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After an early breakfast we were back on the road early heading for our next stop at Lake Naverone, deep in the heart of the southern Drakensberg near Castle Rock. If yesterdays drive felt rural, then thid days drive felt like deepest darkest Africa. We were impressed with the quality of the homes built here, most of them seemily built by the owners with little or no brick laying experience. Fortunately most of them were well constructed although here and there you could see the house that Jack built. It seems that there is some inniative to encourage small business in the form of brick production in this area, not sure if it is government sponsored but with all the impromptu brick yards we passed it seems that in a few years time this part of the Eastern Cape will look very different.
We arrived at Lake Naverone down a shady tree lined avenue between two picture perfect lakes. I geusse they are picture perfect because they are man made lakes providing water frontage for all of the cottages around them. Dove cottage was set aprt from the rest in a shady copse of trees in front of a third smaller lake, our own private lake except we did share it with a heard of horses. The accommodation was the biggest that we have stayed in yet, almost a house on its own with two large bedrooms a double bed in the one room and 4 beds in the other, a large lounge fireplace, fully stocked kitchen and best of all an anthracite stove to warm the chilly drakensberg air. Although the house was clean and lacked nothing the carpets furnishings and curtains, wall paint, bathroom and toilet all seemed a little tired and dated and in general the entire place needed a little refurbishment at R1400 for two nights we felt that this accommodation should have been in better order, especially since the photographs on the brochure were not the same as what we ended up with. Aside from that we had a wonderful stay here.
On the Saturday I woke up sick having inherited Heathers cold from the day before, but this was the only day available for me to tackle the brutal Sani Pass ride. After an hours drive I parked the Bakkie at the Sani Hotel and set off on my bike. The first 13km up the South African border post was a continous and difficult up hill although not technically challenging immediately after stamping my passport and riding through to the Lesotho side of the trail it suddenly got alot steeper and alot more technical. I managed 5km of the total 8km remaining and then had to turn around due to serious cramping and concern that I may not make it back in time to cross the border before they close at 4pm. Its still extremely cold in this part of the world and there is nothing warm to overnight with on the Lesotho side of the fence unless I can find a friendly baboon.
The return down the mountain was almost more technical than the accent, with me having to compensate for the very steep decline by feathering brakes while attempying not to slide on the loose rocky surface on the Lesotho side. I descended the slope and got back to the Hotel, just in time to receive Heathers sms that she was busy calling mountain rescue because she had not received any of the sms I had sent her during my ride apparently due to poor reception. I was missing from 10am until 3pm.

