Blyde River & Kruger

---

Barbara & John at Blyde River Canyon and Kruger Park

This is the last phase of our trip lasting about a week and has been a memorable finale to an equally memorable trip.

The drive from St Lucia to Graskop, close by to Blyde River Canyon, took 10 ½ hours. The first couple of hours went like a dream but the next four hours were dreadful, with road works almost non stop. After this we had lots of potholes, sometimes amusing to avoid, but when you fail they can be frightening, especially when overtaking long HGV’s.

The sites of the Blyde River canyon route cover about 50 kilometres north of Graskop. Our first stop was The Pinnacle. This is a grey vertical rock monolith rising several hundred feet into the air from the river below. It is very similar to the formation we saw in the Oribi Gorge. Just north of this is several sights that make up the God’s Window. There are some good views from the base of these view points but better vistas are on offer higher up the steep paths. The ‘windows’ get bigger as you get higher. The most spectacular is when you get to the end of the short rain forest section. This must be god’s patio or veranda, rather than window. The spectacular views over the Blyde River and distant dam/lake are worth the hike, despite the hazy conditions which hindered good photos. Most of the panoramic views from here can also be seen a little way along the road at Wonder View, which was lucky for Barbara since she did not do the earlier hike. From here we went to the Berlin Falls, a few miles further north. The Falls were impressive, over a wide drop, with some good flowing water, well worth the detour and the cost of entry. All these great sights so far and we had not yet reached the real Blyde River Canyon. The canyon is said to start at Bourke’s Luck Potholes. This is a very special place in terms of rock and canyon formation interfacing with the merging of two rivers. The colours and the rock formations are so impressive, if not jaw dropping. The pothole formations are certainly different but so too is the whole scene with the empathetically constructed bridges over the ravines which make it a sheer delight to wander through the area and see the waterfalls cascading down the rock formations, with their sheared off boulders strewn across the river from the otherwise straight cliff faces: it is so beautifully serene. This is in contrast to eating lunch amidst the café and market area which is also home to a couple of dozen monkeys who are determined to share your lunch with you, despite the best endeavours of the kitchen staff, who try to protect you against the marauders with their brooms, but to little avail. It is fun as well as annoying. From here we continued north and had another good viewing opportunity of the canyon at another viewing site, which was unnamed. The last viewpoint along this road is also possibly the best. The site is called the Three Rondavels. The main viewing attraction is three outcrops of rock at the summit of the canyon wall which are adjacent to each other and give the appearance of three large Rondavel buildings, being circular with a thatched roof (grass summit) on each of them. In fact there is a fourth, childlike in stature, next to them. The whole scene, including them and the surrounding peaks, are fantastic to see. From one of the vantage points it is also possible to see how the river widens amidst several other fabulous peaks. It is difficult to walk away from these scenes. At all of these venues there are numerous stalls selling locally produced wares. Barbara bought several things as we went from site to site. Our last visit of the day was as we returned to Graskop, to the magnificent Lisbon Falls. This is three waterfalls adjacent to each other which gave a fabulous display, made even more enchanting by the developing thunderstorm, which we just managed to avoid as Barbara bought herself a scarf.

The following day was a ‘waterfall day’, combined with sorting out the numerous problems we had in organising, and paying for, our visit to Kruger National Park.
There are several huge waterfalls around the town of Sabie. The first is called Mac Mac, which is a very impressive double waterfall with a long drop and after the rain there was a good flow of water from each falls. The next was The Bridal Veil Falls which was far less impressive despite it being the highest of the waterfalls, at 70 metres, but the flow of water was surprisingly quite poor. From here we went on to the Horseshoe Falls. It was a difficult climb to gain a viewing. Barbara did not quite make it all the way but she still had a good view of these double falls. They are pretty impressive with a very good flow of water. From here we went off to perhaps the most impressive of all of the waterfalls, the Lone Creek Falls. This is 68 metres high and while it is not very wide it is a very impressive sight with a great backdrop of a wonderfully red vertical cliff face. The flow of water was excellent and there were several viewing points over 180 degrees which added to the enjoyment of the viewing: a good finale.

The following day we were not only up at 4am but packed up and on the road soon after 5.15am and off to Kruger. It was still very dark and there was a lot of low cloud/mist. We went to the Phabeni Gate entrance to the park and there was only a queue of about 100 yards when we arrived at about 6.15am. Our entry was delayed because the park no longer allows day visitors to bring in alcohol, but they have no facility for leaving or disposing of it. We managed to leave what we had packed in the car with a Vendor of craftwork on the roadside close to the park, but with little expectation of getting it back. There is a 50kph speed limit in the park but most people only do about 20-30kph in order not to miss any animal viewings. We spent about 3 hours making our way via the side and main roads in the park to the main camp at Skukuza. It is important to remain patient as well as vigilant on self drive safaris because you may go long periods before getting any good viewings. We found it slow going initially, seeing mainly various types of antelope that we had seen in other Reserves. Eventually though we had a few good encounters with elephants and giraffes. We both felt delighted at seeing several of each of these and from good positions. Both animals are delightful to be close to, especially the bizarre giraffe, which seems more unreal every time it crosses your path. After having a drink at Skukuza we set off for the Lower Sabie camp. Again we had some good viewings of elephants, giraffes, some Hippos as well as other animals before stopping belatedly for lunch at Lower Sabie camp. It is difficult to plan times because of delays when you have an encounter with animals. This meant we had difficulty in getting back to the Phabeni Gate by 4pm in order to retrieve our drink as agreed. Indeed we did not get there until about 5.30pm and the vendor and drink were gone. We had several sightings on the way, including with a Rhino, although because we were pressed for time we only managed to see his rear end as he was foraging.

