process has caused these potholes. They are called Bourke’s Luck Potholes  as a Thomas Bourke discovered gold at the bottom of the potholes in the late 1800’s.  Dozens of photos later, we continued on through the canyon next stop being the Three Rondavels.

These striking “Three Rondavels” or peaks are named after Chief Maripi’s wives. Magbille, Mogoladikwe & Maseroto. The further 4th peak is called Mapjaneng (The chief) which is named in honour of Chief Maripi and is the highest peak.

PIFF PAFF POOF! Bill’s new explanation for everything, including bribing a police officer J & packing. & Shane . (Explantion another time) hahahaha

Onwards we headed towards  Blyde River Canyon, with an enforced stop for petrol at a Blyde River Canyon  resort, where we discovered it was a further 100km to the dam. The dam however was closed with no boat sailings as it was the winter season. I managed to sweet talk the very nice man at the resort to allow us in to their property to see the views of the dam from their site. This was well worthwhile as  they were fabulous in the late afternoon sun.

Time to turn around and head back to Sabie, for a much anticipated supper at our favourite place again. Three times in four days must be a good recommendation. Steaks for Bry and I, and Lamb curry for Bill, followed by an “Amurala Don Pedro” for me, Apple pudding for Bry, and Ice cream and choc sauce for Bill. Including drinks and coffee, plus a good tip, there was change from £40. Pretty good value.

A further hour’s drive saw us back to Sanbonanni, and half hour or so was spent on preliminary packing for our departure on Friday. It seems an age since Cape Town, having seen and done so much. Our last day tomorrow and we plan another final visit to Kruger in search of the elusive Lion. Fingers crossed all round.

Day 10

Day10

Day dawned with clear blue skies albeit a bit chilly to start. Bill had decided to have a lie in, so Bry & I opted to have a walk around our resort before breakfast. Bird life is wonderful although Bryony is not very impressed, keeps calling me a twitcherL

We followed the river through the grounds starting from the rear of our chalet. Most of the river is bounded by high electrified fencing to prevent too much free access by the hippos & crocs. After a few hundred yards we saw a lovely iguana sun bathing on the rocks in midstream.  A little further on we were rewarded by the sight of our first croc, resting up on a sandbank on the opposite riverbank. He wasn’t too big, probably only 8-10ft.  Woodland & Shining Blue Kingfishers were busy catching their breakfast, Egyptian geese grazed on the lawns at the rear of the cottages, and then we saw another croc of much the same size also warming himself in the morning sun. There were lots of quite fresh tracks of both hippo and croc in the sand on both our side and the far side of the river bank. The presence of patrolling guards is quite reassuring whilst walking near the river. We decided that tonight we would book an “alarm” call by the guards when the hippos and/or crocs come out the graze on the lawns, usually between midnight & 6am. They come and escort you from your chalet to view the beasts from a safe view point.

By now hunger was getting the better of us and we returned to the chalet to join Bill for a late breakfast. Meantime Bill had decided he wanted to return to Kruger for another self drive through the park towards the famous Sabie Sands Reserve, famous for both hippo & lion. I however wanted to stop and have a look at a small shopping complex nearby which we had passed several times and which looked very interesting. We compromised and decided to do both. On arrival at the complex we found it to be very nice with several upmarket art galleries and craft shops plus several nice coffee shops and restaurants. Late elevenses were taken at one of these, where Bry decided she quite fancied some pancakes with fried banana and chocolate sauce J Not to be outdone, I opted for a  fresh baked waffle (without syrup) but with blueberry ice cream JJJ  Reckon mine was best!  Bill just had his usual latte. This coffee shop also had a lovely gift store attached and also sold some lovely foodstuff and interesting alcoholic beverages. Both of which we purchased.  Now it was time to head into Kruger again.

