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Published: August 17th 2007
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Well, this is it, the end of our trip. We arrived back in the UK on Saturday morning to grey skys and drizzle.
I cant remember right now where we last wrote from , so I'll work my way backwards and when you come to somewhere you recognise, you can stop reading!
We spent the last week in Johannesburg staying with a friend. We hired a car for the week, making it so much easier and cheaper to get around. We went out to a couple of animal parks in the Gauteng region, and saw plenty of deer and antelope, and more lions and rhino. We also went to another cheetah research and breeding centre, this one better organised and funded than the one in Namibia. But we didnt get to play with the cheetah here! We went on the tour to see various enclosures with cheetah, wild dog and brown hyena, and down "lovers lane", the breeding area, full of cute babies. We visited a couple of sites in the "Cradle of Humankind", but not a lot is open to the public yet. We also visited old
Snares
Some of the 20 000 snares lifted from the Hlane and Mlilwane Parks - there are more snares than ungulates in Swaziland caves where there used to be huge lime stalagtites and mites, until they were plundered by miners, leaving huge bare caves.
We took a trip round Soweto and out to the Apartheid Museum, both very interesting.
Two weekends ago we were in Pretoria for the Springbok game against the All Blacks, we won 52-16. Great game, and good atmosphere, we were surrounded by bok fans slowly losing their party atmosphere, but never becoming rude or abusive to anyone apart from their team.
We had a couple of days in Swaziland, enough for a quick tour of the area and a days walking in one of their parks. The walking was great, one of the hottest days in an already freakily hot winter, but some lovely scenery. Not many animals though. The bus tour took us round some of the local craft centres, beauty spots, the old kings memorial, King Sobhuza, and to a reconstructed Swazi village for a tour and dancing. A beautiful and friendly country.
St Lucia, along the Indian Ocean coast from Durban, was fantastic. We did a great night drive through the park there, no leopards unfortunately, but loads of zebra, antelope, a
Neat plant
Not sure what it is though! bushpig, chameleons, birds... The guide was really knowledgable, and interested in what he was talking about. We also did a day trip through the Umfolozi Park, again great. Saw a cheetah, got stuck in the middle of a herd of elephants grazing along both sides of the road, plenty of antelope, including the Nyala which we hadnt seen before.
Staying up in the Drakensburg mountains on the border with Lesotho was freezing cold and night, but plenty of good walking during the day. We saw some more San paintings, and loads of good views. We would have loved to have time to do the hostels day tour into Lesotho, but the Baz bus timetable (and the approaching AB's game) didnt permit it.
So all in all, we had a great trip. but we are glad to be back home now. We've been round getting quotes for having 63 rolls of film developed (not cheap!), and are trying to find work for Colin and shipping companies for me so we can ship all our gear back to NZ. Thanks for all your letters while we've been away, please dont stop them coming now we are home.
Keep well,
and we'll be seeing some of you soon,
Karen & Col
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krystie
Krystie Collins
White Lion
Karen and Colin; what park did you guys spot the White Lion? Really enjoying your blogs from Africa! Was there for 7 weeks in July/August and looking for ideas for my trip back next year; your blog is coming in handy!