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So seeing that our plans to R&R in Hans Merensky have gone down the drain we’ve decided to torture ourselves with a 630km drive to Golden Gate National Park. This was one of the highlights of our last holiday in 2008, so we booked for two nights. The road there was long but fortunately it was all on national roads which allowed us to keep up a good pace. Lucky for us Erica slept wonderfully, we had her awake time at Engen 1 stops where we dutifully checked tyres and filled up on Diesel and Wimpy, before setting off again in time for her next sleep cycle.

Erica loves the high chairs supplied by Wimpy, I think she must feel very important sitting in her own chair. She played with her very first balloon and loved banging it into our faces and plates. Very sweet to see her smiling and enjoying herself despite the hours in her torture chair.

Before Phalaborwa we drove past a religious centre called Zion City Maria. We saw hundreds of taxis parked as far as they eye can see.  What we thought was dorm accommodation were actually hundreds of buses sardined nose to tail. I feel sorry for the guy in the middle if he needs to go somewhere in a hurry! There were  hundreds of tents and cars, porta toilets, fires, security guards and followers as far as the eye can see.  I wonder if this is a regular Sunday event because the organisation seems very good.  If this is the case, it must be the largest religious gathering in the country.  Will definitely ask Google for more info on this.

We spent a total of R178 in toll fees from Phalaborwa to Harrismith! The roads at least were superb which meant we could fly down the blue roads (national roads are blue on the map). We stopped in Phuthaditchaba (ex-homeland capital) for fuel and wood. I learnt from some friendly locals that wood is called Bathi. I think thats how it’s spelt.

So the receptionist at Hans Merensky gave us directions from the Polokwane side instead of from the Phalaborwa side, bypassing them by an extra hour. Despite Heather questioning her directions and despite me talking to her in Afrikaans, she stuck firmly to her directions and we made the mistake of believing her. We were so upset we decided to press on. Hans Merensky lost out on our two night booking – they didn’t even phone to find out where we were.

We stopped at a roadside fruit vendor to get our bearings, and Heather bought a huge box of avo’s for R15 from a road side trader. Very friendly people who were most surprised that we sometimes pay R10 for a small avo in Cape Town.

We ended up staying in self catering accommodation for R600 per night at a forested place called Penny Father in Haenertsberg. This is an old gold mining town founded in 1885. Other activities include hiking and mountain bike trails in an indigenous forest, or visits to quaint little shops and monuments dating back to the Boer War. Our accommodation was in a zinc house inlaid with pseudo-wood (nutec) on the inside, polished oregan floors and finished with authentic solid wood furniture, some of it possibly quite old (no pine!).  On the walls were framed original gold mining claim certificates and photographs of prospectors dating back to the 1850’s.

Woke up early to the sound of Hippo in the lake. It sounds like whales blowing spume with some guttural pig-like grunts thrown in. Could have been a scene from a hippo porno or maybe they were just cranky at breakfast time.  Before anything else, we grabbed the camera and raced back to the lion kill site.  We were not disappointed! The carcass had been stripped down to barely more than a ribcage but one female and four cubs had remained to pick it clean. They were busily about their breakfast and the cubs made a game of chasing off a lone vulture who kept sneaking in for quick stabs at the remains. I have some great photos of the mother lion chasing off the vulture.

Back to Mopani for a quick Pro-Nutro and baby feed, and then the laborious task of packing. You can’t leave much behind when there is a little person to cater for. It almost doubles the amount of baggage that you need.

We’re heading for the Phalaborwa Gate and then onto the Hans Merensky Reserve for two days of R&R.

The next day was overcast and cool, a refreshing break from the heat wave. The Kruger Park says Winter is up until 31 Aug but since we’ve been here it has been scorching. Took a leisurely drive through the Western middle of the park and saw nothing remarkable except a lone elephant bull and a herd of Hippo sunning themselves by a pan. Animal sightings seem to be scarce during the late morning and early afternoon. Later on we spotted crocs and turtles. We took lunch at Letaba Camp, which overlooks the Letaba River. A herd of 6 giraffe, some zebra and many types of buck were coming and going while we ate.  A very worthwhile stop to see the game, but the food is not great at this camp.

