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Published: August 19th 2014
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Skukuza Rest Camp, Kruger National Park to Graskop. Saturday, March 22
nd. 92 km (55miles)
We studied the map of the park and decided to go by the native plant nursery and lake that was about 4 km away, off the road we would take out of the Park. There we discovered a wet-lands walk that was a short boardwalk over a small stream. (I think there was a continuation of this walk around the golf course).
In the trees, we spotted a Purple-Crested Turaco–unfortunately, he was in the tree top preening himself and it was impossible to get a clear photo of him through all the tree branches. Really pretty blue, red, and green bird about the size of a crow. Continued our short walk and went into the plant nursery where we didn’t stay long as the bugs would swarm up with every step we took, and I was in shorts. We did see a number of pretty butterflies, flowers, and dragon-flies here.
We had a very interesting talk with the gentleman in the nursery shop as he is quite knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of South Africa and has worked as a private guide. He
told us we should walk over to the lake-side hide, but that he wouldn’t advise taking the short-cut from where we were now standing, as a young male leopard, was marking his territory in the area. He said this “marking” smelled like popcorn.
So, we first drove over to the golf course and looked around at the club-house on the lake. We then drove to the hide, walked down the long fenced in area, and sat down to see what we could see. There were a couple of hippos in the water with a pair of Pied Kingfishers on a branch right over their heads. We also saw a Wire-Tailed Swallow here. Pretty place with water lilies, dragon flies, and the birds.
We then left the Park by the Paul Kruger Gate where there is a large memorial statue of him. He was instrumental in setting aside the land for this park in 1898. The controversial work is by the renowned South African sculptor, Coert Steynberg (1905– 1982) and was erected in 1976. People voted for it to be removed in 2003, in a possible wave of “politically correcting” anything apartheid-era, but 11 years later it is still
there.
We crossed back and forth over the large Sabie River that is the northern border of the park for awhile. Not sure I mentioned it, but this park is the size of the country of Holland. We were now on the R-536 heading toward the town of Hazyview.
We had checked our supplies and noted that we needed to buy some items, so we stopped at a very nice mall in Hazyview and bought some groceries at the Pic-N-Pay. Unfortunately, the Woolworth’s didn’t sell food at their store here. There must be a Military base nearby as we saw a number of personnel in uniform, plus a military truck was parked in the lot. At the next traffic light we turned right onto R-40 to Bosbokrand. Touristy area here with cafes and craft shops.
Turned left to Graskop on R-535. This area is growing bananas as well as planted trees for lumbering. At a T-intersection we turned left on R-33 toward Graskop. Climbed up into the mountains on a curvy road through Kowyn’s Pass. Shortly, we came to the Panorama Rest Camp and turned into their driveway that is lined with blooming bushes–azaleas and hibiscus. Parked
between two other units already there, and called it a day. The view from there into the gorge was fantastic.
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