Safaris and many more adventures in South Africa

[Mattg]

Just as interesting as the scenery though was observing how the local people live. We drove through a village called Loskop, and from there there were houses scattered throughout the countryside right up until the foot of the mountains.



Most of the houses were made of either clay, thatch or tin. They all seemed to have rocks on their roofs, presumably to keep them in place. We also noticed a few rooftops covered in corn, of all things.

This part of South Africa was much more remote and primitive than anything we'd seen on the Garden Route. We saw a lot of people carrying buckets of water, and passed a number of wells where (mostly) women were collecting water.



There were a lot of obstacles on the road, including cows:





...and people riding on the backs of tractors:



Even though there was clearly a lot of poverty, many of the locals seemed happy and waved to us. It's just another reminder to me that money doesn't buy happiness.

 

[Mattg]

Today we left the mountains just after sunrise for the long drive to Nelspruit. We drove for about 8 hours to get to Nelspruit, which is very close to Kruger National Park.

Once again, there was plenty to see out the window.







There was a mix of well-maintained and dirt roads.

One thing we noticed in particular was the large amount of fires. Some were controlled burns, while others appeared quite random. At one point we drove past a particularly large fire where the smoke could be seen for miles.

Controlled burning:



And out of control:



Overall we were pretty pleased by the condition of most of the roads and didn't have any real problems.

Tomorrow we will venture into Kruger and begin some animal spotting!

 

[craven morehead]

Also worth observing that we experienced No problems with the booking here in Jeffrey's Bay & was booked the exact same method via Qantas Hotels.
I believe Santos Express in Mossel Bay was a rouge operator.

Rogue operator with red cheeks hey Cool Cat Phil ?

 

[craven morehead]

I am pretty sure we passed this sign not far past Nelspruit on the way to KNP. Looking to go back in 2017 and pretty much follow the route you guys are travelling now... enjoying the TR :mrgreen:

 

[craven morehead]

Cool Cat Phil & Mattg, which gate/s will you guys be entering Kruger NP from ?

 

[Mattg]

Cool Cat Phil & mattg, which gate/s will you guys be entering Kruger NP from ?

We will be entering the park through Numbi Gate on the southern side.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Look at what we found just before entering Kruger NP ?

 

[Mattg]

We set out on Wednesday morning for Kruger National Park. We actually got slightly lost on the drive between Nelspruit and the Numbi Gate as the road signs showing where we were supposed to turn off were either concealed or missing entirely on numerous occasions!

We seemed to pass through a few towns/villages along the way. I was quite surprised by the number of hairdressers...





I was also surprised that every time we passed a school, there was a Coca Cola branded sign out the front. (I would be interested to know what exactly their sponsorship of these schools entails, and who the real winners are in whatever arrangements may be in place...)



I'd also like to know what "chicken dust" is exactly...

 

[Mattg]

Eventually we found our way and were passing through the gate into Kruger National Park.



We stayed in the park for two nights. When we booked about 3 months ago, there were only one or two cabins available in the park on each night, and they weren't in the same camp. We ended up taking what we could get, which was a small hut in the Pretoriuskop Rest Camp the first night and a larger cabin in the Letaba Camp the second night.

We enjoyed staying in the park and found the accommodation perfectly adequate. But the only way to book is through SA National Parks, and their website really isn't great.

My advice if you would like to stay in the park would be to book as far in advance as possible (probably at least 6 months ahead would be ideal). According to one lady I spoke to, bookings for next year open on 22 July (at 7.30am South African time) for phone bookings, and the following day for internet bookings. So if you're looking at going next year, you might want to keep that in mind.

As I said, we stayed the first night in a small hut in Pretoriuskop Camp. The room was fairly small but we did have a fridge, table and an air conditioner. Shared bathrooms were a short walk away.





There would have been about 100 cabins on the site, so it wasn't that small. There was also a petrol station, shop and restaurant on-site. To our (pleasant) surprise, they weren't price gouging either... Petrol bought in the camp was exactly the same price as the petrol we bought in Nelspruit earlier that day.

Interestingly, the restaurant was a Wimpy, which is a South African fast food chain...

 

[Mattg]

We spent a few hours on Wednesday afternoon driving around on the lookout for some interesting animals. And we weren't disappointed!



In that first afternoon we saw not one, but seven rhinos in the space of an hour!





By the end of the week we'd, we'd seen all of the Big 5.

