Buffalo Bay Caravan Resort, Knysna, Western Cape Province, SA – 349km

Apr. 29, 2014. Buffalo Bay Caravan Resort, Knysna, Western Cape Province, SA – 349km

As mentioned, finding last night’s Caravan Park was thanks to the book we got a few days ago and to a detailed map of Port Elizabeth we picked up. We followed the route but got a bit worried as we passed through a township right next to the garbage dump. The “homes” were pretty bad with garbage all around. We drove along the way looking for “The Willows Resort” and came across “Willow Park”. It looked pretty rough, had a rusted heavy chain with a pad lock across the entrance and a rusted sign saying to honk for assistance. We did that and out came a white lady, fag in her mouth, really bad teeth, to tell us it was a camp ground for coloureds – no hot water, etc. for $20 per night, more than we paid at the fancy resort. So sad there is still that distinction. She directed us to the “real” Willows Resort a few km further down the road, where we had a very comfortable pampered night.

We woke to another really nice day with the low only dipping to 15C. We saw a high of 21 as we drove. The highway today was in really good shape so we made great time. The only incident was a huge STOP sign on the highway right after the 120 km sign. Not sure what that was all about but no one was stopping.

Along the way we saw lots of windmills, obviously strategically situated as we felt the wind blowing the motorhome around.  As we made our way along the coast we could see the dark clouds coming in and knew we were in for a change in the weather. So far we really had been lucky.

Caracal

 

Serval (Norma's Pet!)

Today was our day to stop at Tenikwa Wildlife Awareness and Rehabilitation center. This is where they accept injured, abandoned and displaced wild animals, treat and care for them and when ready and if possible release them back into the wild. The animals for rehabilitation are not viewed as the least possible people contact the better for the success of release into the wild. Animals that are not able to be released for various reasons are available for public contact thus the “awareness” part of their program. We had a great tour seeing African wild cats, serval, caracal, cheetahs and leopards. We actually entered the enclosure with the wild cats, serval (he rubbed against Norma and let her pet him) and the cheetahs. There was a little blond boy (about 2 years old) with our group and he was not allowed into the cheetah pen. The female kept pacing against the fence, purring and really eyeing the little boy apparently as potential lunch. The male just laid there and let us get close taking pictures, etc. We were going to sign up for a cheetah walk but the weather took a nasty turn just as we got back from our viewing tour so we decided to give it a pass as we were right in with them anyway. In addition the center had a “meercat meander”, a walk through an area with marabou storks, tortises and, of course, cute meercats.

Cheetah

Thanks to the caravan book again we followed the directions to our overnight spot right on the Indian Ocean. It is raining as I type and the wind has the ocean crashing on the rocks less than a hundred yards in front of us. We have tucked ourselves in behind some rock for a bit of protection, but not in too far as we want to still see our view. The owner apologized for the weather (horizontal rain) and gave us the spot at nearly half off. As we drove along the ocean to the park we were seeing surfers out having a great time. If it settles a bit we plan to go do some beachcombing.

Meercats

Later – the rain stopped so out we went exploring. It is still pretty grey but does look like it is trying to clear and the caravan park manager says it is supposed to be sunny tomorrow. We will see. People are fishing off the rocks, not sure how they are managing to cast far enough but they are keeping at it. Still over a dozen surfers having a great time trying to catch the waves. We tested the water for temperature and it is pretty warm. Can now say we have touched the Indian Ocean.

Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, SA

Sunday April 27 Kidd’s Beach, Eastern Cape Province – 398 km

Last evening we went for a walk and watched all the fishermen (and one intent 3 year old) casting lines hoping to pull in grunter or rock salmon. Again this morning they were out there at it when we got up.

Port St. John Resort

We started our morning by heading into the town of Port St John. We were surprised with how old and dilapidated it was as it was toasted in “The Lonely Planet” as the center of tourism for the Wild Coast of SA. There are some very nice resorts in the area catering to the fishermen but certainly nothing in the town that we saw that would encourage us to return.

With good intentions we did our research on the net last night and planned our route and destination for today to no avail. The road we looked for seems to have been renumbered. Instead we are at the Palm Springs Resort at Kidd’s Beach just south of East London on the Indian Ocean. There has been so much rain here over the past three days the roads to the resort are poor, some parts looking like a creek bed. Luckily until today - it poured in East London - we haven’t had much rain and it seems to be clearing now. From the weather forecast we saw for our next destination the weather is supposed to be back to the sunny days. I sit here looking at and listening the Indian Ocean while I type this.

