Phalaborwa & Johannesburg, South Africa


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Africa » South Africa » Limpopo
August 25th 2012
Published: August 27th 2012
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So we flew into Phalaborwa from Johannesburg. On the smallest pane I have ever seen in my life. This had propellers for christ’s sake… And it only had 25 passengers at maximum capacity. Very scary indeed but a lot of fun. Phalaborwa is a small little mining town on the edge of the Kruger National Park, Africa’s largest and the ultimate place to see the big 5. Lion, elephant, buffalo, cheetah and Rhino. We were planning to stay a little over a week in a cozy guest house only 2 kms from the gate. We arrived and were very warmly greeted by our hosts, Helmut and Linnette. They were so lovely, catering to our every need along with providing us with the knowledge and information relating to our stay. Helmut, suggested that we stay a couple of days in a bush camp, about 230kms from Phalaborwa called Pungwe. This camp consists of 4 tented chalets, complete with running water (heated by fire kiln) front deck and mosquito netting over the bed. As well as of course being in the middle of nowhere and right in the heart of all the action. I was so glad we decided to stay there; it was an experience I will never forget. In a way it was the best way to be closest to nature/wildlife and still have some of the modern luxuries of todays world. So it was homecooked meals everynight and breakfasts cooked on an open fire. Regardless of the location and inaccessibility to the nearest shopping towns, the food was amazing! They really have the most talented of staff there. The activities consisted of late afternoon/night game drives and early morning walks in the bush. Just you and whatever decided to come into your path on the way. The drives were incredible. Conducted in an open land rover, the best 4wds in the world and we would drive for hours, trying to catch sights of the big 5, plus all the other amazing animals along the way…

The stand out moment for us would have to be the first night at the camp… We awoke at about 2am to a noise… Actually to call it a ‘noise’ probably would not do it any justice!! It was the lions calling for a gathering, presumably for a feed one would guess. We heard probably 6-7 calls every 20 mins or so over a 4 hour period… The sound was unbelievable!!! A gentle rumble followed by a distinct and terrifying roar…. And when I say terrifying, I mean this in an exciting way; rest assured that I didn’t get a wink of sleep from that moment on… You have to picture it…. Alone in the wilderness, dark and dead still, only a canvas tent protecting you from what was one the other side… And boy were they close… They say the sound of a lions roar can carry out for over 5 kms, but I’m telling you, the honest truth is; I could almost hear them breathe… The most gut wrenchingly terrifying yet amazing, incredible and haunting experience EVER in our lives…. And the fun did not stop there… During the same night I heard a grunting sound. DIRECTLY outside our tent…. Thinking it was a warthog, I didn’t worry at all about it…. That was untill the morning when I told this to the owner of the camp and he laughed… Warthogs are not active at night… So this sound, well it was a leopard!! You can imagine my shock and dismay…. Incredible!! Then there was the naughty elephant that came into camp over the next few days in the middle of the night. It was his playground and he had a great time ripping out trees and waterpipes from the ground.

And the animals didn’t stop there, over the next few days we saw everything from the biggest of animals; Giraffe, elephants, buffalo, antelope, wildebeest to the smallest; mongoose, impala, owls, warthogs, monkeys and hares, plus god knows how many more…. Now the funny thing for me is before this trip I would have never considered myself to be much of an animal lover. I mean I’ve always liked them but being out here and seeing them in their natural habitat, so content… It really gives me such a great appreciation and respect for them. And it really is sooooo much different than visiting a zoo or even a wildlife park. Watching them in an enclosure, confined to the one space, restricted, I don’t think I could ever visit a zoo again. It was just amazing to get up close and personal with them in their environment. It’s hard not to feel a bond with them. But if you asked me what my favorite was, I honestly couldn’t tell you… Each animal was different in its own individual way and would give us a different emotion every time… Sometimes we would laugh at the baboons, clambering about in the trees watching us like hawks with their little babies strapped to their backs, and the giraffes with the ultra-long necks trying so hard to hide in a bush which did not even try to camouflage them in the least… Then we would be amazed by the enormity of the elephant, so big and strong, and territorial… Tossing up sand with its trunk and kicking it legs back in the dirt to intimidate us, warn us that he could charge at any given moment… And then we would know it was time to back off, give them their space… There’s a line you see, where an animal has its boundary, and if you enter into its comfort zone… well it could take you out in an instant. The guides respect this, they know when it is time to retreat and leave them be… I have a great respect for their knowledge, compassion and sensitivity to the wildlife.

Then we stumbled across a herd of about 200+ buffalo. I never would have feared an animal like this. I mean, maybe I was naïve to think well it’s just like a big cow! Ha! A lot of the people you speak to will tell you that they are more afraid of this animal then most others i.e any of the big cats. Not only are they enormous, but they are quite easily spooked. So the slightest irrational movement from us could have had us trampled in a second. And this is exactly the fear and adrenalin that I was looking for. So when the guide suggested we have our sunset drinks about 50 meters away from this massive herd, well we whole heartedly accepted. But it was relatively shortlived. After one drink and the sun had just set we hear the call again… The haunting sound of a pride of lions! That was it… We were back inside that land rover quicker than anything you can imagine, Isaac knew. Where there is a herd of animals (especially buffalo which is a lions fav) the pride is not far behind. Usually stalking out there meal from quite a distance just waiting patiently for the old or weak to fall behind…. So we decided to go to them. Especially not knowing exactly how far away they were, we could have been waiting a while, and getting in the way of a kill…Well not the smartest place to be! We spent the next 2 hours trying to find them, driving slowly with the spotlight, trying to get a glimpse of the reflection of their eyes in the light (it is the only way to find an animal after dark) But we had no luck. Plenty of tracks and a couple of other calls but that was it, it just wasn’t meant to be. And you know what… The whole trip we couldn’t spot a lion… Ironic since in Africa right?! Lol. Whilst there was a little disappointment, at the same time we were grateful… Some people do see them, off in the distance and never experience their calls… So we considered ourselves lucky…. It’s just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