  Phabeni Gate is the nearest park entry point to us, and this is where we headed. On arrival, the usual entry formalities ensued, including a search of the car boot; whereupon the guard spotted the alcohol we had just purchased, and advised us it was not permitted to be bought into the park, so we could not enter!! Grrrrr. An about turn was made and we hurried back to the resort, dropped of the booze, and quickly returned to Phabeni gate, we finally entered the park at 2pm

After our two previous successful safaris, hopes were high that we might spot the elusive lions that had so far evaded us. We headed back towards Skukuza camp, to check their notice board to the most recent sightings, continually searching the bush en-route. Today, sightings of all the animal were quite scarce apart from the usual grazers, impala, kudu, gemsbok etc.   A solitary warthog was spotted, and numerous hornbills too; but no lions. At Skukuza we read that lions had been seen earlier in the day from the Lower Sabie road, as it skirts the Sabie River, so we headed off in that direction. It was a fabulous drive with beautiful views of the river. The Sabie River here was the scene of a much reported Lion kill of a hippo in the river, just before we left the UK.

Lots of sightings of elephant, zebra, warthog, & baboons  followed, and then, as we crossed one of the rivers many low bridges we saw two hippo wallowing in the river. Bryony decided to get out to take better photos and I followed her, I had just managed to get a couple when Bill shouted that a ranger was approaching, climbing back into the car very quickly, we were both severely chastised for getting out of the vehicle-oops.

Much chastened we carried on alongside the river road, more elephant sightings ensued, including one very large male who crossed the road directly in front of us. By now time was getting on as we had come a long way from the entry park gate, and we had to be back before 5.30pm. Apparently, if you fail to leave the park on time, a very large fine is imposed; but no one will say exactly how much!

We now had to increase our speed and hurry back to the nearest gate which was in fact Paul Kruger gate, but I still insisted on one more quick stop for another photo of a male warthog, he was soooo handsome.  Arrived at the gate at 5.25pm – phew!  On the other side of the gate there is a big bridge over the Sabie River, and a couple of cars were already parked on the bridge, their drivers and passengers were out of the vehicles & looking in to the river. We quickly stopped and also looked into the river, directly under one of the bridge supports was a family of 3 hippo, mother, father & baby-aaaah!!!. We watched these for several minutes, before crossing to the other side of the bridge were there were even more hippos, and another family of 3 with the obligatory baby. In the reed beds were several buffalo, and in the distance a group of 12 or so elephant. All of this, outside of the park too. Just to round of a grand day I spotted a Little Bittern fishing on the rocks just in front of the hippos-a brave bird I think, and a “Blacksmith” lapwing nearby.

Back to the chalet, and back to cooking duties, another red meat job on the brai, although I admit to being nervous whilst cooking having seen the crocs this morning, cos I still don’t know if they can climb steps or not. LL Really must find out.

Oh , & Bry and I decided to give the alarm call from the wardens a miss. We both think we have seen enough hippos for one day, & we still have one more venture into Kruger left before leaving on Friday. That is, provided they let us back in after her misbehaving today, and leading me astray too. Naughty girl.!!!!!!

Hopefully, tomorrow we will head off to Blyde River Canyon, and hopefully return via Sabie Town again for another visit to the restaurant where we had the Ostrich kebabs on Sunday.

                                                                                                           

Day 9

Day 9

1^st stop the bottle shop! Purely medicinal of course. Our resort is fabulous, but because of the timre of year it’s very quiet, and we have been the only people in the bar at night. Also collected our laundry which we had left at the local laundrette on Sunday  Clean clothes all round J

Then a 75km drive this morning took us to Thornybush Reserve in Central Kruger for a guided safari with a professional tracker. Before this we stopped for lunch at “The Garden of Eden” an oasis in amongst the  African savannah. Quite odd to see rain forest plants growing in such arid conditions. A lovely lunch set us up for the afternoon/evening safari

We arrived at Thorneybush at 2.30pm where we were met by Thomas, our guide & driver, & Nicolas our tracker. Our vehicle was a long wheel based land rover with seating for 10, however there was only the three of us, which was lovely. Own own private safari.

There are not enough superlatives to describe what we went on too see. The weather was quite cool, 19c, & somewhat cloudy, and a little breezy too. This actually affects the animal’s behaviour and makes them less inclined to be seen.

Thomas set off on the track of some Lions, passing on route a female warthog & her baby J , and also a Bustard.  We spent the next 45 minutes searching fruitlessly for the lions to no avail, although we did find where they had been laying up earlier in the afternoon.

