There is also a traditional Ndbele village on the property, adding to the colourful hairstyles on my bus.
Dinner at Zebra Lodge was a traditional South African Braai, with Lamb chops, Boerewors and Maize meal Pap (known as Polenta in some countries) with a gravy made from Tomato's and union. It was the Groups first exposure to traditional cooking is South Africa........... some even went for a second helping.
We departed early because the road to The Balule section in the Greater Kruger Park was long, and I wanted to arrive as early as possible. Before we left Zebra Lodge, in our dust, we were lucky to spot some Impala near the exit .
Lunch stop was at the quaint town Dullstroom, a must for the lovers of 'Smoked Trout'........mmm Lekker.....
We arrived at the Park at around four, and our welcoming party was a family of Giraffe, wow.. what luck.
As it turned out, our good luck seemed to improve when the normal skittish warthogs started grazing next to our minibus, and at one stadium we had Giraffe, Impala, Zebra and Warthogs in view at the same time.
It was a case of what to do filming or photos " the Choices.....the choices" yes a great reception.
After our check in at Drifters Andy's Camp, our host and ranger gave a brief overview on what to or not to do during our Evening Game Drive and we set off. wow! We spotted a Leopard close , but before most of us could set our Cameras he just stalked away in the riverbed, we went on an extensive search with no luck.
For the sake of my fantastic group I am adding this night shot of a Leopard in the same area, "we saw it anyway"
We returned to our Tented base for dinner and a chat around the campfire, everyone pleased that they have spotted the rarest of the Big 5, yes Danie and Joe you did well
Sleeping in the next morning would have deprived us from this golden sunrise, and a warm cup of Coffee............yep it is good to be back in the Bush, so many sounds and yet the silence.
Tasting wild herbs, and admiring Danie's knowledge of the environment, the group agreed that their experience of Kruger Park is improving by the minute !
Birds are plenty in the park. This Red billed horn bill had to come see what the group was up to.
or....was he just admiring the colourful Tourists :-)
We found some Elephant tracks near our base and with Danie's help everybody could determine the size of the beast as well as the fact that it passed through the previous morning ( note the leaves on the footprint).
Joe disappeared for a few minutes and surprised all with this wonderful Horned Baboon Spider, a rare sighting that even I had to hold in my hand, and yes they do bite, and it does hurt but treat them kindly and the chances for a bite are reduced............wow Wow
Yanicke wanted to be close so we worked a plan for this Great Photograph.
the next challenge for the group was Impala dropping spitting, yes really we do that and it is great fun.
We returned to base for a fantastic brunch, and siesta around the pool. The group has just settled when Danie arrived with a Spotted bush snake, a very busy hunter but non-poisonous, pretty little guy is he not.
We released him back into the bush
We started our afternoon Game drive spotting Impala, Kudu and many more however the group had one major request..........
We went hunting and all the time Danie was communicating to his fellow Game Rangers on his radio, with little success. We visited all the watering places knowing that our "Pray" need to drink at least twice a day.
Then Danie indicated that he heard something in the bush, stepped out,went for a short walk, and returned together with Joe and stated that our quarry is a mere 85 meters away. first we herd the sounds and then they were close, elephants were walking directly towards us, browsing as they came closer. the photograph should be enlarged to appreciate how close this Elephant was, note you can see the colour in its eye !!!!! WOW
then the bonus Young Ellie's !!!!!!!!
Even I phone photographs were possible (love the double take here)
Once they were all gone and the Group could take a breath we took in the spectacular bush veld sunset, and had a sun downer......... yes it was a day to remember.
A group photograph with Joe and Danie and our trusty steed, the Toyota Cruiser
Evening broke but we found this Eagle Owl with just enough light available for a final photograph,
Dinner and again a relaxing moment to reflect around the Campfire.
Joe and Mamma Frieda keeping an watch over the Braai while Danie "a man with many talents prepares the starter, a creamy, spicy, mushroom soup.
Some of the group woke early to see the African Sun rise and view the ever present Vervet Monkeys
All good things comes to an end sometime and it was time to leave Kruger and it's wonderful Nature, to continue on our tour. Just outside Hoedspruit one can visit some of the Southern-most Baobab trees in Southern Africa, this one is well over 800 years old, and will be able tel a story of migrations great treks and wars, it even has some people's names engraved on it.
The Blyde River Canyon remains one of my personal favourites and I take particular note of the expressions coming from tourists seeing it for the first time......"amai amai."
These two ladies where part of my colourful group and should you look at the Lilac breasted Roller,
there are some resemblence
and when you standing on top of the World looking down on creation, you know that you are on the Panorama Route in Mpumalanga South Africa.
We visited the Bourke's Luck potholes before we stopped for the amazing view at God's Window.
Lunch was enjoyed in Graskop where we saw some wild cats of another kind, yet to be released in South Africa the Jag XF.
We paid a short visit to Pilgrim's Rest historical town, and the group found the Lone Creek Waterfall spectacular, but nobody was brave enough to swim in the very cold waters at the base of the waterfall.
The hosts and staff at Stille Woning Guest House always make the guests feel at home and with dinner under two old Paperbark Acacia trees, the atmosphere is just great as usual we went to bed very late.
