30.07.2013 First Kruger safari part 1: Phabeni gate and Skukuza

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After a day of driving round the mountains near Sabie, we were already hungering for our first safari experience and as the Phabeni gate to Kruger was just 40 minutes' drive away we decided to get up at the ungodly hour of 5am to head for a morning drive.

They say that the very first and very last hours of daylight are the best time to be out looking for animals, as most of them - especially predators, are most active around this time. From our own personal experience I can confirm it's all true. After already spotting a few giraffes and some elephants in the bushes, at around 7am we stopped as a herd of elephants slowly crossed the road right in front of our car. This made a good opportunity to sit and munch on our packed breakfast as we marveled at our first sighting of real big totally wild animals walking out right in front of us.

Wait for me!

From there on in the rest of the morning continued to be exhilarating as we passed more elephants, giraffes and zebras grazing by the side of the road or crossing out in front of our car. There were also tons of impalas and steenboks around, which we thought were amazing the first time we saw them, but with at least 150,000 of them in the Kruger, you quickly get blasé about yet another gang of deer type creatures.

Kudu

We stopped off for morning coffee at Skukuza which is by far the biggest rest camp in the Kruger. It is so big in fact that it has its own airport. Of all the rest camps we saw I would say this is probably the least exciting to stay in -it has a slightly package holiday feel to it and is lacking in the 'wild' elements, but does still have a nice river view and ample facilities. Skukuza's location is also ideal as you can easily travel up to the quieter middle part of the park or down into the busier lower sections where the largest proportion of animals are (although we saw about the same amount of animals in the lower and upper park).  

All caffeined up we then set off again as the sun began to burn down on us, meaning that we did indeed see fewer big animals. However, our spotters eyes were more than ready for other interesting things and we weren't disappointed. Following the river we spotted lots of hippos, crocodiles, vervet monkeys (cute!) and loads of baboons, as well as many beautiful birds. Then whilst taking a rest near a large waterhole we candidly watched as a huge crocodile slowly swam through the water before lumbering out onto a big nearby rock to show off his crocodile smile. Experiences like that definitely put you off stepping out of your car in the park!

One of the things to be careful of when entering the Kruger is that you do not have any booze in your vehicle. We had accidentally left a bottle of whisky in the boot which one of the guards kindly watched for us while we were out driving. Of course rather inconveniently it meant that we had to drive back to the gate at the end of the day rather than exiting elsewhere.

The drive back to the gate in the afternoon was quiet, even though we were always on the lookout for the ideal 'leopard tree' (- "if I were a leopard I would love to sit up that tree") and I enjoyed the landscape and great feeling of wilderness. The Kruger is a vast expanse of space about the size of a small European country, in fact it is the largest park of its kind in the world. It is heavily populated with a huge variety of incredible wild animals and the bushy landscape dotted with trees and long meandering rivers takes you back to how it must have been like in Africa long before the farms and the factories, mines and cities began to take over the land. Magical.

29.07.2013 The Drakensberg Escarpment - Mpumalanga

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After four months on the continent, this week we finally took our first long holiday in South Africa. My husband's parents were here from Europe to visit, so it was a family holiday. I was really determined to do something special, to see a wide variety of things and prove the 'South Africa has it all' claims, whilst also relaxing and staying in quality places. I made a lot of demands for myself for sure. Was it stressful to organise? You bet! Having not yet had any personal experience of safaris and long South African road trips, nor knowing much about the places I wanted to visit - I was putting my best hopes into tripadvisor and the blogosphere, generally working the internet to help make it the best possible holiday.

I've certainly learnt a lot already from organising this trip and seen a lot too. Venues aside, this trip really made me realize that, no matter where you are heading or what your budget is, it is the South African people themselves who really make the holiday. These are some of the friendliest, most cheerful, relaxed and helpful people you can meet anywhere in the world. After 6 plus years of living in Russia where the people are not generally described using those same adjectives above, I can wholeheartedly say that the people really can make the place.