Buffalos:



You probably can't see the hippos here, but their backs are the black lumps in the water.

 

[Mattg]

We did see lions in Kruger, but they were fairly well hidden inside a cave. However we got very close to a large pride of lions during a private game drive later in the week. (I'll get to that shortly.)



That photo didn't come out that well as it was night-time, but you get the idea.

Unfortunately I don't have a good photo of the leopard we saw in Kruger.

We also saw many other animals including zebras, giraffes, elephants, hyenas, warthogs and impala. Lots and lots of impala.

I think we were pretty lucky. Kruger put on a great show for us!

 

[Mattg]

On the second day in Kruger we had to drive to our next campsite, Letaba. The trip only took us about 200km to the north, but it took around 5 hours (plus a stop for lunch). There is a speed limit in Kruger of 50km/h on sealed roads, and 40km/h on unsealed roads. And these limits are enforced - we did see a couple of speed traps.

For lunch that day we stopped at Skukuza camp, which was probably the nicest of the three camps we visited. It was a large site overlooking a river. We only had time to visit the restaurant, but were very happy with the food, service, views and prices. Both our meals were fresh and well-cooked. The restaurant there was also the only place we visited in the whole park with wifi.

The restaurant at Skukuza:



And the view:



Based on what we saw, we would have been happy to stay at Skukuza Camp. We also recently discovered that there is an airport at Skukuza served by daily flights to Johannesburg and Nelspruit on South African Airways. So, if you were short for time you could fly straight into Skukuza.

We were again happy with our accommodation the second night in Letaba. Our cabin was a bit bigger this time and came with an en-suite bathroom. (It was also nearly double the price at about $90 from memory.)

That evening we did a sunset game drive, which is where we saw our only leopard of the trip. We also saw a honey badger and various other nocturnal creatures after sunset.

Each of the camps offer their own sunset/sunrise/night drives. I think it's definitely worth considering one if you're staying overnight in the park. And from memory our sunset drive only cost about $25 each.



Finally, I just thought I would mention that for Kruger there is a "conservation fee" payable of about $30 per day. If you are staying overnight you will need to get an arrival stamp when you enter the park, and an exit stamp from your camp on the final day. Otherwise, visiting is pretty simple and self-driving is not as daunting as it might sound.

Hopefully there are a few useful tips here for anyone planning a trip to Kruger. And if you're not, then maybe you should be!

 

[Mattg]

Yesterday we left Kruger and headed to a private game reserve near Hoedspruit called Thornybush.

The day began with a beautiful sunrise:



We happened to drive past the Amarula factory (for the uninitiated, Amarula is a delicious South African beverage similar to Baileys) shortly after leaving Kruger. Naturally, we stopped to have a look around and they offered to show us around the factory. (Though it wasn't in operation as the fruit is not currently in season.)





In the afternoon we did another safari/game drive. This wasn't in Kruger itself but we did once again see a fair few animals.

Phil had done the same drive on a previous visit and said that they had gone to a different location in the past. According to the guide, the reason for the change in location had to do with poachers. Rhino poaching is a huge problem in South Africa, and something like 1.5 rhinos are poached in Kruger each day. What was happening in this case was that poachers were taking part in the game drives incognito in the previous location in order to inform other poachers of the rhinos' whereabouts.

The jeep:


One of the highlights of the safari drive was watching a "journey" of giraffes at sunset.

 

[Mattg]

We stayed that night inside Thornybush reserve at the Thornhill Safari Lodge. I was once again very happy, and the accommodation was a bit of a step up from what we had in Kruger.



I did notice this treehouse nearby though - now how fun would it be to stay there?!



The staff at Thornhill were all very welcoming and accommodating. For dinner they joined all their guests for a traditional braai under the stars.

 

[Mattg]

Today I left Phil and headed to the airport in Hoedspruit. I flew this afternoon back to Johannesburg, where I am currently overnighting before I fly on to Livingstone tomorrow.

I will then spend a few days at Victoria Falls before flying home on Tuesday night. Phil is actually still at Thornhill, but will eventually return home one day before me.

Flight 4: SA1228 Hoedspruit - Johannesburg
Dash 8 Q400
Departure time: 13:55
Arrival time: 14:55

The airport in Hoedspruit was tiny! This was the line for check-in:





The line for security:



And the departures area:



That's what it was like on the one day of the week that there isn't a flight to Cape Town leaving around the same time....