Again today we drove through the multiple small settlements and mountainous/farming areas, winding roads climbing and descending and curving around. We were surprised at how many dead dogs we have seen on the road today as we hadn’t been seeing any dogs at all until the past day or so. Many of the towns are making an effort to build sidewalks from the townships into the main town center, we think to try to keep people off the side of the road. Not sure if it will work or not but is a good idea.

We had been commenting on how the only Americanized fast food chain we had been seeing EVERYWHERE was KFC (even in the smaller communities) until today when we saw our first McDonalds. There are “Wimpy” bars as well which Norma remembers as a hamburger chain big in Britain.

We had been hearing how high the rape crime rates were in SA and are amazed to see how many young girls are walking alone or in two on the highways hitch hiking. They sure don’t seem to care who picks them up. There are the minivan/buses running between all the little communities but we don’t see any rhyme or reason to how they work. There are people standing on the side of the road they just pass by and then they stop for others even when they are so full the people have to squeeze to get in. There are no seat belt laws here so you will see small children – 3 to 4 years old sitting on the drivers knee, small children hanging half out the open windows while the car is going 100 km/hr. and people piling into the back of bakkies (pickup trucks) with canopies. Today we saw a family of 6 kids and 5 adults pile in, all smiling and getting settled on pillows and quilts for their ride to their next destination.

We have seen several traffic accidents since arriving – there was a bad rollover today. Generally the drivers are courteous, although there are exceptions. When you pull over to the shoulder to allow someone to pass and they will flash their lights to thank you after they are safely by. Also the slower moving vehicles will often give you a wave when they move onto the shoulder it seems safe to pass. Overall it seems much better than dealing with some Alberta drivers (not our kids!).

Every populated area we go through we are struck with the chaos of people walking every which way and generally filling the streets and sidewalks. Sometimes there will be no houses to be seen and there will still be people on the road.

This is another holiday weekend, Freedom Day, so we are aware the roads may be a bit busier tomorrow as everyone heads back to the cities after a long weekend. Our plan is to go into Addo Elephant Park tomorrow in spite of the internet telling us there is no room to camp.

 

April 28, 2014 Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, SA – 399  km

Woke to a beautiful sunny morning. Doug started the day by chasing the monkeys out of the garbage can. There was a family of six merrily jumping tree to tree and generally getting into mischief.

Norma Practising

Kidd Beach Resort

Our drive this morning again took us into the mountains but this time there were large stretches where it was totally uninhabited. Still seeing the bus stops where no houses can be seen but fewer people and only cows on the road. The rain the past few days has really brought on the cactus flowers so that was a treat for us.

After travelling west for about 3 hours we arrived at Addo Elephant National Park. Our Wild Card (National Parks Pass) gets us into all the parks. There was no caravan space tonight so we resigned ourselves to a day visit only and started with a picnic lunch overlooking a waterhole. During lunch we saw warthogs, an ostrich and a kudu. 

The highlights of animal viewing were the zebras (first time we have seen them) and the wonderful dung beetles (those are the neat beetles that make elephant dung into a ball and roll it into a safe spot where they can lay their eggs). They have the right of way for vehicles in the park! There are even dung beetle signs posted similar to our “watch for wildlife” signs. They are about the size of a loonie and the ball they make is the size of an orange. We watched two of them make a ball, have the ball start to roll down an incline, jump off or get rolled off onto their backs and start the entire process again. We also saw several different types of ungulates (kudu, wildebeest, impala, etc.).  There were numerous families of warthogs as well. We came across three of them on the side of the road where mom was giving junior a bath. The little one kept rolling over and pushing at mom for more! This park was cited as having the largest elephant population but we did not see a single one. We had thought about getting a camping spot closer and returning to the park but opted to carry on further south west.

Dung Beetles at Work

Warthog Baby Bath

 

We then fueled up and headed toward the ocean. We used the caravan book to find “the Willows”, a very nice spot on the ocean front. Luckily we had a detailed tourist map of Port Elizabeth or we wouldn’t have had such luck. We got it for only $12.00 a night as we were given seniors rate of 50% off, a real bonus as when we pulled up we had decided this was probably going to be our most expensive night so far as it is pristine and right on the ocean.

