Blogs from Nelspruit, Mpumalanga , South Africa, Africa
craig ross and bryan in south africa
Published: September 20th 2011Africa » South Africa » Mpumalanga » Nelspruit
September 20th 2011
Episode 4: 20..9.11 Title: Down by the Riverbank Starring: jackals, 65 vultures, a hear of elephants, some hippos, impala, warthogs, zebras, a 350 strong herd of buffalo, crocodiles, and one dead buffalo Special guest stars: A pride of lions. Location: A riverbank outside Satara Restcamp in Kruger Park. Script: We had heard that the lions had killed the buffalo the previous day. We first saw some baby hippos out of the water. Then the lion pride started to defend their kill from jackals and vultures,. A heard of elephants came down and drank, sensed the lions then took off. The jackals and lions played cat and mouse. Then, over the horizon, a huge heard of buffalo appeared. They amassed at the riverbank to drink, either not knowing or not caring about the lions resting in the ... read more
September 19th 2011
After a short drive spotting giraffe towering above the trees along the way, we arrived at Nelspruit Cheetah project - an organisation for conservation of these speed demons and a visit which was included in our Acacia tour. We climbed aboard the elevated seats of the safari vehicle and toured the park seeing a nyalla merely hours old, wobbling on his legs that were not yet used to standing and hiding in the bush with his mother. The cheetahs have large fenced areas to roam and are encouraged into smaller pens to feed where they are locked in for a few hours to enable digestion and allow them to toilet. This keeps the large areas clean and enables the staff t clear up the waste and monitor the faeces for any mucus /blood that may signify ... read more
June 27th 2011
Next morning we got up, had the free brekky, checked emails, skyped my mum and dad and then just got ready to leave. We ate the left overs of last nights dinner that we cooked for lunch then at 2pm we loaded into a tiny little car with Henri our guide and another guy from the backpackers to drive us to their camp. The drive took about an hour and a half and the camp is inside Marloth park, on the boarder with Kruger, literally. We arrived at the gate and Henry (a different younger one) was waiting in a safari vehicle with 3 people from Spain. We hopped in and went for a little safari inside Marloth alongthe fenceline with Kruger as well. We saw Giraffe, Hippo, crocs, Impala and Zebra as well as many ... read more
The Last portion of our African road trip!
Published: June 3rd 2011Africa » South Africa » Mpumalanga » Nelspruit
June 3rd 2011
Hey Everyone, this is the last portion of south africa, and we went to visit friends that we met in sodwana bay! :)... read more
To travel or not to travel. . .
Published: July 17th 2010Africa » South Africa » Mpumalanga » Nelspruit
July 17th 2010
I am 30 years old, have a decent career with pretty good future prospects and make a good deal of money too. My job allows me to travel as well (mostly in Southern Africa) which is great. For the past 4 or 5 years I did well to excel and earn promotions. I deal directly with Government Ministers and have contacts with some pretty high ranking figures. Many folks would love to have my job, the perks it offers, the possibilities that comes with it. I have no place of my own as I mostly travel for work living out of a suitcase. My possession list is very short by today's standards. I am single as well and I have some admirable savings. In the past 4 or 5 years I really worked hard and prospered. ... read more
July 10th 2010
Before we could get to check out more wildlife, we had a bit more soccer to watch. After a few days rest at Kam’s uncle’s place in Johannesburg, we headed to Rustenburg, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, only to experience more heartache, as Kewell got sent off in the first half hour of the game against Ghana. The ref’s calls against the Aussies seemed to pile up and by the second half disgruntled fans were hurtling full beer bottles onto the pitch. The fact that FIFA was only allowing Budweiser to be served at the games probably didn’t help. Our last game saw us heading to Nelspruit in the east. We had plans to do more camping in this part of the country, but our overnight stay near Drakensberg had highlighted that we were missing ... read more
July 6th 2010
Wednesday (23/6/2010) Game Day Australia V’s Serbia , our last chance to make it through to Round of 16, dependant on the outcome of the Germany v’s Ghana game butas optimistic as we were we knew it was highly unlikely. We set off on a day trip to Blyde River Canyon with Jac and Tony. We drove through some stunning scenery arriving at the Pinnacle lookout first, next we took the 300 steps to the famous ‘Gods window’ and ‘Wonder view’ with amazing views over the Blyde River Reserve. We stopped at Lisbon falls for lunch and browsed the curio markets. Our next stop ‘Bourkes Luck Potholes’ at the foot of the Canyon with a crisscross of bridges, water falls and potholes (hence the name). Unsure how long /complicated it was going to be to get ... read more
July 3rd 2010
28.6.2010 - Montag bin um 7 uhr aufgestanden und bin ein letztes mal runter zum deck gegangen um wasser für die gäste zu kochen... habe mich von allen verabschiedet und bin richtung giriyondo gefahren. Eigentlich waren meine pläne völlig anders. Wollte nach maputo und durch komatipoort richtung nelspruit fahren, aber bin erst um 11 uhr abgefahren und nicht wie geplant um 9 uhr. Habe 1,5 h an der grenze verbracht um mein 3 monatiges visum zu erhalten... was ich nach langem hin und her gekriegt habe. von dort bin ich nach nelspruit gefahren und habe am abend mein erstes spiel der WM gesehen. Bin fast ein bißchen froh, daß sich die CH nicht qualifiziert hat, denn sonst wären wir unter die brasilianischen räder gekommen... 3.7.2010 - Dienstag und jetz ist bereits july - aber es fühlt ... read more
When the Worst Case scenario became even worse but in the end Pretty Bloody Good for what was Eventually the Worst Case Outcome.
Published: July 2nd 2010Africa » South Africa » Mpumalanga » Nelspruit
June 30th 2010
After two red cards to arguably Australia’s best ever players in two straight games it was now or never for Australia in a do or die clash with Serbia. Australia had to win and hope for a Ghana win or Germany to thump Gharnia Fructus by 3or4 goals, minimum. This is how the day went. Basing ourselves in Johannesburg we took the 3-4 hour drive to the far east of the country to Nelspruit. Known as the major stopover for Kruger National Park the cities new purpose built stadium is a new step for the region. (Arguably the best stadium thus far we went to.) Never before has a construction like this been here and the town had a bit of atmosphere in comparison to Rustenburg. But I almost didn’t get there with what was later ... read more
Nelspruit - Australia v Serbia
Published: June 29th 2010Africa » South Africa » Mpumalanga » Nelspruit
June 25th 2010
After a long drive from Durban, well done Ben and Dan, we arrived in Nelspruit at nightfall at the Hippo Water Front Lodge, 10km outside Nelspruit. Dehaan just happened to have tickets to NZ v Italy, so he and I went to that and watched the Kiwis hold on to an impressive 1-1 draw. Game day on the 25th began with beers over breakfast. We then moved on to the Jock and Java, which was full of about 2,000 Australian fans, crammed in singing songs and smashing beers. Watched the England and US games. There were a couple of Serbian fans cheering when the Yanks won, because they were sure they would beat Australia, then get to play the yanks. How wrong they were! We arrived at the stadium and made our way through the throng ... read more
