South Africa: Day 15

We started off quite early in the morning, or at least, as early as we could, towards Wilderness, Before Wilderness we would make a stop in Knysna and drive by Plattenberg first.

View over the whole bay 

Whilst driving through Plattenberg we found that it was a very nice little town, cosy and enjoyable, with lots of places to visit, but due to the lack of time, it would be no more than a drive through town, once outside though we noticed the real big contrast, all around the outskirts of the town you had the “townships” which is how they call the slums in South Africa, it was especially something remarkable because the distance between the town and the township was quite short, just being a single road in some places.

Shopping plaza at the waterfront of Knynsa

In Knysna on the other hand we did have a little stop, we walked around a little shopping centre to have a look around and found a nice store where we could get some plain shirts for less than the cost of dry cleaning the dirty shirts that we had in the luggage.
 When we got out there it was close to lunch time so we headed towards the seaside where we found a little boulevard with tons of tiny souvenir shops and restaurants, there our eyes fell on a place called “north” 34, where they had lots of fresh fish and other delicatessen, the menu was huge, really huge, I remember having a book of 30 pages to go through for my main course, we got some oysters and a few little things to share, we weren’t going to eat too much, because that night (new year’s eve) we would get plenty of food.

Once we got in Wilderness we had a quick look at the beach and went to check on our booking for the night, at the restaurant, we managed to change our booking from 6:30 (which in our opinion was waaaaay to early, but the only table they had available, or se we thought) to a table at 8:30 outside, which was a great improvement in our opinion.

So the time to go for dinner had arrived and we got at the restaurant, and as soon as we got there the host told us that there would be a table available inside in a few minutes if we’d like the offer. We gladly accepted and thought to ourselves that we had wasted too much time and effort stressing about the evening. We had a wonderful dinner with lots of wild meat like ostrich, springbok and wildebeest. And to top it up, at the end of the night we had a wild Genet come in the restaurant, apparently it had been sneaking in for the last few weeks (they told us that they were going to catch it and release it in the forest in the short future).

After dinner the waiters invited us to join them at the sister restaurant which had a very nice balcony to celebrate the new year, and this is where we did wrong, we kindly rejected their offer as we had made plans to join our BnB host in the other house where he told us he would be serving tonight. 

Don’t get me wrong, the house where we went was beautiful, really astonishing, and front line, with incredible views. But it was dead, when we got there everyone seemed to be half asleep, I think some people where really already sleeping and the mood was very awkward.

Anyway we made the best out of it, had a few glasses of bobbles with the host and ate our 12 grapes during the 12 last second of the year, well, at least I did, I can’t speak on behalf of the rest of my family.

South Africa: Day 8 and Christmas morning

With the little disappointment from the last lodge we ended up booking a different stay half way to our next booking. To get there we had to go through the border again, we where staying at a game lodge close to the Pongola game reserve (The first game reserve we visited to have a big lake nearby).

Mantenga''s craft's centre 

On our way there we stopped at a local craftsman's town in Swazieland called Mantenga craft's centre, where locals make different kinds of woodcuttings to sell them as souvenirs.

Tent lodges

As we arrived we got greeted very kindly and guided to our rooms; the rooms where a curious combination of tents and buildings: the roof, doors and windows where part of a tent, but the walls and the floor where built.

After lunch we decided to go on a game drive, because my mum heard that it was one of the best parks to see black Rhinos.

This boy named Joel joined us during the game ride, he was the son of the lodge's manager. He was 19 years old and already running his own business, amazing in my opinion, and it made me think about what to do in the short future myself, once I'm done with my first bit of travelling of course.

During the game we where suffering, the temperatures were probably around the 40º and the wind that was blowing felt like an hot fan on your face. We did see lots of warthogs which are so cute! And after a while we even encountered black rhinos!! They are really a lot more aggressive than their relatives the white rhinos, as well as a bit smaller.

For dinner all the guests were supposed to be gathered around a very nice camp fire for a drink before heading to the table, but it was so windy that everyone just went inside; once we got guided to the tables we saw that Joel was going to be sitting on his own, which we found sad and invited him over to our table to have dinner! It ended up being a very interesting night, we learnt a lot about growing up in the local area and as a main course we had kudu!! which was surprisingly tender for a wild animal.

If you look closely you can see a crocodile

On Christmas day's morning we left our beds quite early because we had planned something, something different than the by now usual game drives. We were heading to the lake, to do a sort of lake safari.
The first animal that we spotted on the lake was a crocodile, but not too much later we saw a big group of hippopotamus, at first we only managed to catch a few glimpses of their noses and ears going up and down but later on we saw the almost completely out of the water. At the coast of the lake you could observe a big variety of wildlife as well, from rhinos and zebras to more warthogs and of course impalas.
When the weather started changing the ranger decided that we could go back to get some breakfast. And so we did, after breakfast we started packing to head to our next destination.

South Africa: Days 6 & 7

Day 6:

With the end of a relaxed morning at the pool in Nelspruit we look for things to do around: My dad suggested going to visit some gold mines, but after seeing how they ignored our phone calls (and how my mum didn't really agree) we ended up visiting the Sudwala caves, which where only an hour drive away.