So, back to the trip. Here was our itinerary for a week in North-Eastern South Africa:

 -- 3 nights in Sabie in Mpumalanga Province at the Drakensburg Escarpment

 -- 3 nights in Phalaborwa, Limpopo Province at the gate to central Kruger National Park

-- 1 night in Haenertsburg, Limpopo on the drive back to Johannesburg

Sabie and surrounds

We arrived after a 4 hour drive to Sabie in the early evening. My navigation skills unfortunately let me down whilst trying to leave Joburg and I accidentally took us through the Alexandra shanty town (instead of around it). Here the tiny narrow streets are thronged with people, goats, potholes, heavily laden telegraph poles, tightly packed shacks and no street signs whatsoever. It was an eye-opening experience and I really want to go back and have a guided tour. But, at the time, it was pre-etty stressful.

In Sabie we checked into the Sabie Townhouse guesthouse, which is a lovely relaxed place with a nice (but freezing) honesty bar and lovely spacious (but also chilly) rooms. Our hosts made us a huge breakfast spread each morning with homemade banana bread and muffins, fruit and the full cooked breakfast too. Plus they also prepared a packed breakfast for the days we got up early to drive to Kruger, which was much appreciated. We then set off the next day to see the sights.

Another epic game of Who Wants to be a Millionaire at the bar

Blyde River Canyon

The Blyde River Canyon is the area's biggest attraction. For the adventurous types there's white water rafting, hiking, mountain biking and canopy trails (where you zoom across gorges on those zipline thingies), while for the more sedate visitor there are the views.

First stop on the Escarpment tourist trail about 40 minutes before you reach the canyon proper is God's Window, where you can peer over the massive cliffs which marks the end of the Highveld and the beginning of the Lowveld some 900 metres below. They say that if you are here on a clear night you can see all the way to the lights of Maputo in Mozambique. Nearby there are also many waterfalls which you can stop at, we chose the Berlin Falls, for no reason other than it was recommended by our townhouse.

God's Window

Berlin Falls

Further on up towards the mouth of the canyon you reach Bourke's Luck Potholes, an area of fantastic rock formations carved by the Blyde river. The area is named after a local prospector who found gold here, but failed to get rich as the actual gold seam was located a short way south of his claim.

From here you drive on another half hour to reach the big canyon view at a point called Three Rondavels. The Three Rondavels are three round rock formations which were each named by the local Pedi tribe after one of the chief's wives (I don't remember the names now). The canyon itself is said to be the third largest in the world (after the Grand Canyon and Fish River Canyon in Namibia) - whether that statistic is based on depth, width or length I have no idea. Regardless, it is pretty spectacular.

Echo Caves

Another half an hour beyond the canyon we also stopped at the Echo Caves near to Ohrigstad. This was my favourite attraction in the whole area. Not really well marked on the tourist trail, the caves attract few visitors meaning it was just us and our guide wandering through this strange underground world.

These ancient caves were re-discovered in the 1920s by a local farmer who kept mysteriously losing his cattle. After much head-scratching he eventually found that the cows had wandered into this massive system of caves and perished. In recent years miners have been sent down to explore the area and find where the caves lead. So far they have reached 19kms (for lack of oxygen in their tanks they couldn't continue any further) although it is believed the caves may stretch for 40kms!

They were named echo caves by the local Pedi tribe who used to hide here in the 19^th Century while they warred with the Swazis. The Pedis lived out on the hot plains during the winter and retreated to the cooler mountain areas to escape the summer heat. At some point they started to find that thieving Swazis had been through their villages while they were away and destroyed their land and stolen crops. Thus the troubles began. During the worst times the Pedi tribe would hide in the caves from the marauding Swazis with their animals and belongings. A lookout man was sent to the entrance and if he saw trouble he would start beating one of the hollow stalactites near the entrance to the caves making a loud booming sound which would act as a warning message echoing for kilometres telling his people to hide.

The tour was not real potholing per say, but did require much more athleticism than we had first guessed. In the end we only did one half of the two kilometer tour as our guide warned us that in the second half of our journey we would be required to crawl and that in some areas there was very little air. Definitely not for claustrophobes.

Pilgrim's Rest

Pilgrim's Rest is a classic old fashioned mining town about 35 minutes from Sabie. The whole town is considered as a national heritage site and so feels more like a museum than a real 'living' community. That said the buildings are very pretty, there are plenty of cute craft shops and little tea rooms and you can also go down to the stream and try your hand at panning for gold. There are an unusually high number of people selling African crafts here which we felt were overpriced compared to what we had seen elsewhere. If you are looking to buy African crafts (and I recommend you do) you will find better prices at the waterfalls or up on the canyon view point.