Blogs from Mpumalanga , South Africa, Africa - page 2

5 AM wake up call. Safaris are best early morning or early evening. And after a brief coffee we hopped on the lodges 4-wheel drive and set out into the bush. The sun was already up (sunrise this time of the year is 4:30) the coolness of the night still there. But it was clear it’s going to be another very hot day. The dry season has not yet given way to the rains in this area of the country, everyone, mostly the animals, were eagerly awaiting. Tiaan skillfully drove the Toyota on dirt roads with huge potholes looking for wildlife activity. However, this morning unlike yesterday it was quiet, except for a few birds and antelopes and plenty of spiderwebs we picked up in our faces as we drove along. There are 72 different antelope ... read more

Hazyview is a sub-tropical farming town in Mpumalanga province, renowned for its large banana and macadamia nut industries, contributing about 20% of South Africa's bananas and 30% of macadamia output. It is also a tourist destination for people traveling to the Krueger National Park or doing the Panorama Tour, which was precisely our intention too. The Panorama Route is a famous road on the edge of the Midlveld in Mpelanga. The topography at the Blyde River Canyon drops by app 1000 m to the “Lowveld” creating spectacular gorges and waterfalls. There are actually more waterfalls around this area than anywhere else in southern Africa. Regarded as the most stunning of the lot, Mac Mac has twin falls that plunge some 70m into a gorge below. We had a list of about 6 places we wanted to ... read more

Today is our last full day on safari as we head to the airport at 8:30am tomorrow morning. Kevin plans to go out tomorrow for a short time but I’d rather rest up a bit and pack for our 36 hour six flight trip back to San Diego. Today we were one of the last vehicles to leave the lodge and all of the others before us headed in one direction. Gary didn’t want to follow the crowds, if you want to really call them crowds as only about 30 people have access to the reserve we explore every day. The public have to stay on the paved roads and cannot get out of their windshielded cars. We, on the other hand, go down dirt roads, go off road and sometimes get out of our open ... read more

Today started out at 5:30am which is quite normal for us now. We had a quick coffee and headed out for the morning game drive. Gary stopped the cruiser just down the road and Sully got out to give us a lesson in tracking animal prints. We learned the difference between and cat and a dog print, and I don’t mean a kitty cat and a poodle either. I mean the difference between jackal or African wild dog and a leopard, lion or cheetah. Dogs have two lobes at the back of their paw and cats have three (cheetahs will also leave claw marks). This print was from a female leopard because of the size and no claw mark. We then proceeded down the road and came to a river crossing. Again, Sully and Gary had ... read more

We delayed our start time a bit this morning because it was rainping heavily, a nice treat for a San Diego girl who doesn’t get to enjoy much precipitation. With the rain still falling, a little bit lighter perhaps, we set out in the rover equipped with oiled canvas ponchos. But only Hazel and I partook of them because Jonty, Lewis and Kevin are all tough outdoorsmen who don’t mind inclement weather. We were in search for the wild dogs again and were heading down that same road again, when Jonty was informed via radio that two leopards had been spotted near a watering hole. With the sun now out, the ponchos off and feeling the fresh breeze in our faces, we headed toward the spot where we came upon a father and son lion basking ... read more