Indian Ocean View From Campsite

Time to get some laundry done, go for a walk on the beach and settle in. I imagine the sound of the waves is going to lull us to sleep tonight as it is pretty loud.

Cremorne Estate Caravan Park, Port St. Johns, Eastern Cape Province, SA – 268 km

Friday April 25 Dragon’s Rest Caravan Park near Winterton, KZN, SA– 273 km

Last night our accommodation at Mountain Splendor Caravan Park was one of the nicest so far, ample showers, level sites and each one a nice size and well treed. The South Africans love their camping but it seems to take them a long time to set up by the time they have their sleeping tent or caravan which attaches to a kitchen tent which attaches to a sitting area all in place. They need the large sites to accommodate everything! If they are camping in tents they usually have a little trailer behind their vehicle that is crammed full of camping supplies, sometimes including a microwave and cupboard for their dishes. This site has little fridges they can rent as well.

The owner of the site had invited us to tea and scones this morning but we wanted to get on the road as we just can’t seem to judge how long the next 100 km will take us. She gave us a big guidebook of caravan parks in SA so that will be helpful from here on out. We had hoped to rely on our SA caravan park website but internet has been tough to get most times.

There were six little pigs running around the camp ground doing all the things little pigs do. They come towards you when they think there is food but then run away oinking and grunting.

This morning the sunrise over the Drakensburg Mountains was spectacular. If we had gotten up even a minute later we would have missed the beautiful red glow.

We can easily tell it is fall here as the trees are changing colours and starting to fall and the temperature dropped to 4 degrees last night. They do get snow in this area. Sure glad we have an air conditioner/furnace in the motorhome. We had the heat on all evening and then got up in the middle of the night to put it back on again. The high today was only 18 degrees but it has been a beautiful sunny day.

We keep saying how unpredictable the roads are (today there were sheep on the freeway as well) but the toll freeways are great. We are keeping track of how much this is costing for interest sake. We don’t seem to be able to figure out the system as sometimes it is only $1 and other times it is $7 and it appears to be distance independent.

Freeway (toll)

We stopped at a smallish town (Himeville) for a while today and went through their museum – some interesting displays including some San tribal rock art.

San Rock Art

We started looking for a campsite fairly early this afternoon as we just weren’t sure how far we could go. We found reference to this place in the camping book we got yesterday. At first sight we were a bit dubious but it is a lovely grassy open site with a great view of the Drakensburg Mountains. We are about 9 km south of Underberg. We even have our own ostriches to keep us company. The ostriches thought Norma was their friend as she went about collecting feathers they had left stuck in the fence. They walked along with her, one on each side, trying to pull the feathers from her hand.

The young girl who tried to check us in speaks no English, though all park signs are in English. She speaks Xhosa, a tribal language. It turns out the owner of the caravan park is Kelvin Strachan whose grandfather played a big role in the history of the area. The following quote is from Wikipedia: “Two prominent European settlers George Brisley and Donald Strachan played a major role in the early development of Kokstad and East Griqualand: their trading store, Strachan and Co, introduced South Africa's first indigenous currency—a set of trade tokens which circulated across a wide region, covering an area the size of Ireland.”  Kelvin is quite a character, we would still be there talking (listening) to him if he had his way. He has very poisonous puff adders on the property some of which he has skinned and mounted as trophies. They won’t be doing much “puffing” tonight as the temp will drop near freezing tonight (we are at almost 6000 ft.). The caravan park also has its own private lake which the owner pulled two 16” rainbow trout from yesterday.

Hmmm. . .Nice Place

This is a great backpackers/hikers/mountain biker’s area with mountain passes including the 10000 ft. Sani Pass which leads to the country of Lesotho. Looks like it would be a good workout for our jeep! Apparently the campers next to us have gone over the pass a few days ago on their mountain bikes and are due back today. Later note: they arrived about 8 pm last night.

Saturday April 26 Cremorne Estate Caravan Park, Port St. Johns, Eastern Cape Province, SA – 268 km

Woke to 4C and a beautiful Drakensberg sunrise again this morning. As we got closer to the coast the temperature rose to 25. Another beautiful sunny day. We have been noticing the red dirt everywhere, similar to Australia.

Another Drakensberg Sunrise

When we started planning this trip Doug had thought how great it would have been to do it by motorcycle and indeed, there are a few rental options. Now that we have experienced the roads we both know it could be deadly. First you cannot ride in any of the parks, we think due to the animals roaming, some of the towns are pretty intimidating when you drive through the all black areas and then there are the VW swallowing potholes. On a bike they could be killers. We feel so much safer in our little house on wheels.