The next few hours of game driving was uneventful. Our eyes started playing tricks on us with the way the vegetation seems to form animals. Must be from all the days of scanning the brush for animals!  We spotted two saddle-billed storks, a rare sighting since according to Kruger there are only about a hundred left in the world.

Much later around 5pm at a lookout point just before our final camp (Mopani), Heather spotted two female lions camouflaged on an opposite river bank. We watched them until Erica became restless then we headed for camp. Just before the turn for Mopani Camp we saw a large grouping of vehicles. This turned out to be our best sighting of lions yet! Two female lions and four cubs were systematically stripping a buffalo carcass.  The cubs were at time crawling on top of the carcass while the females were pulling on it, very entertaining to see the cubs keep their balance.  We especially enjoyed the juvenile mock-roars of the cubs while playing with each other.

We reluctantly left the scene so that we could make the 6pm curfew at Mopani. Arrived at our accommodation which was spotlessly cleaned. The manager from Sabie had called ahead and ensured that things were spick and span.  The duty manager for Mopani, Winslow, popped in to make sure we were satisfied. Turns out despite their best efforts, fresh bat droppings on our bed meant that we would be sleeping under their toilet area. This earned us an upgrade to a full luxury bush-lodge house with 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms, pristinely positioned on a large lake chock-full of hippo.

The worst part was packing up again and unpacking at our new digs, but once settled we were chilling in style!  At R1200 per night in off-season these houses cost about double the amount for regular chalets, but with a group of 6 people you can actually save money and benefit from better quality accommodation, furnishings, and appliances (we had a brand-new high-spec microwave, full stove and refrigerator).

We arrived at our third camp, Olifant, situated near to the Olifants River.  We went over a large bridge offering an impressive view over the river. At 5:30pm we witnessed the most amazing sunset over the river – perfect timing.  We checked into a well-planned rondawel, exactly the same design as Skukuza Camp’s but with a better fridge.  These rondawels have a veiw from the hilltop over the Olifants River and cost R840 per night.  We braaied Black Wildebeest chops and ate it with fresh salad and fire potatoes.  A very tasty end to a long day of game viewing. This time of year is dry season and there were no bugs or mosquitos. Kruger is classified as a low risk Malaria area, so this came as some relief.

It seems they are not doing the mountain biking tour as advertised on their brochure, so they offered us a free night time game drive.  Heather went and I stayed with Erica, cause kids are not allowed and I wasn’t partial to a game drive. Turns out there was no big game (except the ubiquitous elephant and a stray hyena) to be seen this night, and my forecast of fat tourists with cheap perfume and silly commentary unfortunately came true.  Heather did spot a lot of the smaller night creatures including the hare, porcupine and two types of spotted genet, both the large and the small. The genets are a type of cat.

We woke up early eager to get out of the grotty, dirty hovel that passed for accommodation at Sabie.  The Sabie bathroom ceiling was caked with layers of black mildew – I thought they may have been cultivating it for some kind of perverse harvest. The rest of the chalet was falling apart, rusting broken aircon, rusting window frames, peeling paint, broken hooks, stained carpets and tired old-looking bedding.  The toilet must have been transplanted from Noah’s Ark after he got stuck on Mount Ararat. All this for only R640 per night!

Heather complained to Camp Management and arranged for all of our subsequent accommodation units to be checked and double-checked for cleanliness and especially mildew. Kruger Management take this seriously and we were assured that each of the rest camps the head cleaning supervisor would personally inspect our accommodation.

Our first game drive from Sabie towards Skukuza was filled with sightings. Just 20 minutes in we came across a dead rhino in a watering hole with some very happy vultures competing with pot bellied hyena, spent an awesome hour watching and taking  pics before heading on.

