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Published: March 9th 2023
I chose the South Africa and Eswatini trip (offered by Explore) to satisfy my longing to go on safari again. My last safari was in mid-2018 (in Angola and Namibia), so I was overdue. The flight from Dubai to Johannesburg was uneventful, flying with Emirates in one of their A380-800 jets, which was a treat. The 8.5 hour flight was during the day but most people slept, which I found odd. I suppose that many passengers may have connected through Dubai from elsewhere. We landed in the late afternoon, immigration was easy but took a long time as we were behind a plane from Nairobi that had landed just before we did. I arrived a day before the start of the trip, so stayed over at a small hotel near the airport. No jetlag as the time difference was only two hours.
February 23 – Johannesburg Airport to Sungubala Eco Camp – 350 km I met the tour leader, Graeme, and rest of the group (all from the U.K.) in the late morning, as the group had arrived on overnight flights from Europe. By noon, Graeme had packed up the trailer with our bags and we headed south out
of Johannesburg in the minibus for our first stay near the Royal Natal National Park, at the Sungubala Eco Camp. We stopped at one of the viewpoints to see some of the Drakensberg Mountains, one of South Africa’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites (
Maloti-Drakensberg Park - UNESCO World Heritage Centre). The camp is located in a very scenic area, off the beaten track. The accommodation was in rondavels or small huts, powered with solar energy, with attached bathrooms and were very comfortable. Graeme did the cooking for these two days as there was no restaurant on site. The highlight of the day for me was seeing a small group of eland, Africa’s largest antelopes, on the slopes across from the camp. It was an early evening, as the UK contingent were exhausted after their flights and the drive to the camp.
Drakensberg - Wikipedia uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park - Wikipedia Common eland - Wikipedia February 24 - Sungubala Eco Camp The day started early, with a planned walk to see rock paintings in the hills near the camp. Turns out that the trail had seen significant rain in the couple of weeks prior to our visit, so it wasn’t in the best condition. Kudos to those in the group that finished the
hike, but I wasn’t one of them! I slipped and fell in a particularly muddy spot (that corner will be fondly renamed after me), so settled for stopping at the first turnaround point and walked back to the camp from there. After washing my filthy clothes and shoes, the small pool at the camp was a welcome treat. Grateful I didn’t have my Canon with me on the hike – it would not have fared well in the mud!
After lunch and dinner, Graeme provided some historical background about the settlement of the area we would be visiting the following day – his knowledge and passion about South Africa’s history makes him a compelling storyteller.
February 25 – Sungubala Eco Camp to St. Lucia – 495 km The day started with a beautiful sunrise overlooking the hills, just before 6am. After a quick breakfast, it was back into to minibus for the trip east to St. Lucia. In the late morning, we stopped at Rorke’s Drift, the site of one of the key battles fought between the British and Zula in early 1879. The site has a small museum and memorials to the battle. (
Battle of Rorke's Drift - Wikipedia) (
Battle of Isandlwana - Wikipedia). The
afternoon drive was slow due to the narrow and winding roads, so we were happy to finally arrive in St. Lucia, where we would spend the next three nights.
St Lucia, KwaZulu-Natal - Wikipedia February 26 – Hluluwe – iMfolozi Park – 100km + game drive An early morning wakeup for the first game drive of the trip in Hluluwe-iMFolozi Park, one of South Africa’s oldest game reserves. We set out in two safari vehicles from St. Lucia for the hour-long drive to the park, arriving at the gates around 6 am. We stayed in the southern area (iMfolozi) for our game drive as the park is over 960 km
2. It was a successful day - highlights (for me) were the sighting of the lionesses, lion cubs and a cheetah. In all, some of us saw four of the “Big 5” – lion, cape buffalo, elephant and rhino, just missing the leopard. (
Big five game - Wikipedia) (
Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park - Wikipedia)
My log for the day included (plus there were many birds I missed):
Birds: Wood spotted dove, fiscal shrike, yellow throated long claw, white back vulture, grey helmet shrike, paradise whydah, weavers, lilac breaster rollers, Egyptian geese, cape starling, hadeda ibis, European roller, red billed
ox pecker
Mammals and Other: Iyala, white rhino, zebra, impala, giraffe, adolescent male lion (far away), warthog, elephant, vervet monkey, chameleon, lion pride - 5 females and 4/5 cubs, leopard tortoise, cape buffalo, cheetah (collared), wildebeest, terrapins
After our return to St. Lucia from the game drive, the day continued with a late afternoon boat ride out into the St. Lucia Estuary in search of hippos, crocodiles and birdlife. (
Lake St. Lucia - Wikipedia) We saw a number of hippos starting to become more active in the water and a lot of birdlife. No crocodiles - because there had been so much rain recently, the water was warmer than the banks of the estuary, so the crocs were staying in the water.