Today’s drive was interesting. We found ourselves climbing and descending repeatedly going through farm land and scattered inhabited areas. Colourful shack-houses dot the hills. The road was very curvy and at one point there was a sign saying only “136 more bends” until the next town. This was updated as we went along.  

At one town, Flagstaff, the road went through the middle of town where they were having their Saturday market. What an experience that was, driving at a walking pace, trying to avoid people and cars. At one point there was a rear-ender just ahead of us so we were stuck in the middle of the market with a cacophony of noise, smells and colours swirling around us. Again it was all black, not a white face to be seen.

 

We were seeing people collecting firewood and carrying it along the road on their heads. The do not have running water and electricity much less central heating, so any way they can heat their homes they will do. This is also the day the kids play soccer. We did see them on the field, in uniforms having a match.

The resort we are camping at tonight was recommended to us by Kelvin at the place we were at last night. He told us it would only take 3 hours to get here but 5 hours later we arrived. When we started driving into the caravan park we really weren’t sure: 1.5 km of dirt road through sugar cane, over a few questionable bridges only to spill out into a very nice resort. We can see the Indian Ocean in the valley just beside the motorhome. We won’t go anywhere else today but hopefully will drive to the ocean tomorrow on our way out. From here the road does not follow the coast line as we can assume it is too rugged. We will need to head inland to make our way further south.

Once again, our internet access is spotty so daily postings are difficult. Also, a reminder to click the photos in the blog for better detail.

Drakensberg World Heritage Site, KZN, SA – 314 km

Wed. April 23 Zinkwazi Beach, Kwazulu Natal, SA – 286 km

In our travels we keep seeing women balancing HUGE bundles on their heads. We have been trying to capture a good picture. They also have a very unique way of getting their babies/little ones on their backs. We actually for the first time saw one getting the baby on. They heft them onto their back where the child holds on like crazy and then mom wraps a blanket thing around the babies bum and around her waist. It looks like a great way to carry the big load. We will keep trying to get a better picture.

It must have been wash day in the Zulu villages as at every water faucet, which seemed to be spaced regularly (they obviously do not have water in their homes) there would be women with huge bundles of laundry catching water in big basins and scrubbing away. You would then see the clean clothes on the fences and trees to dry. They have put speed bumps at nearly every road turn off as what they call “calming speed” to make drivers slow down. Some of them are pretty big!

Again lots of livestock on the road, only some accompanied by tenders. Many years ago Norma’s mom “bought a goat” for an African tribe for the grandchildren for Christmas. We were wondering if one of these is a descendent.

In St Lucia there are signs on the main street to watch for hippos crossing especially at night. There were also signs in the camp ground. We were told the other day that the biggest killer of people is the hippo as they have huge mouths and teeth and combat anything that gets in their way including large crocodiles which they can slice in half.

We did not think we would be encountering the warmth and high humidity in what is their fall. These areas must be oppressive in the high summer. Again yesterday it was 39 degrees. We are very grateful for the air conditioner in the motorhome. Having said that it only got to 21 today.

We are finding the groceries are really very cheap, e.g. large avocados 39 cents each, pineapples 69 cents each, and meat being around half to two thirds of what we would pay at home. Coke is still pretty expensive though at $4 for 6 cans. When you pick out your fruits and veggies there is a person standing there who weighs them, labels them with a bar code and ties the bag so it is easier for the checkout clerk to ring them through. Cell phones and service must be cheap. We see these people living in hovels but all with cell phones.

Diesel/gas is still expensive at $1.50 a litre and you are also expected to give the fill-up guy a tip. There are large fresh fruit markets along the road but we haven’t been brave enough to stop yet as we have been warned by the white Africans to be cautious.

We had read and heard how dirty the bathrooms are, etc. but have not found that so far. At some of the gas stations there will be a lady stationed outside wanting a tip for the use, similar to Mexico.

This morning we drove to Shakaland, a Zulu village, for a very entertaining day. We had wanted to see some Zulu dancing and had read about this place. It is the site of where they filmed “Shaka Zulu” in 1985, which was apparently a very popular movie. After the filming it was decided to make this village into a tourist interpretation area.