Woke up to a beautiful clear Karoo morning. We decided to get an early start to see if any early grazers were up for breakfast.  Today we planned to do one of the three 4×4 routes – hopefully see more game on these less-used routes. Turns out that it was an AWESOME 4×4 experience but not much game to be seen – we saw some of the animals we saw yesterday and the only new ones included the ground squirrels and a red mongoose with a white tipped tail.  Not sure if the mongoose was allowed in the park ’cause he wasn’t on the brochure, so maybe he snuck in under the electrified fence and started squatting.
We enjoyed some challenging rocky ascents and dry riverbeds on the Umgeni Circle, with Erica blissfully rocked to sleep. That done it was almost midday and it was time to hit the road again and head for Elliot where we would be staying at a three star hotel 20km from the city centre. We had no idea what we were in for as that was the only hotel we could find in Elliot. We skipped lunch in Cradock in favour of stopping at a 1 stop, except as we soon discovered there were no 1 stops along this part of the Eastern Cape which we believe runs through on of the formeer homelands. The roads were in an impressive conditions, comparable to other semi major routes such as the R27 between Cape Town and Langebaan and the road to Hermanus. Lots of thatch roofed rondawels zink roofed rondawels, little rondawels, big rondawels, pink and blue ones made it feel like we were driving through a gigantic box of smarties. The homesteads consisted of small lots with enough space for a small hut and a little bit of subsistance farming. Cows goats sheep and even the odd donkey or horse roamed everywhere including across the road seemingly oblivious to the high speed death rushing towards them from all sides. Having vowed last year never to ride through homelands again here we were on the other side of the Eastern Cape doing just that. Thanks to good roads and a full tank of gas we got to Elliot fairly quickly and then began the 22km trip towards the Hotel. Along this route we soon became aware that the elevation was increasing rapidly and we soon realised that the road was taking us up into the south most part of the Drakensberg, impressive cliff faces and lush vegetation made this one of the most beautiful drives on our trip so far.
The Mountain Shadows was nestled deep and high up in the heart of the southern Drakensberg at 2050 meters above sea level. First impressions of this three star hotel felt more like arriving at a 5 star hotel. The welcome we got from Kobus was hearty and genuine and within a few minutes a very warn out trio were ensconsed in the comfort of a detached hotel room – this hotel chooses to have the rooms detached from the reception, bar and dining area which is great for privacy and comfort. Tired as she was little Erica achieved another one of her first milestones by standing up and taking one step before falling down on her little bum. Looks like she’ll be running about very soon. Erica was unsettled from the long drive and probaly a little dazzled by all the colourful huts so as hungry as we all were we had to take turns eating. Heather went to the fine dining room to enjoy a meal comparable to a sunday roast and I stayed at the room to feed Erica her bottle of milk. Fortunately Erica went to sleep quickly and Heather wolfed down her food attracting a few surprised looks to that I could have a chance to go to the dining room, I unceremoniously wolfed down the gormet dinner.
AT R940 for dinner bed and breakfast for two adults we thought it was a little steep but after enjoying the bean soup, roast beef and veal pie with a delicious vegetable spread followed by tasty cheese cake we both agree it was worth every cent.

The beds at Addo are really comfortable and they have jazzed up the facilities since our last visit.  That could explain the R100 increase in price to R840 per cabin.

We woke up bright and early, 6:30am wake-up call courtesy of Erica our beloved little munchkin. A nice warm bottle of milk and our hungry little spud was appeased.  We had a quick cereal then packed our gear back into the bakkie – checkout from Addo is at 10am, so we decided we’d rather pack up early then take our time cruising through the game area. While packing, we got our first sighting of Buffalo right in front of our chalet! Last time we searched everywhere for them with no luck!

Erica had her first real fall when she went down a low step in her walker. Poor kid now has a big blue lump on her forehead – mom and dad felt really bad that we could not prevent it, but I guess you learn these lessons as you go.

Besides Erica’s fall, the day was off to a good start. Shortly after re-entering the game area we happened upon a mother elephant with two younger calfs. They were eating the brush right next to the road so we stopped about 20 metres away.  The thing about elephants, is that they have legs. So those legs carried them forwards and right up next to our vehicle. We could have reached out the passenger side of the vehicle and touched one! We could hear the heavy breathing and then a deep rumbling sound as the mother called her calves nearer.  We were worried for a few anxious seconds when the mother elephant was behind us and the one calf was in front of us . . . not a good idea to get between an elephant and her calf!  The baby caught up to mommy and we relaxed, reaching for the wet wipes to clear the stains off the seats of our pants.  This experience was at once awesome and terrifying.  The bakkie was dwarfed by mommy elephant.  I have no doubt she could crush the cabin with a few well-placed strikes using her front legs.

Onward we went and the experience just got better.  We got close up to another mother and two calves, this time on the other side of the vehicle.  They slowly moved off in a group, apparently unperturbed by our approach.

Further down this track, called the Gorah Loop, we saw a group of elephants to the right of us, moving in a direction which we assumed was towards the water hole.  We continued driving, hoping that the road would curve enough to get us closer to them.  Rounding the next bend, we passed some Burchell’s Zebra, bush pigs and a few Kudu with hardly a second thought; we were foucussed on getting to the water hole.