It took nearly an hour to get back to the Phabeni Gate the following day from our overnight stop. Our Vendor was in the same place and so we stopped to get the drink. He admitted to drinking it after we had not turned up to collect it yesterday. We rejected his surprising offer to pay for the drink. We were in the park soon after 8am and took a different back road, again heading initially for Skukuza camp. We had some reasonable encounters early on with some Baboons and Impalas, (a breed of small antelope), before then having a tremendous viewing of several large bull elephants and their entourage. There were a couple close by the road when we first saw them, some 50 yards in front of a campervan who was there before us, coming the other way. There were numerous others amidst the trees and shrubs making a lot of noise. The two main bulls seem to be having a confrontation and so they were boisterous which also seemed to affect the rest of the herd, but for us it was great viewing. While I was taking some photos, some 50 yards away, one of the Bulls decided to run towards me. He was making a loud noise and his trunk was swaying wildly while I was trying to take a photo. I abandoned the photo and quickly got the car into reverse as he continued to come towards me. There was another car about 25 yards behind me and fortunately the driver had the sense to reverse too. After reversing uphill for about 50 yards the elephant decided to stop. He still waved his trunk and made aggressive noises in our direction before finally turning around. In the meantime a stream of elephants crossed the road mainly behind the campervan. The campervan driver seemed to take fright at this and drove quickly towards me. In so doing he appeared to upset another of the elephants who subsequently also became aggressive towards our car. More reversing was called for. This whole episode took no more than 10 minutes but it was exhilarating, if not frightening. We continued on and were soon at the Paul Kruger Gate. No sooner had we turned back on to the main road when we were confronted by a herd of Giraffes. They were all close to the road. For those starting at this entry point it must have been a great introduction to the park. It was only a short drive from here to Skukuza. We had a drink here before heading off on the 90 kilometre journey to Satara, our camp for the next two nights. We saw several more giraffes, numerous zebras, several buffalos and wildebeest not to mention some Warthogs and lots of antelope, including a Waterbuck, before getting to camp.

We were up at 3.15am the following day in order to get the early morning guided safari at 4.30am. There were about a dozen of us in all on the safari and we were driven by a King (something or other) in a fairly large custom built truck. The first 90 minutes were before dawn and four of us were given lamps to shine out of the side of the truck while our guide drove with dipped headlights. Within this period we only saw a few animals, including a Jackal and a honey badger. In my view it was a waste of time getting up so early for these minor sightings. When it got light at about 6am we still got very few viewings. Most of the stops we made were to look at various birds. This seemed to suit a couple of passengers who were clearly amateur ornithologists. The only sighting we felt was unusual was of a white Rhino and even this was some distance away. It surprised me that we had such poor sightings in the early morning when we understood it was likely to see so much more than at other times of day. I also expected the guide to know where to go to get viewings of Lions and Leopards, but he clearly did not. We got back at about 8.00am. We had a rest and then some breakfast before going out on our self drive safari. We went via the side roads in the main, heading for Olifants camp, north of Satara. We had some good viewings of most of the animals we have already seen, but still no Big Cats, despite much of the terrain being considered suitable. It does seem unlikely to encounter these predators simply because there are thought to be only 1500 lions and less than this for leopards and cheetahs in Kruger, which is 20000 square kilometres in size (about the size of Wales). Notwithstanding the lack of Lions etc it is a wonderful experience, albeit it can be tiring and at times frustrating when you do not see many animals. We both feel that the staff in the camps is generally very helpful and considerate and consequently we think there is clearly a management issue about their dealings with the public. The management of the Parks is not market oriented. They do things and provide services not geared to what people want in my view. There seems to be a take it or leave it attitude. There is no feedback request and the way we were treated from enquiry to booking typifies this lack of customer care.

There was a sustained thunderstorm during the night which affected our sleep, but we were still up by 7am and left around 9am. We went through several back roads around Satara before heading south to our exit at Crocodile Bridge. This last day was not a good day for viewings generally, although we did see some hippos, albeit mainly immersed in water, as well as several birds, not to mention some giraffes, wildebeests and an elephant. We also had a good viewing of a large kudu, (the second largest antelope after the Eland), and another rhino just before leaving the park, which improved our spirits, and was a good way to end the day.

It took us another hour or so to reach our first B&B of the trip, at Nelspruit. This is a very large modern town, matching our accommodation. We ate out in a nearby restaurant and both enjoyed the food and the ambience as well as a very pleasant chat to our waitress from Zimbabwe. This was a nice way to end our last night in South Africa. It has been a wonderful experience and we both agree that the scenery here is as good as we have seen anywhere. While we had some frustrations with Kruger this has not dampened our overall view that this has been a most successful trip and one that will be difficult to beat. We are too old to say we will return, and it is something our approach to travelling does not permit anyway, but it is a place that will always stay in our hearts and minds and it is certainly a place we would highly and enthusiastically recommend to anyone, young or old, because it has so much to offer whatever your age.

---