Happy Christmas Everyone!!!

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Hi everyone!
Its been a while since my last blog so I’ve got lots of things to tell you about! After a lovely holiday with Frans’ family we set off traveling up the coast stopping at Durban to watch a Zulu show, called Africa Umoja, at the Sibaya Casino. This show was all about their music and dance, it was really good to see (especially as we got free tickets). We then traveled to Balito Bay where we found a really nice beach, with no sharks, and had surf lessons. This was great fun and we both managed to get standing on the board.
Further on up the coast we reached St. Lucia where we stayed at a really nice backpackers where there was lots of nice people and lots of free activities to do. These included a night drive where they drove us around and showed us some animals, like hippos, chameleons and wild cats. We also went on a morning walk where we saw more hippos, crocodiles, zebras, warthogs, impalas, kudus, dung beatles and a giant crab. Also for free they took us to a butterfly farm & nursery owned by Rasta’s, and traveling in a local taxi (great fun!) they then took us into one of the near by town ships where we had a beer in the Shebeen. We played with the local kids who were really friendly and were obsessed by our cameras, there either wanted to take all the pictures or be in all the pictures! We then paid to take a boat trip to see crocodiles and hippos but were a little disappointed as we saw more on the free walk!
Next we traveled inland to Hluhluwe where we went on a quad bike tour and saw a lot of the local area. We drove through some of the local villages where the kids were all waving, smiling and going crazy when they saw us. While in Hluhluwe we also visited the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park where we saw 3 of the big 5, elephants, buffalo, rhino, as well as other things such as cheetahs with their cubs, monkeys, baboons and many other animals.
We then traveled to the small town of Waterfall Boven and stayed at a summer camp where Frans used to work. This was a really beautiful area, we went on a hike and saw lots of nice scenery, waterfalls, rivers and met a really nice local lady who sold frans a walking stick as he broke the one he borrowed off his friend! At the summer camp they had a really cute baby cow which the let me feed a bottle of milk, and then let it suck my fingers while they refilled the bottle. Mmmmm…..cow slobber!
After Waterfall Boven we traveled to Sabie where we booked in for the adventure weekend at the backpackers. This package included a bridge swing, where you jump off the bridge, fall for a bit then swing under the bridge (it was only a small one but was still a little scary!). It also included white water tubing, where you crash down rapids while trying to stay on you tube (It was pretty easy to stay on your tube, but Frans fell off every time! Hehe!). And finally it included Kloofing, which is a hike through a river in the middle of a valley. This was amazing and the scenery was unbelievable (unfortunately we couldn’t take a camera as we were in a river). During the kloofing there were places where we could do high jumps off the rocks into pools, and we saw some waterfalls, one of which we climbed up and then behind it. This was incredible but also a little scary as you cant really see where you are going because of all the water in your face, and the pressure of the waterfall takes your breath away so it is harder to breath. Definitely worth doing!!! As well as these activities we also got abseiling thrown in for free. It was just a short abseil down a clif side, but it was good fun!At the backpackers there was one of the guides who was really good at poi, so he got out his fire poi’s and gave us a show then taught us a few moves. I played with the fire poi’s too but only did the basic stuff! We got some really good pics of this!
We then moved on to a place called Graskop, which is close to the Kruger Park area. This was a really pretty area with some really nice scenic view points, overlooking a huge cannon that we visited. Near by was an animal rehab centre where they looked after many animals including lions, leopards, cheetahs, eagles, vultures, honey badgers and many more. Here we got to feed the vultures (they are really heavy!) and also stroke a cheetah! He was sooo soft! While at Graskop we also took a day visit to the Kruger Park and had a pretty interesting day! At first it was a bit rubbish because it was sooo hot that we couldn’t see many animals, then later on we got stopped and fined for giving one of the monkeys a piece of fruit! Just as we were leaving things got a bit more exciting, we saw 3 female lions walking in the grass. Then further down the road saw a male lion right in the middle of the road, in front of all the cars. He was only 1metre away from us so we got some good pics!
After this we then started the LONG journey back to Kimberley to spend Christmas with Frans’ family. We had a lovely Christmas with lots of food cooked on the braai (BBQ). But it was sooo hot that it didn’t feel like Christmat at all! But there was a swimming pool where we were staying so it was nice to go swimming each morning! We are now back in Bloemfontein where we will rest for a few days and spend the new year before we head off on the road again!

Well I hope you all had a good Christmas and have a great new year! I’ll see you all soon (half way through the trip now!)

Speak soon 😊 x

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