Got nice and close to rhino, some more giraffe and the staple diet of all predators here, the impala (about 130,000 of them in the park, so plenty of fast food for lions! The game rangers say the little white M on their behinds stands for MacDonalds, and if you turn it over the W is for Wimpy!). Also saw Zebra, kudu and waterbuck. Heather and Erica went for a walk around camp in Skukuza and watched buffalo munching on river weed about 30 meters from the fence. Skukuza is the main camp in Kruger, with a bank, two restaurants, a shop, a museum and a filling station.  It’s like a little town.

Anyway, Heather must have said something that hit a nerve with Management because our  accommodation at Skukuza was polished perfection. Brand new thatch, totally refurbed and painted rondawel, newly varnished with painted edgings. This was everything that the Sabie hovel was not. We were very pleased and spent a very good night here. If we come again then Skukuza will be first on our list of overnight stops.

We spotted many of the large herbivores on the drive from Sabie to Skukuza. Only on our third day in the Park we spotted Lion. It pays to look at the daily sightings map at each camp office, where people mark which animals they have spotted.  This led us to travel on a 60km dirt road which we were planning to skip, and we finally spotted Lions! The big cats were resting in what felt like 40 degree heat – can’t blame them really.  Just as we got there they lioned about a bit and we managed to get some good pics.  Also on this little detour, we spotted swimming turtles and a crocodile, making the long drive well worth it.

During the morning we had seen loads of ellies, giraffe, wildebeest, impala and most noteworthy, the Southern Yellow Billed Horn Bill (who thinks up these names?), which seem to be as prolific as our seagulls at home. These birds have a lot of attitude and can be seen pushing their way in front of other birds and even squirrels on the lush green lawns at Skukuza. They sit right next to you at your table and train one beady eye on you, as if to say “you better hand over some food, pal, or else”. These birds are clearly the mafia of the bushveld.

Thanks to the sighting of the lions we put this down as a very successful day. We were not looking forward to going home without seeing lions – I’m sure it happens to a lot of people as they can be very difficult to spot in the bush even when close to the road. We may have already driven past a few times without spotting them!

Next morning was crisp and clear. We packed in record time  guess we are getting better at it) and with maximum efficiency – we have to double check the bags to make sure they’re all there because it seem each time we pack there is more space available.  We got stuck behind a truck which was transporting raw sheepskins straight from the abbatoir, bloodied and glistening. White flecks of animal product were flying off the open load body and suddenly our bakkie was speckled with white bits of what could have been animal fat, innards or exctretia. Totally grossed out we decided to pull into the next town for a full carwash. This little town was called Cristina and the only operational carwash was in a dirt parking lot operated by two entrepreneurial Zulu’s with a high powered sprayer. We waited with taxis and other cars, watched a worker’s strike group march past, and wondered if we would ever go to a similar car wash in Cape Town – probably not likely.  After just a short wait, they tackled the bakkie and honestly I have never seen a vehicle washed so thoroughly, not even at our local carwash in Hermanus.  They scrubbed every inch of the vehicle by hand, and the cost was only R30!

Back on the road minus animal bedeckment, we were now officially on our way to Kruger. Plenty of large trucks heading in both directions – it seems that Nelspruit is quite the industrial and commercial hub of the region.  We thought we had seen a lot of sugar cane plantations going through KZN, but Mpumalanga trumps them, at least what you can see from the road. We decided we’d like to try raw sugar cane, but all of it was fenced in. So we did the next logical thing; we drove into the nearest farm entrance and went boldly up to the guard gate to ask for a piece of the plant. There was no guard so we “borrowed” a piece from the nearest bush and high-tailed it out of there with our ill-gotten gains.  Funny enough, it’s like chewing on bamboo with the exact same taste as the white sugar you buy in the shop, but with a juicy consistency.  You chew the stalk until it loses its flavour then spit it out.  Too much hard work but it was fun to try!

We arrived in Nelspruit in desperate need of a zoom lens for the camera. No point going to Kruger with the standard 50mm lens. We procured one from Deon Wired, situated in a very modern, clean shopping centre where parking is FREE! In fact, Nelspruit is a busy, bustling town with all the advances of Cape Town but without the filth on the streets. Not sure what the crime stats are but we didn’t feel unsafe at any time.  Swung past the very impressive soccer stadium and snapped a pic – they built it to look like a group of giraffes, as Heather pointed out.