Shakaland

Zulu Artwork

We started out with our guide Bushla telling us some of the history and showing us around the village. The Zulu people are polygamists and the number of wives a man can have is decided by the number of cows he has, one per wife as a minimum. He must build a hut for each wife as well. You can tell which the married women are as they wear long skirts and red hats, which they have to sleep in using a wooden head rest so the hat isn’t crushed. The single women wear miniskirts. They tell stories with bead work using red, white and blue. The Zulu speech contains lots of tongue clicks in the middle of the word which is pretty amazing to listen to. Of course, they wanted us to say a few words which we could not do!

Zulu Dancing

After a very interesting tour of the village and entry into a few thatched roof huts – Doug almost couldn’t get in as the doorways are so low – we were entertained by 24 Zulu dancers, male and female while the “King” and two of his wives looked on from their throne. As this is their slow season we were the only two on the tour and watching the dancers. It felt a bit weird being the only ones in the large “grandmother” hut. We were then treated to a lovely buffet lunch with several Zulu items (nothing too exotic – no dried worms, much to Doug’s disappointment).

New Zulu King and Queen

Since our tour of the village we now know how the women can keep the jugs on their heads. They have a crown circle made of reeds that goes inside their scarf and the jug sits on this making it easier to keep it on their heads.

We are continuing to find it hard to judge times to travel. When we left Shakaland we headed off to try to find a camping place and ended up on the Indian Ocean in a very exclusive residential area called Tinley Manor Beach. There was an armed security guard stationed on the main road and he told us to just camp in the beach parking lot but we didn’t feel comfortable doing that so went to Zinkwazi Beach where he told us there was a caravan park. We do not have an accommodation or camping guide so each day we are just winging it. This is our most expensive stop so far but we are close to Durban and think it is probably an easy city escape so they can charge what they like – and no internet allowed either in spite of their wireless server appearing on our computer!

Thursday, April 24 Drakensberg World Heritage Site, KZN, SA – 314 km

Last night we experienced our first tropical downpour. About 7 pm the thunder and lightning signalled a deluge. Not surprising as we were camped in a rainforest. A previous storm had split a tree and part of it fell into the swimming pool.

 

Sunset Over a Lagoon

Today we find ourselves at the base of the Drakensberg (Dragons Back) Mountains in a very nice place (Mountain Splendor Caravan Park). Totally different environment than yesterday – deciduous trees turning colours, etc.

We had a very scenic drive today through lots of farm land, sugar cane plantations and small back country villages. We had planned to stop for some groceries in Greytown only to find we were the “only whites in town” and the area in front of the grocery store was a bit intimidating. There were a lot of people milling around selling things and generally just doing nothing but staring.

We continued on our way to the town of Estcort and were able to stock up there. We had heard some wonderful things about the Drakensburg Mountains so decided to head inland away from the coast.

One of our challenges with the roads, along with the livestock and people and potholes, is the placement of the road signs. Most of them are pretty faded or peeling and they all seem to be mounted under very leafy trees so if you aren’t really watching it is pretty easy to miss your turn off.

Doug thinks it would be a very hard country for him to drive solo in as complete concentration is needed to avoid road hazards (there was even a monkey that ran across in front of us today), never mind looking for directional signs in the trees.  We have been encountering numerous trucks loaded with harvested sugar cane. They seem to leave a trail behind them as they try to dodge all the potholes and speed bumps as well.

We will head southwest tomorrow toward the Eastern Cape Province and see how far we can get.

Drakensberg Mountains

St. Lucia, Kwazulu Natal, SA – 390 km

Getting our blog posted yesterday was comical. The caravan park’s internet server went down so the very accommodating park manager managed to hook us up briefly using her internet stick connection, which also was not working very well. The three of us ended up in the parking lot with our laptop perched on the roof of her car for maximum access.

The caravan park was interesting. It was completely fenced complete with an electronic gate and security guard to control access. Inside the compound is an aviary with parrots/budgies, rosy faced love birds and the like, a greenhouse, a restaurant, a spa, a small farmyard with geese, goats and chickens plus, of course, camping spots and motel units. Oh yes, and the lawn mowing crew which consisted of three antelope! They didn’t seem too bothered with people around but did the usual snort, foot stomp thing if they thought we were getting too close.