We also experienced some incredible bush walks. A little early for my liking (6am, argghh) but the perfect time to see the colors of the flora and the weather is also a lot cooler. We learnt a lot about the bush…. Our guide was very good, explaining to us all about the use of plants and trees for the native people and about the different animal tracks… I even held a huge dried up elephant poop in my hand, breaking it apart to see what his last meal was… A little on the gross side but none the less, very interesting!! Lmao.

We came back to Phalaborwa after a wonderful few days enriched with knowledge and special memories… Driving on the way back through the Kruger National Park, with Helmut pointing out some more beauties of nature. Back in Phalaborwa we have a traditional bush braai, possibly easier to explain that’s it similar to a BBQ but over an open fire. The night was perfect. A very similar kind of experience of that to the restaurants we managed back at Ayers rock… Outdoors under a sky littered with stars, with very limited resources, and good company from fellow travelers… After that it was another night drive where we heard the sounds of Hyenas off in the distance and saw some very rarely spotted animals like the civet and hopping springhare. It really seemed to be the going thing for us actually. Rather than seeing the big 5 (actually we only spotted 2, lol) we were appreciative enough to see some of the animals that are very rarely seen instead!

My first sighting of a hippo is one to be remembered too. I had gone for a drive with Linnette to a town called Tzaneen and on the way back we decided to go for a quick bite to eat. Just a small lodge type café, on the side of a small river. When we arrived I found a table on the back deck overlooking the water and was looking out to what looked like a big rock… All of a sudden that ‘rock’ moved and I realized I was looking at a Hippopotamus. I couldn’t believe my eyes… Linnette knew there had been hippos and crocs seen in the waters before but didn’t say anything prior as she didn’t want me to get my hopes up… But boy was my heart pounding… Not a lot stood in the way from them coming up onto the bank and saying hello! Soon enough you see another 4 protrude from the water, only their heads visible and you realize that you’re looking at a family of them. Extremely dangerous animals, in fact the most deadliest in the world! They can be very deceiving though. They look very slow, fat and almost docile but they are quick, in and out of the water and a lot of people don’t know this about them, hence why they are one of the biggest killers in humans. We did do a river cruise too. On the Olifants river we took a boat and seen some amazing animals… A lot of hippo’s, crocs and animals that wanted to come to the bank for a drink… The sunset was also lovely with colors reflecting nicely off the water.

Right now as I sit here writing this, I am on a beautiful 19 par golf course. Peter is off playing a round of golf, complete with roaming giraffe, warthogs and a lake full of hippo and crocs, you really have to see it to believe it!! A monkey was even cheeky enough to steal half off his sandwich from the golf cart whilst he was taking a swing. Lol.

We also travelled along the panoramic route to the Blyde river Canyon. Absolutley stunning scenery and landscape nestled in between the mountains. It was a little foggy when we reached the top. The lookout called 'Gods Window'... Well it had the curtain closed and we couldnt see a thing. lol. But the native vegetation up there was pretty anyway and we had alot of fun exploring the canyon top. The 'potholes' is also very beautiful, a place not really on the map in comparison to Cape Towns Table Mountain.

So we reached Johannesburg for our last few days in South Africa, and overseas in general. I must say, for being one of the most dangerous cities in the world, well it didn’t really live up to its reputation. I was so paranoid from all the blogs and travel advice on the internet as well as the comments made to us by the locals. I mean we didn’t really hang out in the slums or anything but we felt remarkably safe overall. People warned us about driving in the city due to car jacking’s and smash and grab robberies but we hired a car and had no problems. We were also told not to go out on our own as we don’t know the areas but we visited museums and markets without any issues. This is not to say that you don’t need to have a high level of street smarts and plenty of common sense, I guess in ways we were just lucky. We visited the Apartheid museum where we learnt a bit more about the racial segregation of the country. It also contained an interesting exhibition about Nelson Mandela. We bought some beautiful handmade gifts from the African craft markets and spent a lot of time bargaining with the locals. You would think that we would have enough experience in this by now but they are pretty tough…

So this is our last blog… Even though we look forward to seeing the family, we are still a little sad about the fact that our once in a lifetime trip, something that we worked so hard for, is now coming to an end… It’s very surreal to think that you have just accomplished your lifelong ambition and now it’s time to face the ‘real’ world. To be honest, I do really look forward to settling down and starting a family as the next chapter in our lives but I know that once you get this travel bug… Well it’s contagious and addictive, so I know it won’t end here!

So here’s to the planning of the next two remarkable trips. South America and Antarctica!!! But don’t worry, I’ll still call Australia home!

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