Blogs from Mpumalanga , South Africa, Africa - page 34

Rounding up the end of our venture we finally departed Cape Town after a week of beauty and headed through Johannesburg towards White River to reach our final destination...Kruger National Park. Our hotel lay on the outskirts of this large National sanctuary in a town known as White River. Surrounding us? A whole lot of nothing. We enjoyed a late dinner of local spreads and meats and readied ourselves for the 5am wake up call to board the bus into wilderness. We were awoken before sunrise and grabbed our gear to go. For not being much of a morning ray of sun, I was smiling and truly ecstatic. I had dreamed of the day I could encounter the wild at an arm's length. As we passed nearby villages I was taken in by the locals walking ... read more

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

After a pretty monster drive along back roads and sandy tracks we were greeted at Nsele Lodge by Afrikaans Olaf and Stephanie, their friendly staff and crazy dogs. Another hidden gem of a place to stay thanks to Acacia. We each had a small thatched chalet with mosquito nets which were turned down for you and an ensuite - ahhh nice! As we were in a malaria area we were both dripping with deet and armed with numerous mosquito repelling devices - Neil swiping at any insect that came anywhere near. Nsele lodge is like a home from home. There was a big long table stretched out for shared dining, the dogs now calm were tucked up on their beds and we enjoyed pre dinner drinks round the open fire before the drum boomed that dinner ... read more

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

The first day wiith Acacia tours - what a day it has been! We travelled out of J'burg at a chilly 5 am leaving the city in darkness and making our way up towards the olifants river. 1st stop at the services for breakfast overlooked an animal park where we got our first glimpse of rhino, ostrich and some white faced ducks - you'll never get a better view from the mens loos. Stretching our legs further along the road we stopped for a walk at the Blyde river canyon and later the three rondavels. Cueni - our guide told us the history of the area and how the river came to get its name meaning 'happy river'. We passed baboons sitting like kings on top of the rock formations looking out, as we were, at ... read more