Blogs from Mpumalanga , South Africa, Africa

Heading from Kimberly we had one plan for the day which was to get past Johannesburg before the sun was setting so we could easily find a nice place to pitch for the night. One big problem was that was out of our hands was the traffic and which made this day one which should have been a fairly relaxing day, turning into a day where we were thinking of sleeping in the car and ending up with the most random luck we have had since finishing hitching. Things were going along smoothly until we just reached the outskirts of Johannesburg and all of a sudden we were in a traffic jam which was going know where fast. Suddenly we felt quite unsafe and we locked all the car doors and closed all the windows, and ... read more

So, after our Garden Route drive ended in Port Elizabeth, we stayed a day longer to take in a day-long game drive with long-time guide Alan and then flew to Johannesburg where we were picked up and taken to a permanent tented lodge (similar to the type we stayed at in Tanzania's Selous Game reserve - see blog entry "Selous 1" for details) for 4 days of Sabi Sands Game Reserve and Kruger National Park game drives and bush walks. We took them in and relished them knowing that these were the final and still-amazing animal encounters and sightings that we experienced during our awe inspiring 3 plus months' sojourn in Africa. Two highlights stood out amongst the many wonderful creatures we saw for the last time. b. Rhino Encounters All of our previous sightings of ... read more

Many thanks to all of you who comment on our blog. Not only is it a connection to home, but it makes it easier to write the next entry! I have heard a rumour that our daughters even look at it- but refrain from commenting........Kids!!!!:) To respond to some of the comments: Yes, I 'll be sure we spend some time at home, even if Mark could stay on indefinitely......and yes- I was worried about the safety issue over here in Africa. We heard MANY stories of how scary it would be- and mostly from the native South Africans. We have seen NOTHING to be worried about. WE are careful not to travel at night, and to use common sense-we don't flaunt our electronic devices or money. The people have been nothing but friendly, some more ... read more

We had a great time in Kruger National Park and we saw lots of wildlife, including countless rhino, which completed our "Big Five". However, I do think we were a bit spoiled by our introduction to safari in Botswana. In Kruger, we had to rely on our own spotting skills and we had to remain on the marked roads. This meant that if there was a cheetah relaxing in a thicket even several meters away from the road, we would never see it (cheetahs are a bit of a sore spot because we still haven't seen one, even though it's the leopard that is supposed to be the hardest big cat to find). We relied on the wildlife that came to us, rather than tracking the wildlife by sound, terrain and even bird alarm calls, as ... read more

We flew from Cape Town to Nelspruit Mpumalanga and drove for two hours to Dulini Lodge in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve. We have been lucky enough to have four nights in this rather special place, so instead of the usual combination of ill-informed opinion and schoolboy humour this episode will (rather gloatingly) depict the highlights of a typical day. In Sabi Sands the animals have become used to the open safari vehicles driving around. They regard them as neither a threat nor as prey, so they ignore them. This lets the vehicles drive very close to the wildest animals. Of course, if you climb out of the vehicle you could immediately become a leopard’s luncheon. Safety is taken seriously, and each ranger carries a rifle and is regularly trained in its use. So yesterday, for ... read more