On the road....our self drive tour of South Africa begins

---

Hey guys,

Well we're off on our own driving across South Africa, and the only scary thing other than Hi-Jacking hot spot signs is me driving a left hand drive car on the wrong side of the road on purpose! I'm really glad that my years of driving to the office on the Deerfoot twice a day has given me the perfect skill set for driving in developing countries! When the cab drivers think your f'ing crazy your doing something right.

Anyways we set out from Jo'burg on the Panorama Route and head Northeast to Kruger National Park for an awesome 5 day self drive safari. The drive was incredible taking us through a variety of landscapes ranging from lush farmlands to winding mountain passes and sometimes I would forget where we were as many places could be compared to driving to Waterton or through K Country. We ended up stopping at "God's Window" a viewpoint that is absolutely awesome and appropriately named, you are on top of a limestone mountain looking out for miles and miles of Lowveld plains and you can see right to Mozambique.

Our next stop was the Lisbon falls which were pretty cool since there are three falls dropping over 37m. Again Iquazu has spoiled us as far as falls go though. We continued on our way and stopped at the Three Rondawels which again is a breath taking viewpoint this time looking down into the Blyde River Canyon and river basin, absolutely awesome - check the pics. After taking in the best of what the Panorama Route had to offer we had to get going to Kruger, since if you don't make it into your camp by 5:30pm you get fined huge.

After some excellent NASCAR style driving we finally arrived at the park and began our Safari towards our first lodge, well it must have been 15min and we found ourselves about 10' away from a fairly good sized lone male Elephant so we were really excited and it was a good sign of things to come. The park itself is made up of paved roads as well gravel roads all totally drivable in a car. You are not allowed to exit the car except for designated areas which are few and far between, but other than that you get to cruise around and see the animals in there natural habitat and pretty oblivious to your existence.

Our plan for the park was to start in middle and work our way down South, so over the next five days we spent our days driving around the park taking way too many photos and getting up close and friendly with every species of animal in the park. We successfully managed not only to see the big 5 several times over but also be within 10' of them. I'll be brief because there are enough encounters to fill this website's server so here goes:
- almost had a lioness jump through our window and eat Tyne, slight exaggeration but it was kinda sketchy being so close with the window down (see pic)

- almost had a very large male Elephant crush us and the Roc-a-rolla, seriously I'm yelling at Tyne to put the car into reverse as I'm taking pictures because he's coming!

- saw a never ending herd of Buffalo come to the watering hole, I guesstimated over 200. They just never stopped coming. We finally ended up driving away after about 20min of watching them show up.

- Driving down the road following a Male lion on his morning strole

- Going to sleep while listening to hundreds of Hippos growl all night, it's actually soothing😉

- Watering holes packed with a variety of wildlife, everybody needs a drink!

- Amazing sunsets


and the list goes on....this was definitely one of the best parts so far, like the Galapagos but a different flavour. So another recommendation, come to SA, rent a car and drive yourself to Kruger!

Enjoy the pics, there is actually a couple pages so be sure to scroll down and check them out as well as a video.

So until next blog Swaziland, Sand roads and Sodwana Bay


Cheers,

Matt & Tyne

---

Photos

Horn Bill
These guys stand on the road and get blinded by the sun. Guess who thinks it's funny to drive straight at them!

Comments

[Simon]

Safari Drive
That self guided tour looks awesome! I like all the G's, R2's, ZB's, bum buddies and especially the double trunked elephants. Looks like you guys are having fun. Simon