The cave at the end of the tours

The caves were a very old formation where the old Swahili people used to live in, we saw stalagmites, stalactites and flowstone formations, which are hollow and where used by the Swahili as alarm system. The tour ended at a little cave 80 metres below the surface and was only accessible through a 0.5 metre high and 40 metres long access cave, but it was absolutely worth it, the cave was lit up with various colours and was the start of a longer tour (which only happens on Sundays) that lasts 5 hours and goes all the way into the deeper caves that have no lights at all. 

Afterwards we went to visit a sort of dinosaur museum, which Sofie obviously loved. For dinner we checked out a suggestion of the guest house, it was supposed to be a local restaurant but we ended up being a little bit disappointed, because on the menu we mainly saw steaks and chicken (not that I'm complaining, the steak was lovely).

To start of the 7^th day I have to mention that we had a special breakfast: eggs, but instead of sunny side u or a regular scrambled egg, it was served in a wrap with some vegetables and some bacon. Once finished the extensive breakfast we left heading to Swaziland.

After a long drive we got at the border controls, which were especially annoying at the South African part of the border, but once we got to our lodge in Mbabane we thought it was worth the wait: The rooms had a beautiful sight over the river that was coming down. 

After lunch we decided to go for a hike upwards the river, we had a stunning view over the valley and my dad was feeling extra adventurous, so he decided to climb up a little mountain that there was next to the top of the river.

Now the lodge was amazing but it felt a little awkward to be there, we got told that they were short on staff, and later on we even heard that the dinner room was full (luckily we had already booked) I have to add that the full dinner room meant 7 persons. The dinner we had was nice but we all agreed that it would be a shame to spend Christmas eve here, even more after we heard that there would be no service at all during Christmas eve nor Christmas day. 

View from the top of the little mountain

South Africa. Day 2

After a nice breakfast in the resort we pack and leave, on our way out we encounter some ostriches, but as soon as I get out of the car to take a picture of them they decide to run off, awesome -.-

Before heading to the next lodges, which are a 3h drive away we decide to visit the Blyde river canyon and once there we find a bunch of locals having their weekend barbecue, the smell was amazing. 
But it wasn't just barbecue and locals, we followed the track for a bit to find an incredible view over the valley. 

 So we get to the gates of the park, the Balule nature reserve, in which the lodges are. The guard tells us to continue straight for about 7 km and turn left whenever we reach a sign of the lodges, but of course no one listened to him, because we all knew our ways, no way we would get lost, right? Well we couldn't have been more off.

Just before getting to the lodges, literally 100 metres off, my dad says: We are way over 7km, we should go back to look for some signs, and so we did, we headed back, followed some random sign saying “Danrock” which wasn't the name of our resort, but it was the only sign we found, and as far as we knew danrock could be Afrikaans for lodges. Anyway, after more or less 45 minutes of driving around (keep in mind this is all on a gravel road) we see a game truck; the lodges had sent someone to save us, how shameful.

Luckily we got back just in time to go on the evening game safari:

Our driver introduced himself, Hamilton was his name, and we later found out that it was a very appropriate name, as he wasn't afraid of stepping on the gas pedal. Lucky was our tracker, which also happened to be very fitting, if you keep in mind all the animals we got to see.

Hyenas relaxing a bit 

We saw some hyenas taking a nap in the water, impalas, some gnu’s, and buffaloes! That’s 1 of the big 5 scrapped of the list, some giraffes who seemed to love the camera (it looked like they were posing for the pictures), some impalas (again, we saw so many of these) and an elephant hiding behind a bush, but our driver, as brave as he was, decided to get closer and he drove between the bushes, which gave us a very nice sight of him. That’s number 2 scrapped of the list. 

Buffalo with his loyal oxpecker 

Then Hamilton got a call on the radio and started racing through the bushes and trees, there was no stopping him. The reason was good though, we arrived at a group of lions!! Amazing! We found 3 young lions and 3 lionesses. Big 5 list: 3 out of 5!

Before dinner we grouped around a camp fire and we got surprised with a little show with African dancing.

The little intruder 

And to end the day, just before we went to sleep, we found a scorpion! Awesome you’d say, yes, generally I’d agree, but we found it in on the curtains, in our room, just next to our bed! And then they even told us that it was a very dangerous type, as it had small claws and a big tail, which apparently means, venomous. 

South Africa: Day 1

Airbus A-380, the double decker of the planes. 

So we have a total of 11 hours of flying awaiting us. We arrive at the airport to see that we are flying with an impressive Airbus A-380, during night time, so even thought I don't really expect it, I hope to catch some sleep.
After an hour and a bit I notice that it's an useless attempt and end up watching Mad Max, a few chapters of the big bang theory and a few more shows and movies.

The first giraffes we found! 

We arrive at the airport at around 11 in the morning, but by the time we get out of there with the car and everything sorted it's 1:30 pm. We leave to the first lodges, where we have a little surprise waiting for us: Giraffes, 2 giraffes of 4-5 metres, incredible to view. We where super excited, only to find out later that they are quite common.





And to finish the day we get to the little resort, which was incredible, we found the people working there to be very lovely and kind, and even for a 4 star resort, the prices where more than reasonable, a fine dining restaurant (in the resort) with dinner and lots of drinks for not more than 25€ a head.

The swimming pool of our first resort-lodges