All the way up to Nelspruit we noticed burnt stretches of land. It seems that this time of the year this part of SA is subjected to many fires. Just outside of Nelspruit we saw a raging fire on the side of the road and called in to report it.  Seems we were the first to call it in, cause the fire chief knew nothing about it even though it seemed to have been burning for some time.  I can’t believe the local Mpumalangans don;t care enough about their own town to call in fires – it takes a Capie to do it for them!  Maybe they’ll have less fires if they just bother to take a minute to call the FD when they see one.

Arrived at the Kruger Crocodile River Gate shortly after 5pm. Turns out we have to be at Sabie Camp by 6pm before they lock the gate.  The park has a speed limit of 50km/hr (enforced by speed camera, no bull!) so we had just enough time if we did not stop for animals.

Along the road we spotted a group of Rhino drinking at a pan – our best viewing of Rhino yet!  On the way we were blocked off by a group of elephants crossing the road.  I whipped out my camera to get a pic and suddenly the biggest bull elephant started flapping his ears and turning towards us. All very impressive, so I started to position the camera, when Heather suddenly started shouting for me to back away “he’s charging!”. Without hesitation I kicked the bakkie into reverse and with Jumbo looming over the bonnet we raced backwards at about 40km/hr, about the max the bakkie will do with foot flat. Jumbo kept pace with us, wildly throwing his head about and flapping his ears, with the distance between car and elephant no greater than when the chase had started.  After about 150 metres I thought about the car we had passed a little earlier and wondered whether it would round the bend and put a fullstop on our reverse, thereby offering us up to the elephant.  Just then Jumbo must have run out of steam, as he quit chasing us (very reluctantly) and turned into the bush.  This was the most awesome and fearsome experience. A tour guide later told us they can run at 50km/hr, so it was very close!  We decided if we saw nothing else, this Kruger trip was worth it just for the charging elephant.  But there is always more to see. Just heading into camp we saw a Hyena skulking off into the bushes, and a group of fast-moving rodents.

The following morning Heather surprised a Hyena skulking around the braai area like a naughty dog. He skulked off into the bushes looking over his shoulder with an injured expression on his ugly face.  A short while later Heather heard crashing through the tress and woke me up at the ungodly hour of 5:45 am to witness two bull elephants at the edge of the clearing right in front of our cottage. This was an awesome experience and we have decided we would definitely return here to spend a few more nights living amoungst the animals. No other game parks we have encountered bring you into such close contact.

After a quick breakfast of Pro-Nutro we packed up and embarked upon a morning game drive which would eventually lead us up to the Hilltop camp for lunch and then the memorial gate. Along the way we had the best sightings of giraffe,  zebra, rhino and impala (aka lion food) but sadly did not see anyof the big cats – we were told that they can be seen at night. This seemed quite odd to us because of the R300 fine after 6pm rule, but after observing all the headlights in the bush the night before we assumed that the folk out there were happy to break curfew to see lions for a measly R300. Next time we may also do an impromptu night drive and pay the R300 spot fine.

We exited the Memorial Gate and once again found ourselves driving through darkest, rural africa past women with mud painted on their faces and bright pink rondawels. We were expecting a quick drive to Ermelo on the N2, on the map the N2 appears as a thick blue line which up until now has been beautifully maintained single or dual carriage ways and we thought the same would be true for the 300km stretch to Ermelo. Iin fact, this part of the N2 is a lot worse than some dirt roads with deep pot holes and corrugations plus the damaging effect of poor and repeated patching of the road surface. Fortunately for future travellers they are currently upgrading this road, but unfortunately for us these road works added over an hour to our journey.

We got to the Izimbali Lodge in Ermelo at about 5pm, unpacked and went straight to dinner at the conjoined bistro. If you ever eat here order something from the steaks and grills menu and not pasta or fish, as they specialise in grills but are not too hot at the rest. The steak I had was excellent, Heather’s pasta was awful. I decided I’m on holiday so I ordered a grilled chicken to the room. Feeling outdone, my cholesterol packed it’s little duffel bag and went into hiding.

The next day was our final day at Lake Naverone we had a relaxed morning while packing our gear, then headed off to the Sani Pass, this time to do it by 4×4. Everything you have heard about how treacherous this route can be is TRUE. Some very rocky and steep inclines plus very sharp corners and precipitous drops make this one of the most dangerous roads in Southern Africa. If that was bad enough throw in some icy rivers for good measure. We were very careful and successfully made our way to the top, yet just as we were reaching the top a taxi, packed to capacity, started tailgating us. Imagine our suprise that this Toyota Hi-Ace Super 12 could possibly make it up this kind of trail, yet apparently they do it every day! I have photos taxis crammed to capacity making the ascent! South Africa does not allow any 2×4 vehicles over from the South African side, but if you are coming from the Lesotho side you can pretty much drive anything you want to. The Lesotho taxi drivers cleverly come only as far as the SA border post, then the passengers cross the border and climb into another taxi waiting on the other side. They have to do this because the taxis would not be allowed back over the SA border post once in SA!

The view from the top is spectacular and its well worth making the journey whether you decide to hike, bike or 4×4, (or catch a taxi!).  The bar at the top is well known and highly spoken of yet we weren’t especially taken with the yuppiness of it and didn’t bother having a drink there with the many gautengers dressed as if they were at a ski-resort, complete with snowboarding goggles. I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt and Heather was wearing a summer dress – I guess if you’re from the Western Cape you just don’t feel the cold the same way as the Gautengers do. I remember the Gautengers from our diving holiday in 2008, huddling on the boat after the dive in full wetsuits shivering like we were at the north pole and occasionally puking over the side and fouling their expensive brand new Cressi outfits. Heather and I would peel off our short suits as soon as we got topside – after all, the water is always above 20 degrees and just because it’s rainy season doesn’t mean it’s cold in Mozambique!!

We purchased some Lesotho keep sakes from a nearby vendor called the Kings Shop (in a zinc shack) and I bought a Lesotho branded sweat shirt from the customs official.

I thought the descent would be much more difficuly yet it proved to be really easy compared to going up, this must be why the sign states that vehicles coming down are to give way to vehicles coming up.

After a disgusting lunch at the Sani Hotel we refueled in Underberg and made our way to Durban. This time we trusted the GPS on Heather’s new Nokia E72 which got us to Durban in 2.5 hours shaving an hour off the route which is normally recommended. Of course this was another dark Africa detour, yet again with surprisingly good roads. We arrived at the Blue Waters Hotel on the beachfront in central Durban in record time (two hours and thirty minutes). The receptionist could not believe that 3 hours earlier we were in Lesotho.

The hotel was nothing like the pictures on the internet, with grotty rooms, dirty, oily underground parking, porters who are not available when you need help carrying your bags and filthy old carpets with a lived in smell (and too much carpet powder) that one would expect from a cheap porn theatre instead of a hotel. The hooker roaming around in the front of the building added to the ambience as did the drunken Saturday night revellers, Indian drag racers and the noticable police presence. One drunk somehow got trapped in his own car and leaned on his hooter for most of the night in a desperate bid for someone to help him out of his drunken stupidity. Foolishly we ordered room service and got food which made Heather feel ill and which I refused to eat, so we demanded a refund. The food was cold, bland and tasteless. I went out onto the balcony to get some fresh air, trying to avoid the carpet but not succeeding and breathed in a lung full of cigararette smoke emanating from the surrounding balconies. Smoking is not allowed in the hotel rooms but it seems that you can smoke everything short of weed on your balcony. With all of us sick we refused the room upgrade that was offered to us by the manager after we complained, and turned in for a very restless nights sleep. This was the worst R1000 I have ever spent. The hotel breakfast the next morning was unmentionably bad.