Rounding the next bend we saw a vista of elephants. They were dotted in groups all over the grassy areas to either side of the road, happily munching away.  This must be the main group towards which the smaller group of elephants were making their way. We identified a spot where the track approached close by to a group of females with calves, and switched the vehicle off.  Again the elephants used those mastadonian legs and within a few minutes were very close to us, too close for me to start the engine in case they became startled. So we chose to sit tight and see whether they would continue towards us or divert in another direction.  One assumes wild animals prefer to stay clear of humans, after all.  Again, this assumption proved incorrect; the greater part of the herd began walking directly towards us, and in a few seconds they were all around the vehicle, with heavy breathing and elephantine rumbling. They are incredibly well-coordinated creatures – they flowed past our vehicle close enough to brush it but not one of them so much as whacked their tail against us. I have a priceless photograph of the expression of wonderment on Erica’s face – this experience is by far the best we could expect with any wild animal, and I’m so glad Erica got to see it.

After that there was nothing else that could beat it.  We enjoyed a peaceful lunch at the well-planned picnic area near the main water hole, then it was time to hit the road again.  Next stop was Cradock for lunch at the Wimpy and then about 15km onwards to the Mountain Zebra National Park.  This park is set in the Karoo, and similarly to the Karoo National Park it is situated in an arid area amongst mesa formations and interesting geographical formations in every direction as far as the eye can see.  It is truly breathtaking and leaves you feeling awed and humbled by the sheer size and beauty of this desert landscape.

After check-in there was just enough time to do a quick self-drive before sunset, during which we spotted numerous Black Wildebeest, Red Hartebeest, Kudu, Blesbok, Springbok and of course, Zebra.  As we were heading back, we got the closest sighting yet of Zebra crossing the road in front of us.  Instead of bolting, they casually settled at the side of the road and started grazing.  This was a great photo opportunity – I hope my pics look OK after not using the flash. I didn’t want to startle them especially because the flash would have been far more noticeable in the late afternoon shadow.  We could not get close to the Wildebeest, which other than the Black Rhino and Cheetah is the main attraction here, so we’re going to tackle some of the rougher trails tomorrow where 4×4 is a requirement.  Who knows, maybe we’ll see the Black Rhino too!

We just realised that we’ve done game drives in two national parks in one day!  Might be an interesting challenge to try to better this!

So we finally managed to clear our desks, but cut it so fine that our bumprints hardly had time to erase themselves from our office chairs.  Throw in a punctured bicycle tyre, the late pick-up of Heather’s new cellphone and a stop in Napier to check Erica’s sore throat, it’s a wonder we managed to make De Hoop at 6:30pm yesterday.

We arrived in semi-darkness.  Little Erica slept like a, well . . . like a baby, the entire way.  Turning into the dirt drive leading up to the chalets, we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by many breeds of antelope and what we thought were Zebra.  We switched off our headlights to see better (I know that sounds odd) and continued to crawl forward in the bakkie.  We got quite close and saw that the “Zebra” were quite small with poorly-defined stripes, probably the result of attempts to re-breed the extinct Quagga into existence.  It probably says something about this on the brochure which I’ll post here when I get a chance to dig it out.

We could not see much at night as we moved our gear into the rondawel, but we guessed that we were right next to the lake.  The night sounds of water birds drifted over the water towards us.  De Hoop is very quiet at this time of year which adds to the ambiance.  I confronted five large ants as we stepped inside the rondawel – they took a fair amount of killing and we made doubly sure their buddies were not hiding under the beds to exact revenge during the night!  Once the perimeter was secured, a quick supper of Pro-Nutro was all we had energy for, then we pushed the two single sleepers together and created a bed for 3.

Next morning we opened the door to a panoramic view over the water and bush, with myriad species of birds busily attending to their morning schedules. One such bird had a breakfast meeting with us – how the hell does a pheasant eat porridge off a step?  One would think a beak is most unsuitable for the task, yet not a scrap of porridge remained!  Obviously this pheasant’s mother taught it manners because it ate all it’s food and did not come into the rondawel without an invitation.  We were however keeping an eye on the troupe of baboons arriving on the opposite bank who apparently need no such invitation.