This morning we departed Piet Retief at 0800 and headed south toward the Indian Ocean, our destination being the Hluhlewe-imfolozi Park, a wildlife reserve in our next destination province: Kwazulu Natal. We made fairly good time except for the last hour where goat/human/chicken/pothole dodging was necessary. The park looked interesting, but the check-in people didn’t speak very good English so we needed to drive into the park to discover there was no camping or accommodation of any kind available, so we had lunch there, spent a bit of time at an animal capture display center and headed toward the coast. While in the park we did see a bull elephant in a river and a large male giraffe who walked across the road in front of us. Pretty impressive how tall they are. The temperature was 39C for awhile!

We are now at Dave’s Place camp and youth hostel in St Lucia where we will spend the night. Pretty interesting with the answers we keep getting about internet. “We think we have it” but this rarely pans out. We are now heading off to the internet café down the way to see what we can do.

We are here and now will try to download a picture. . .check last two blogs for more.

African sunrise.

 

Piet Retief, MP Province, SA – 379 km

As mentioned Berg-en-dal Camp had advertised there was internet access but in fact there is not. Apparently there used to be an internet cafe that people would use but they no longer have the contract. So yesterday afternoon we pleaded our case and a young parks employee, Thalani, got out his computer and let us use his Vodafone internet connection to do a quick post. As we were borrowing his personal access we didn’t put in any of the many wonderful pictures we have collected the past few days.  Same today. Hopefully soon!

Forgot to mention that on our sunrise game drive yesterday Doug spied a mushroom growing out of some elephant dung and was upset he could not get out of the truck to examine and photograph it. Norma knew if he were allowed out we would be there for at least 30 minutes as he got on his knees, studied it, tried to identify it and photographed it – at least 50 times!!

After two very early mornings we just hung around yesterday afternoon, got the laundry done, etc. We did discover there is a dam behind the reception where wildlife can sometimes be viewed. We were lucky enough to see two crocodiles and one hippo in there. We also really enjoyed watching the Vervet monkeys in the campground. We were struck with the intense blue of the male scrotum, which is characteristic of the species. The little ones were so tiny and adorable. One of them got hold of a candy wrapper and was busy trying to lick the inside of it, not even bothered we were there. Earlier we saw an upset camper trying to chase a monkey from their tent trailer where we presume it was up to no good.

Still can’t believe how close we were to the herd of giraffes yesterday. They were so busy eating they didn’t even pay us any mind.

Not sure why but we were awake early again this morning. The bush camp compounds are fenced and only open from 6 am to 6 pm partially we think to keep people from being out on the roads in the dark running into wildlife. We could hear people driving over the electrified cattle guard as soon as the gate opened, hoping to get views of the animals as the best time for catching them is early morning and at sunset.

We headed off first thing for a walk along the perimeter of the bush camp. We were hoping to see the hippo again but it was probably out foraging. We did see a marabou crane and his crocodile friend, who came up to him and just kept on going!

This being the Easter Monday and the end of the long weekend it was like a mass exodus from the camp. People were packing up all around and getting on the road. We understand this is a great destination from Joburg, which is 6 hours away, luckily we were not going in that direction so the drive was OK traffic-wise. We travelled through mostly orange orchards and farmland but also large tracts of cultured eucalyptus and pine forests.

We are at the Sundowner guest house and caravan park for the night. A grocery store was just down the block so we have stocked up for the next few days. We intend to go to another National Park tomorrow where we will have no internet access. We still have to see a lion and zebras!

 

 

 

 

Can you find the croc?

Berg-en-dal Camp, Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga, SA - 72 km

April 19, 2014

This morning we awoke early to go on our morning game drive. It was still pretty dark so we sleepily stumbled our way to the meeting spot using our flashlights.

Pie-lot was our driver and guide (and “pilot” I guess). He offered no guarantees we would see anything but I would assume having done this so many times before they soon learn where to go. We boarded a canvas covered safari truck with 3 other couples, then he conscripted Doug to be one of the spotlight operators (it was still very dark) and off we went into the African pre-dawn. Over the next 3 hours we saw and tried to photograph:

1.       A civet cat

2.       A pack of wild dogs – rare sighting

3.       3 elephant herds

4.       2 leopards – rare sighting

5.       Herds of eland and impala

6.       A kudu

7.       A klipspringer

8.       A giraffe

9.       2 groups of white rhinos

10.   A baboon troop

11.   Warthogs

12.   A deadly poisonous green mamba (snake)

13.   Many birds including ospreys, hornbills and vultures

14.   2 Scrub hare (rabbit)

Needless to say we had a wonderful time. The leopards were particularly impressive. They were growl/purr/meowing and it sounded so neat. Pie-lot told us it is rare to see the leopards and even rarer to see them in pairs.

It was pretty cold but we went with fleece and outer jackets and they provided blankets. Every time the road dipped you could feel the cool air drainage. By 6 am the sun was coming up providing a beautiful sunrise and better light to see the animals. As we were getting closer to Skukuza at the end of our drive we came across our new Joburg friends heading out to spot game. Hannes was adamant that if we hadn’t seen elephants we were to climb in his truck again and he would be sure we did. He was very excited we had seen leopards as he never has even though he has lived his entire life in SA (60 years). His comment “not fair!”

We then “packed up camp” at Skukuza and drove for about 2 hours to our next campsite: Berg-en-dal. It is 32C here today. We were pretty anxious we would be going through the antics we witnessed people going through yesterday trying to find a place to camp but were assured there would be a spot and sure enough we have a nice place in the shade. It seems calmer and quieter and way more organized at this site. They even have an evening educational film that we are thinking about going to. There is no internet though even though their website said there was. They are apparently revamping their server. We will see about that tomorrow as there is a strong wireless signal in the compound.

We have signed up for another morning game drive but this time it leaves at the more civilized time of 5:30 am with a 5:15 am  meeting time so we get to sleep in!!!!!

On the drive here we managed to see more giraffe, baboons and a variety of hooved creatures. We were commenting it is like being in a great big zoo with us in the cages (enclosed vehicles). You are not allowed to get out anywhere except at the very few designated spots. When close to the elephants, rhinos and leopards you can see why. They also strictly enforce a 50 km speed limit on “tarred roads” – paved, and 40 km on gravel with the occasional speed photographer strategically placed. We had to leave a credit card imprint with the rental company to cover this if we were caught.

Forgot to mention yesterday that when we went for the drive with Hannes and Erica they took us to a “game blind” where you walk inside a very high fenced path to an enclosed viewing area at a water hole. We saw more exotic birds and a huge turtle sunning on a log. We could hear the hippos but none wanted to show their face.

April 20 (Easter Sunday), 2014. Berg-en-dal Camp

As promised we awoke early to go on our next game drive. Our driver/guide was Sollie and he was very informative regarding the habits of the animals. He was feeling badly that we weren’t able to see much so whenever we saw anything he would turn off the engine and tell all sorts of details around how the animals mark their territory, gestation periods, blood shunting, etc. One of these interesting facts was that rhino males dominate 10 kms of area and mark it by peeing on their own dung, walking in it and walking the perimeter of their area. Their eye sight is bad but their sense of smell is very good so this warns other males to stay out.

Same deal as yesterday – use spotlights until the light was enough to see without them. This morning we saw:

1.       A genet (cat-like animal)

2.       3 hyenas

3.       A hippo

4.       3 white rhinos

5.       A giraffe family of 6

6.       3 elephants

7.       2 kudu

8.       A warthog

9.       Herds of impala

Not nearly as successful as yesterday’s drive (we were hoping to see some lions) but worthwhile, none the less. We were inundated with traffic. Being a holiday Sunday the roads, even the minor dirt roads were very busy with sometimes as many as 6 cars lined up. Nothing like yesterday when we hardly saw another vehicle.

 

More from Skukuza.

What a great afternoon we had. A couple set up camp next door and invited us to sit and visit. They are Hannes and Erica from Joburg. They had gotten up at 3 am to drive to the park and arrived around 9 am with their 17 yr old son and his friend in tow (who, like all teenagers promptly went away to do their own thing). It was really enjoyable talking with them and hearing more about the country and the customs. They translated some of the words we had been seeing and not understanding.

Around 3 pm they invited us to join them in their Mitsubishi 4 X 4 bakkie (small pickup truck) to go out of the compound and look for game. It was pretty funny at times as Hannes took it as his personal task to find us some elephants, which we didn’t see (lotsa dung though!). We did see a troop of baboons including a very small baby who appeared to be only days old. As you will see it hasn’t gotten the colouring yet and was very unstable as it kept trying to leap around and was falling off the rocks, etc. It was very entertaining watching them. We also saw two water buffalo lying on the sand and enjoying the water!