Truth be told, the airport wasn't actually that bad. Yes it was small, but it was actually quite nice to have the option to wait for the flight in the sun. There was even a small shop, currency exchange booth and (perhaps most surprisingly) free wifi at that airport.

Walking across the tarmac:



The flight was reasonably uneventful. The Dash 8 was more or less the same as QantasLink on board. I did think that the seats were a little more comfortable than usual for a Dash 8 flight as the legroom was decent, there were padded headrests and the seats reclined. Of course there was no IFE, but that's to be expected.

We departed and arrived on time. Everyone was given a small bag of nuts and a choice of drink (including alcohol) for free. Service was professional. My only complaint is that I was unable to attach my Velocity frequent flyer number when checking in. I will have to wait two weeks and do a retrospective claim, I guess.

After landing we found out that in a remarkable comeback, Australia managed to come back from behind and beat the Springboks while we were in the air. The one other Aussie on the flight and I were cheering!

 

[Mattg]

Anyway, as I said I'm currently in a hotel in Johannesburg ahead of my flight to Livingstone in the morning. This time I decided to book at the Premier Hotel near the airport. This is a 4 star hotel but I was able to get a nice discount when I booked last week. (I guess the hotel mustn't be very full at the moment.)

I'm very happy with this hotel and would probably book here again. Here's the room:

 

[Imw]

Great informative report. Enjoyed immensely.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Love Amarula - still have a bottle in my fridge

You were quite near the Hoedspruit endangered species centre - they are doing fantastic work breeding and releasing Cheetahs and caring for animals. Unlike the lion breeders, who claim to be conservationists, but are generally just money making rackets, Hoedspruit is very ethical. We saw two rhino there who had been saved via plastic surgery after having their horns cut out by poachers.

Poaching of Rhino is a huge problem and the private game reserves won't allow you to take mobile phones on game drives, because they have had the same problem of people posing as guests and then using the gps coordinates on phones to tell poachers exactly where the rhino are.

Glad you enjoyed the animals and your trip. Make sure you take the trip to Livingstone Island if it is open and swim to the edge of the falls!

 

[craven morehead]

On the second day in Kruger we had to drive to our next campsite, Letaba. The trip only took us about 200km to the north, but it took around 5 hours (plus a stop for lunch). There is a speed limit in Kruger of 50km/h on sealed roads, and 40km/h on unsealed roads. And these limits are enforced - we did see a couple of speed traps.

For lunch that day we stopped at Skukuza camp, which was probably the nicest of the three camps we visited. It was a large site overlooking a river. We only had time to visit the restaurant, but were very happy with the food, service, views and prices. Both our meals were fresh and well-cooked. The restaurant there was also the only place we visited in the whole park with wifi.

The restaurant at Skukuza:

View attachment 52315

And the view:

View attachment 52316

Based on what we saw, we would have been happy to stay at Skukuza Camp. We also recently discovered that there is an airport at Skukuza served by daily flights to Johannesburg and Nelspruit on South African Airways. So, if you were short for time you could fly straight into Skukuza.

We were again happy with our accommodation the second night in Letaba. Our cabin was a bit bigger this time and came with an en-suite bathroom. (It was also nearly double the price at about $90 from memory.)

That evening we did a sunset game drive, which is where we saw our only leopard of the trip. We also saw a honey badger and various other nocturnal creatures after sunset.

Each of the camps offer their own sunset/sunrise/night drives. I think it's definitely worth considering one if you're staying overnight in the park. And from memory our sunset drive only cost about $25 each.

View attachment 52317

Finally, I just thought I would mention that for Kruger there is a "conservation fee" payable of about $30 per day. If you are staying overnight you will need to get an arrival stamp when you enter the park, and an exit stamp from your camp on the final day. Otherwise, visiting is pretty simple and self-driving is not as daunting as it might sound.

Hopefully there are a few useful tips here for anyone planning a trip to Kruger. And if you're not, then maybe you should be!

Had lunch there as well < great spot !!

 

[craven morehead]

We stayed that night inside Thornybush reserve at the Thornhill Safari Lodge. I was once again very happy, and the accommodation was a bit of a step up from what we had in Kruger.

View attachment 52324

I did notice this treehouse nearby though - now how fun would it be to stay there?!

View attachment 52327

The staff at Thornhill were all very welcoming and accommodating. For dinner they joined all their guests for a traditional braai under the stars.

View attachment 52326

Uitstekend !! :mrgreen: