Blogs from Graskop, Mpumalanga , South Africa, Africa

After a great night’s sleep at Africa Sky we packed up, ate breakfast, and headed out towards the mountains. The drive out of Jo’burg was fascinating as Pete (our guide) told us a great deal about the history of South Africa. He also gave us the scoop on all the things / places we were seeing during our drive. We drove by a squatter village (HUGE areas where illegal immigrants from surrounding countries build shacks out of whatever they can find and create their own little village), free houses for immigrants (one of the South African government’s ways of dealing with said immigrants – they build them free little box houses so that they can move people out of the squalor of the squatter villages), gold mines, and all different types of farms… On our way ... read more

So it was a ridiculously early start on Tuesday morning as I set off for the Kruger National Park. I was the first to be collected and the driver of the minibus told me that there were 6 people on the tour. By 11am we had collected everyone and we were on our way to Graskop for our lunch before heading down to God's Window, Blyde Canyon and the three Rondavels. Over lunch everyone introduced themselves. There was Martin from Sweden who was on a three week holiday, two girls from Sweden (whose names I never really caught) who were travelling for the next three months and were at the end of their trip in Africa and headed to Asia next and then the was Arvand and Suzie. Arvand was from Belgium and Suzie, his girlfriend, ... read more

19 Oct - the newbies board Priscilla, our overland truck, for the first time...there's so much room now that there's only 13 of us rather than 22! Two seats to myself to stretch out, what luxury! We spend the day driving through the Mpumalanga region in South Africa. We stop off at a gold mining village called Pilgrim's Rest for lunch. It's like something out of a Western film. In the afternoon we stop off at Bourke's Luck Potholes - yet another remarkable geological phenomena on my travels...surreal cyclindrical rock sculptures created by whirling water. Next is a stop at the 3 Rondavels viewpoint (also known as the Three Sisters, not to be confused with a certain drinking establishment in Edinburgh's Grassmarket!!!!), each of the hills / rondavels is named after the Swazi chief's three wives. ... read more

One of the largest canyons in the world, and still growing. Surrounding area too.... read more