After another 20 minutes we came across a group of rhino feeding, and Thomas guided us to within 10feet of them. We all managed to take some lovely photos to be posted later. Reluctantly leaving the rhino we carried on our search for Lion. We then came across a group of Baboons complete with young, and a solitary male buffalo. Next we came across a herd of over 200 buffalo, resting in the grass. As we came closer, we saw that one was about to give birth. As we began to watch it was apparent that our presence was causing her some distress ,so we moved away a short distance; but still within viewing distance. Ten minutes later the calf was born, the rest of the herd carried on obliviously. Mother buffalo studiously licked her calf clean, and continued to do so as we left her in peace. What an unbelievable experience! Our guide Thomas with 15 years of experience had never witnessed such an event before. So how lucky were we?

& yes I have lots of photos too.

Our drive continued deeper into the park, and deep into a sandy gorge, where we came across a recently felled tree blocking our path. Thomas wanted to carry on as the tree had been felled by elephants with the last half hour, so Nicolas was dispatched with tree loppers to remove some of the smaller branches to allow us to force a way through, which we did, his driving skills were amazing.  A further 10 minutes followed and then we were rewarded with our first sighting of a large matriarch female elephant, and distant sightings of her herd of a further 12 females & juvenile males enjoying themselves at the waterhole. The younger males were particularly exuberant, and frolicked in quite deep water, until the large matriarch decided enough was enough and angrily trumpeted at them and then she moved in behind us a little to close for comfort. So we moved on.  In between times, we had many sightings of antelope, impala, water bucks, eland and lovely yellow billed hornbills (Same as Yazu in Lion King) plus Vevet monkeys and guinea fowl. A small herd of wildebeest were seen grazing beneath some acacia trees. There are no large hers of them in this part of Africa, because they prefer grazing on large opens plains, like those found in the Serengeti or Masi Mara. Another solitary male giraffe was grazing nearby. It is now the rutting season for the grazing animals here so the males animals are  now on the prowl looking for receptive females.

 

By now the sun was setting and it was becoming quite chilly, and we began to head back, when suddenly Nicolas spotted a female cheetah hunting nearby. She was completely unmoved by our presence and continued to stalk her prey, a small impala. We followed her for about half a mile, whereupon she sat down within 20 ft our vehicle. We watched her for a further 10 minutes before leaving her in peace to search for her dinner.

We returned to our car about 6.30pm in complete in awe, and full of admiration for the skills of our two guides. Thomas’s off road driving skills were phenomenal, and we drove into terrain which you would believe would have been impossible to navigate.  The park gates were locked so we had a further 10 minutes wait whilst a guard was dispatched to open them. We passed this time by a study of the fabulous skies of the southern hemisphere, including sightings of the Southern Cross, Venus, Mars, Sirius, Gemini, Scorpio, and the Milky Way.

Another fabulous day. J & it only cost the equivalent of £50 each, but our memories will be priceless.

Day 8

(Sunday)

Today we planned a day of culture. A circular drive to Blyde River Canyon via Graskop, Pilgrims Rest, and Gods Window. However a slight detour resulted in a stop at The Mac Mac waterfalls, very pretty waterfall near to a small town called Sabie.



This proved to be a rather expensive detour, as what was initially planned as a quick stop for coffee, resulted in an early lunch of Ostrich kebabs. Yum yum. The delightful café/craft shop & deli also sold a lovely selection of goods, several purchases were made including some ostrich pate for tea, and some home made gooseberry jam for breakfast. The soft furnishings, and table linen are gorgeous, it’s a good job our luggage allowance is spent.   A couple of hours later we again set off for Graskop. It appears to be quite nice too; but we pressed on to Pilgrims Rest. A 19^th century gold mining town now turned into a small historical site and museum.  Bill parked the car with the assistance of a local chap, who agreed to guard it until our return. (Common practice in SA)  Pilgrims Rest is a rather primitive tourist trap. A bathroom call required us to stop at one of the small cafes. The standard of which can be assessed by the fact that on entering the outside toilet block, customers were advised that if they required toilet paper, they had to return to the café and request it from the staff!! On our return to the car, we discovered that we had parked outside the local car wash, so that was another expensive stop too as the car wash was 60 R. Mind you, after yesterdays drive through the Kruger it was very dusty.