February 27 – iSimangalisa Wetland Park – game drive to Cape Vidal and night drive – approx. 100km? Today’s game drive took us north of St. Lucia into the iSimangalisa Wetland Park, another UNESCO site (
iSimangaliso Wetland Park - UNESCO World Heritage Centre). The day started out decently enough but by lunchtime at Cape Vidal, it was pouring rain. The safari guides were champs though, and cooked our braai (bbq) lunch out in the open, while plying us with wine as we waited
in the vehicles under cover. Memorable lunch with lots of laughs! It cleared up as we drove back to town.
Log from the Game Drive:
Birds: wood duck, heron, bee eater, yellow billed kite, brown snake eagle, jacana (Jesus bird), lesser grebe, hammerhead kop, egret, steppe buzzard, coucal, ibis, spur wing goose, crested guinea fowl
Mammals and Other: waterbuck, zebra, hippos, bushbuck, kudu, cape buffalo, monitor lizard?, reed buck, impala
The night drive a few hours later went off with no weather issues. Within a few minutes of being back into the park, our guide identified a huge spider and its web, then two super venomous snakes. Spiders and snakes happen to be some of my least favourite creatures, so off to a rough start. I will never stick my arms out of a game vehicle at night, knowing that there could be poisonous snakes lurking in the branches – ugh! We did see some cool things, however, as the drive progressed - my favourites were the pregnant chameleon, spotted eagle owl and the brown snake eagle. And I will not soon forget the cacophony of frog calls – hard to describe adequately
so listen to the video in my Facebook post. It was pretty amazing what the guide could pick out of the darkness with only a large spotlight.
Log from the Night Drive:
Bark spider, twig snake, tree snake, common duiker, flapneck chameleon, tree frog, zebra, kudu, impala nursery, hippo, brown snake eagle, spotted eagle owl, woolly necked stork, crocodile, dwarf chameleon, square tailed night jar, cape buffalo, frog symphony
February 28 – St. Lucia to Mlilwane Rest Camp, Eswatini – 337 km Today we headed north from St. Lucia to the Kingdom of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), with our final destination being the rest camp in Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary. The border crossing formalities took 45 minutes or so as we crossed the border into Eswatini at Lavumisa. After a delicious lunch and some retail therapy, it wasn’t far to the accommodation inside the Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, Eswatini’s oldest reserve. (
Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary - Wikipedia)
The “beehive” huts were probably the most unusual accommodation of the trip, but were very comfortable with attached bathrooms and ceiling fans. The wildlife wander among the rest camp grounds freely – we saw warthogs and iyala hanging out when we arrived.
Before dinner, the
staff at the rest camp shared traditional Swazi songs and dances with the guests – it was very entertaining and everyone enjoyed their efforts.
March 1 - Mlilwane Rest Camp Graeme led a short walking safari in the morning after breakfast, then we were on our own for the rest of the day. I used some of the free time to get caught up with organizing and saving photos and napping, as there had been a number of early mornings! Graeme treated us to his homemade pineapple gin for sun downers – too bad there wasn’t much of a sunset to see.