Relaxed water buffalo

Grazing Duiker

Baby baboon playing

Baboon family

It got a bit crazy here starting pretty early as more and more campers started arriving for the holiday weekend.  As we had mentioned everyone has a reservation but no assigned spot to camp so they just pack themselves in where ever they can find room, including right on the driving path into some of the spots. This is making us a bit concerned with how it is going to work finding our spot at the next place as we make our way there tomorrow on Easter Saturday. We do have it reserved but. . .  It will take about 3 hours to drive the 72 km due to the 50 km speed limit in the park.

We have a very early wake up time of 4:20 am tomorrow we have booked a seat in a  parks 4X4 vehicle for a morning “bush drive”. No guarantees are offered as to what you are going to see but I know Hannes will be glad if we see elephants!

Remember our posts may be spottier at any time due to lack of WiFi. . .

Skukuza Camp, Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga, SA

April 17  Total km today = 525 (previous 2 days total was 635 km).

What a mixed day this has been. We were disappointed not to hear the lions during the night though the Game Lodge owner, Pieter, assured us he had heard them. We did hear the jackals yipping – sounded similar to our coyotes.

The morning started out with the usual visit to the ablution block (toilet/shower house in SA) only to have Norma walk in on a young naked black man showering in the ladies shower. Remember how we had said the game lodge was full with mine workers and they don’t usually have women staying there? Not sure who was more upset about it – Doug or the poor naked man! I did stop Doug from summarily evicting him.

After today we know you cannot judge how long anything is going to take to drive to. The road conditions change constantly.  We found ourselves driving for the first hour with tall electric fences on both sides of the roads and every one going 120. Then came the signs saying “no fence - watch for livestock”. AND THEY MEANT IT. Cows, goats, donkeys and chickens all over the road. Sometimes there were people with them but mostly not. Amazingly we only saw a few road kill for all that. Also the school kids were out around 11 am as well as lots of adults walking on both sides of the roads (and crossing regularly).  Result: slow to 20, slow to 20, etc. Then there are the potholes, of course.

Seat belts optional

You could see the poverty in various areas. We tried to get some photos but not sure it really gives the impact. Also numerous stands along the road selling fire wood, straw brooms, tomatoes, avocados, oranges, etc. and even BBQed corn. It seemed like as soon as we got out of Limpopo (the poorest province supposedly) things seemed richer.

Roadside BBQ

We were seeing roadside “booths” also selling numerous other things including new blue jeans! We began to joke about the SA shopping mall until out in the middle of nowhere we found a huge mall. In spite of that we still found more of these road side establishments. There were also frequent road side car washes. We had been wondering why all the cars were so clean. This is probably another way for the poor fellows to make a few Rand.

Car wash

Fresh chicken for dinner

Got to Kruger Park and had an upsetting occurrence. The man checking us in stated that the camp we had booked last November no longer existed, it had been on the news and he was sending us down the road. After toying with us some more including saying they had emailed us this information he then said he was JOKING! After dodging goats, people and potholes all day Doug was in no mood for this nonsense and told him what he thought of his joke. When he saw how upset we were he apologized. Too late, Benard Makhubele, when your superiors get an email about this incident we will see who gets the last laugh from your cruel joke. About the best part of this whole experience was watching the lawn mowing crew at work around the gatehouse – warthogs are good grazers!

Anyway we finally made it to the campground, found there was no internet available in spite of having advertised this service and even with having booked in November of last year we had to drive around and get whatever we could find in a limited camping area. We did have a greeting committee though – several monkeys along with a baby and mom were trying to get up the trees and away from us. We had seen some along the road earlier, as well.

Welcome to our campsite

April 18, 2014

Had our best sleep so far. We both woke up at 6 am and headed to the shower as it sure wasn’t busy at that hour.

Decided to stay put today as with it being the long weekend there are limited camping spots and people moving in all around us. This doesn’t work like at home where you have an assigned site and it is yours. If you leave you aren’t sure what you are going to return to.

Not sure what all the noise was last night but we think it was the lions. The monkeys are all over this morning and very vocal. We think it is the males warding off other males from their mates but not sure. Lots of little ones too.

This morning we took a walk to the shop and bought some souvenirs as well as some springbok jerky (biltong as they call jerky). The reception building roof was being inundated with baboons. Next we signed up for a 5 am – yes 5 AM guided bush drive and are really looking forward to it. They say dress warmly and we can see why. It really cools off when the sun goes down but was 25 degrees during the day yesterday.

Note that internet access is problematic here so posts may come irregularly – today we are using a borrowed code from the park manager.