Heather braved the chilly morning for a refreshing outdoor shower.  The facilities at De Hoop are immaculate, and all this for only R430 per night, off-season. They even remembered to include a two-prong plug!  For those who prefer camping, there are vast level grassy areas perfect for pitching a tent. While we were looking at the almost-empty campsite, we spotted some Ostriches nearby breakfasting on the abundant wild fig.  Erica was quite astounded by the size of them – just wait till we get to Kruger!

De Hoop is awesomely beautiful.  We did not have time to visit the restaurant, river mouth, sand dunes,  4×4 and MTB course, but we will definitely return on the first long weekend which presents itself.

Back on the road this morning just before 9am, heading toward Malgas.  They have a pont there which we wanted to check out, having never crossed a river in this manner before. I was expecting some kind of motor-driven barge, but instead we encountered a large floating slab of pavement pulled along by no more than the strength of 3 men!!  Of course, they need lots of rest so we didn’t spot them at first sleeping in the bushes on the opposite bank.  We drove to the nearby Malgas B&B and obtained cellphone numbers to call the pont to our side of the river.  This massive, floating bulk of tar and concrete held the weight of 3 bakkies without appearing to sink even slightly.  The 3 ropesmen casually walked up and down, pulling on the guide rope without much effort. I still can’t believe how this setup actually works – they do it 7 days a week, 365 days a year during office hours.

The pont was a great experience.  After a brief moment of panic when we got underway, the ride across the river was actually quite novel.  Sitting ensconced in the comfort of the bakkie while being ferried across the Breede River in absolute silence.  We’ve decided to do some more pont-tourism, crossing rivers in this manner whenever and wherever we get the chance!

So the next stop was a Wimpy on the N2 to have a break and re-gas.  Except the gas was coming from us after a double egg breakfast. We both started at the same time shortly after leaving the Wimpy – man what do they put in those eggs!

Confined cabin space forced us off the road into the safety of a den of Lions – I’m not even kidding!  This den of lions was called Jukani Predator Park and cost R85 per head to enter. We joined a tour of the very well-maintained premises where lions, tigers, leopard, cheetah, caracul and wild dogs are free to roam . . . in their spacious enclosures, that is!  They also had some white lions and white tigers set up just on the other side of a fence from an unsuspecting cow – the tigers perpetually stalk the none-the-wiser cow but are always a wire’s width away from closing the deal.  Apparently this is to keep them amused, but even if they got out of the enclosure they wouldn’t know what to do with the cow.  Food in Jukani travels by wheel and not by legs. The wheel is attached to a wheelbarrow, which should never be brought into the enclosure.  The tigers are sure to hunt both barrow and bearer into extinction!

All these predators consume a lot of food.  The surrounding farmers phone in when they have livestock deaths which are not related to diseases which can be passed on through the meat.  If a mad cow is a bugger, can you imagine a mad lion!

After our brief stop we were feeling fresh and rested.  We deemed it safe to enter the cabin and proceed carefully to our next destination – Wilderness SANPark.  For those who are hungry most of the time, like myself, there is no SPAR in Wilderness.  You can drive back about 6km to George (which was not an option for us – we avoid large towns as much as possible) or you can drive a further 15km to Sedgefield where you can obtain all the usual deli delights plus the most KICK-ASS chicken pie this side of the equator.  There was so much chicken that the crust seemed like a pointless formality. And what crust there was, was crispy and brown.  Not like those half-cooked, tepid pastries you find near Cape Town.

So after scoffing our pies in transit, using nothing but bare fingers in the absence of suitable plastics,  we finally arrived at Wilderness just in time to check in at 4:50pm. This immaculately maintained park offers quaint log cabins along the river banks, with well-apportioned braai areas and parking for two vehicles – I think Heather said it was about R490 for the cabin.  The bungalows all have full shower bathrooms and look brand new.  There is DSTV in the mian building, and we arrived just in time for me to not watch the Springboks lose to the All Blacks by a hair’s breadth.  I walked right past it during the Haka and proceeded to light the fire for our all-kebab cast. Told you we get hungry!

Some fatty chicken, a hot shower and an unopened Toblerone later, I’m about to join Heather and Erica in our two-sleeps-three arrangement.  What’s with all the single beds?