Eswatini - Wikipedia Mswati III - Wikipedia Ndlovukati - Wikipedia March 2 - Mlilwane Rest Camp to Pretoriuskop Camp, Kruger National Park – 300km + game drive We stopped at the Ngwenya Glass Factory on the way to border crossing. Established in the late 1970s by a Swedish aid agency, it was interesting to see the factory in action and they make some beautiful objects. From there, it wasn’t far to the border crossing, which was much quicker than the prior crossing two days before. We were delayed after crossing back into South Africa because a
bolt was lost on the trailer and the cover started flapping about. Nothing some wire (and later, rope) couldn’t secure! We stopped in Malelane town to pick up lunch and food for the braai we were having for dinner. We met our safari guides at Kruger’s Malelane Gate to begin the afternoon game drive. I’d have to say my favourites of the day were the hyena cubs (two different sightings) – did you know hyenas are more closely related to felines than canines? (
Kruger National Park - Wikipedia)
That evening, everyone cooked their own dinner on the braais provided at the camp. It was a satisfying end to a great day.
Log from Game Drive:
Birds: Lilac breasted rollers, European rollers, yellow billed kite, magpie shrike, giant kingfisher, ostrich, starling, saddle billed stork, red backed shrike, brown headed kingfisher, great go away bird, woodlands kingfisher, grey helmet shrike, white fronted bee eater, guinea fowl
Mammals and other:
Elephant, impala, giraffe, Nile crocodiles, spotted hyena cub, white rhinos, standard mongoose, steenbok, wildebeest, warthogs, leopard tortoise, spotted hyena mama and cub, chameleon
March 3 - Pretoriuskop Camp to Graskop – 64km + game drive Another early start with our
final game drive in Kruger.
Log from Game Drive:
Birds: Black shouldered kite, red billed wood hoopoe, pin tailed whydah, yellow billed hornbill, grey hornbill, red crested korhaan, Lilac breasted rollers, European rollers, bateleur, red billed hornbill, European bee eater, carmine bee eater, saddle billed stork, Egyptian geese, brown snake eagle, pied kingfishers, woodland kingfisher, southern ground hornbills, red billed ox pecker, black stork, little bee eaters, African fish eagle, water thick knee, woolly neck stork
Mammals and other:
Hyena, elephant, impala, giraffe, mongoose, lions (2 places), wildebeest, zebra, white rhinos, kudu, waterbuck, cape buffalo, chakma baboons, hippos, warthogs, steenbok
On the way to the hotel in Graskop, we stopped at the viewpoint named God’s Window. The fog was starting to roll in, so there wasn’t a spectacular view. Our final dinner was at a great Portuguese restaurant in Graskop.
March 4 - Graskop to Johannesburg Airport – 400km The trip back to Johannesburg took most of the day. We stopped at the Three Rondavels viewpoint to overlook the Blyde River Canyon, then stopped for lunch in Dullstroom at a funky little restaurant with great food and a terrible musician singing! We arrived
at the airport in the late afternoon but early enough that I could change my flight back to Dubai to the 18:50 flight instead of the 22:20 flight. Sad to say goodbye to everyone as we had an excellent 10 days together.
Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve - Wikipedia Final thoughts · My heart is full and my safari fix is satisfied (for the time being anyway!).
· I saw lion cubs and a cheetah in the wild for the first time
· Graeme is a superb guide (he will ever be remembered for his phrase “squeeze a dribble” at each of our toilet stops, as well as the multitasking he did on this trip (driver, cook, historian, coordinator), all while not feeling 100%! (MISSING)
· I have gained a new appreciation for birds, aided by Paul, Joan and Amie’s keen eyes and enthusiasm. My bird photography improved immensely from the first game drive until the final one – next goal is to practice getting decent shots while the birds are in-flight!
· Total photos taken in 10 days - 617 on my iPhone, 2,382 on my Canon = 2,999
· The power grid in South Africa is near
collapse (this is not a new problem) so load shedding, which is scheduled power outages lasting for a few hours, is the norm pretty much everywhere and every day. Fortunately, I was able to keep my various devices and batteries charged up, usually overnight. My best travel hack is my surge-protected power bar with Canadian sockets – I just need one adapter to be able to plug in and I’m good to go
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anne whitehouse (turner to the group)
non-member comment
South Africa and Eswatini
thank you so much for sharing this blog. So well put together, captures all the things we did, and such superb photos. I am amazed at how you were able to do this alongside hard days travelling, and still travelling onwards now. Good luck, we were lucky to have you on our trip. Anne