The ladies in more familiar surrounds all dressed up for dinner
The open fore gave a festive atmosphere during dinner and perhaps contributed to a late night for some.
We departed early on our 400 km trip to Johannesburg, but made time to stop at a Service station to view some Rhino and Buffalo.
The flight to Port Elizabeth was bumpy because of weather patterns that did not bode well for our arrival, and as luck would have it ....... my luggage did the usual thing by not arriving with us. B A came good in the end when I was reunited with my luggage.
a Cold but clear morning awaited us and gave the group the opportunity to go for a walk along the beautiful beach promenade
Donkin Square in the old part of Port Elizabeth has been upgraded to a very interesting tourist attraction, note how the artist managed to cut facial expressions from plate steel. This stop is well worth it.
For lunch we stoped at the Tsitsikamma Village Inn, and while our orders were prepared, we visited a Diner and danced to the music of Elvis, The Beach Boys and the Beatles, and for a moment relived the late 50s and 60s.............mmm it was good. and lunch was really great.
Then we visited the Tsitsikamma National Park, and the first
Wildlife we encountered were a troop of baboons.
Sugar birds and
Rock Hyrax ( distantly related to the Elephant)
Some found the walk to the Suspension Bridges with close to 400 steps there and back a bit to much,and were very glad to arrive at Tsitsikamma
Lodge for a relaxing Jacuzzi in the room.
The next morning we took the scenic drive to Plettenbergbay, The Groot River Pass and Natures valley Beach is well worth a visit.
We visited a school project known as Born in Africa, a visit that my group will remember.
Knysna is a charming little town, with stunning views, and amazing restaurants in the Waterfront. Our two hour Lunch stop went down well, before we drove to Oudtshoorn and to The Thorntree Country Lodge. Dinner is an amazing experience with Ostrich fillet steaks the favourite with many.
The next morning we went to a Leather Factory to see how Ostrich leather is worked into beautiful leather goods and we had time for a walk about in the town, followed by a visit to the Cango Ostrich Farm.
My group learned about this strange and very large bird, they even had a moment sitting on them.
They say that you need to tread softly when you are near eggs, but look these are the only that you can stand on.
After lunch at the Ostrich Farm we went to the spectacular Cango Caves, and then we drove up the beautiful Swartberg Mountain Pass build and completed in 1886 by Tomas Bain.
The pass is home to a great verity of Flowers and indigenous plants. This Protea could be seen all along the upper slopes of the pass.
On the way up to the top of the pass we stopped to photograph this little antelope. The Klipspringer has special adapted hooves to enable to do just what its name suggests, it jumps from rock to rock with the greatest of ease.
The males have horns they seem to freeze on the rock when you stop to view them, this male with his mate and their young allowed the group to take as many photographs as they wanted before moving on.
The mountain excursion was done by Kobus Lategan from Kobus se Gat fame, dinner at his Bush or Mountain Restaurant is an fulfilling experience......as Julia his right hand lady, said that all was prepared with love...lots of love :-)
We returned to the Thorntree Country lodge for a nightcap before we enjoyed a good night's rest after a very busy day.
The next morning we went to Mosselbay to visit the Diaz museum and the Post Office Tree, the 1988 replica of Diaz's ship sailed to Mosselbay from Portugal to commemorate the 500 th anniversary of the pioneers journey around the tip of Africa.
In the afternoon we went to the Garden Route Game lodge to try find some more wildlife, especially those that the group have not seen yet.
Cheetah, Eland, lion Hippo and many more were spotted before Sunset and the Buffalo waited until dark before we could see them emerge from the shrubbery.
By the time we found the Buffalo we were very cold on the Game viewing cars, so the heated dining room and excellent Buffet Dinner was a super sight.
The following morning we started our trip to Cape town, lunch was enjoyed at Rooiberg wine cellar near Ashton ( by the way this is here where you would find perhaps the biggest chair in Africa, note the two ladies sitting on it.
we had to postpone the visit to Table Mountain because of the weather, and thus decided that we would visit the Afrikaans Language Monument instead before we drove to our final Hotel, the Lagoon Beach Hotel in Milnerton
Our second last day was to do the Cape Peninsula, and fortunately the weather turned out to be fresh but clear and best of all the high winds have died down, fantastic !!
The calm waters in Houtbay Harbour belied the churned up ocean the tourists had to endure during the boat cruse to view the Cape Fur Seals
this seal came to view some tourists ....he he
This little Sugar Bird stayed seated for a few photographs
Standard Cape of Good Hope Photo Moment.
Cape of Good Hope has lots of Marine Birds, and for the Birders of the Group it was a great moment.
Our final stop for the day was the Boulders Beach Penguin Colony near Simon's Town, a firm favourite with most Tourists.
The little Grey Mongoose was a pleasant surprise, it is not often that you get to see these little predators, they hunt anything snakes scorpions and even other small mammals.
Viewing table Mountain from the beach near our hotel, certainly a wow moment for any visitor to Cape Town.
Our day turned out to be just brilliant when the group could go up Table Mountain, visit both the V&A Waterfront and visit a wine Estate in Stellenbosch.
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Greeting guests after two weeks has always been difficult and this time was no different, and that makes for a successful tour.