  We then headed on to Gods Window- a magnificent view point over the Lowveld, with distant views to Mozambique from a height of 1829mtrs. Approx 5500 ft.  By this time it was past 4.30pm and the light was starting to fail. We managed to fit in a quick photo stop at The Pinnacle before returning home through Graskop forest, home to the rare blue Swallow, the forest has numerous nest boxes to encourage their breeding. There was also a great many other nest boxes approx 3ft from the ground and about 2ft square, I have no idea what they were for.

Today the weather has been cloudy, but still warm, the cloud though contributed to the haze which slightly spoilt some of the views

Minor catastrophe of the day though was the discovery that licensing laws here prevent the sale of alcohol on Sunday.
Below:- 1.MacMac Falls
              2 Gods Window
              3 The Pinnacle

1^st stop tomorrow is the Bottle Shop J

Day 7

Day 7

I awoke at 6.30am. It was still dark; but the dawn chorus had started. I wish I knew what they all were though. The ibis are very loud, and roost on our roof. Bryony is not impressed.

I got up at 7pm, and threw on some clothes over my pj’s and crept out as Bill & Bry were still fast asleep. I took the car to the far side of the resort where the river is at it’s widest and where the hippos are supposed to graze. On arrival, I initially saw some semi submerged rocks which I thought may have been hippo. Then I saw the guard who advised me that they actually return to the deeper pools about 4am, and the best time to see them is from 5pm as the sun is going down, until 4am, during which time they sometimes leave the river and graze on the grass and paths nearby.

I then drove back to our chalet, for a hot cup of coffee, it was still very chilly as the sun was rising. Both Bill & Bry were still sleeping soundly, so I enjoyed an hour or so’s peace and quiet, birding from our patio.

Lovely brekkie of fresh melon, yogurt and toast, before heading back to Hazyview in search of a launderette, washing deposited and to be collected on Monday.

Then it was time to make our first venture into Kruger National Park. Each person has to pay 180R to enter the park. Entry is rigourously vetted, identification etc is required, and the gates are closed at 5.30pm at this time of year. Therefore you have to ensure you are close to an exit gate before closing time. Not the easiest thing to managed as there is sometimes between 50 & 100km between the gates.

Entry formalites completed, inc a search of the car for weapons, we headed into the park. Twenty minutes in we came across our first spot, a lovely dark male giraffe majestically grazing on acacia trees and quite oblivious to our presence. A great start to the day, and fired us all with added enthusiasm- as if any was needed. During the next hour, we added several species of antelope to the list, including Eland, Gemsbok, Kudu & Impala. Surpirisng how quickly you can become blaise about antelope.:)

A couple of hours passed by before anything really exciting was seen, although we did divert to a damm where I saw a “Secretary Bird” several vultures, and Egrets.  We continued to drive through a good deal of scrub and scorched vegetation following bush fires, when I suddenly saw a dark shape in the long grass, imagine how thrilled I was to suddenly see my first ever Warthog. He was a magnificent male beast, and I couldn’t believe my luck. They are now quite rare and are on the endangered list. Hundreds of photos later I reluctantly ageed to drive on. However I couldn’t stop smirking. That was just a degree or two below our White Shark sightings on my “wow” list.  By now lunch time was well past, and the cloudless sky was giving us 30c on the thermometer. No elephants to be seen anywhere, starting to think that they would now be resting until after sundown. Suddenly though we came across a family of four giraffes, including a juvenile. A lovely group to see, and restored our hope that we might see more even in the heat of the afternoon sun.

Not long after we came to Sabie rest camp, and stopped for a quick drink and a bite to eat, by now we were approx 70k from our exit gate, and had just over an hour an a half left before 5.30pm.

Shortly after leaving Sabie Camp, I saw a big fat grey shape in the grass, and it was our first White Rhino, Yay J.  and then we came across a family group of them, including a baby one- aaahhhhh.

There then followed a big solitary male rhino, grazing right next to the roadside. A stunning beast with a large ivory tusk.

A herd of Zebra followed, plus more and more antelope.

We reached “Phabeni” gate at 5.10pm and headed quickly back to the resort.

 At 5.30pm we were down by our river again, and there he was!! Our first hippo, gloriously wallowing in the mud. A perfect end to a grand day of our own safari.

Supper was cooked by me on the braii with steak kebabs, spicy lamb chops, Bry’s green salad, and JC Roux’s finest sauvignon blanc.

Can tomorrow beat today? It's going to be tough act to folow