Our Travel Blog

At least the title fits in with the previous one!

The last couple of days have been spent hanging around with Robert and Molly, doing some geocaching and getting in some walking exercise.

This morning at 0800 we headed out in the cooler air for a walk and a bit more geocaching. Daytime temperatures are around 30-35C, dropping to around 12C overnight.

One of the caches we found was outside a school, not any old school but the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. It’s easier to look up the details rather than me transcribe them here. Oprah 1 or Oprah 2

Tomorrow morning we head off to Jo’Burg for the 2 hour flight to Capetown after a great stay with Robert and Molly!

Today we packed up and headed back to Jo’Burg, an 8 hour drive of about 650Kms.

Where we Stayed – Kingfisher Lodge

The roads were mostly 2 lane with many hills and slow trucks, so our average speed was not too great. No more “Big 5” to spot on the way just cats, dogs, sheep, goats, cows a lone ostrich and a small herd of zebra.

The Closest we got to Seeing a Leopard!

We did manage to see a new country, Swaziland, as the road literally ran along the border for a few Kms.

We also saw half a dozen or so railway engines being delivered by road.

This is the end of touring at this side of the country, the next couple of days will be spent with Robert and Mollie before we fly off to Cape Town on Thursday. I probably will not do another entry until we get to Cape Town.

OK, as usual I am running out of titles but there is some relevance and it’s not the baked beans!

We woke up naturally a little earlier this morning; early nights and the fact that finally my cough/cold has pretty well cleared up, played apart in this rare event.

After breakfast we headed out to the other end of town to go horse back riding! It’s been about 25 years since we last rode a horse. We spent an hour wandering around the fringes of the reserve in a group of 6 plus 2 guides. At one stage one of the guides asked if any one would like to increase their speed from a walk. It seems I was the only one who may have mumbled yes. Anyway the two of us headed out on a second trail for a while. Suffice it to say after that, there will definitely be no more children in our future.

We returned to the B&B to recover, and to have a swim in the pool. Around lunch time we headed out with a picnic lunch (I have grown quite partial to Spars chicken curry pies!) to drive up the western estuary, yesterday we did the east side.

Our greatest new animal of the day was the dung beetle. As their name suggests they work with dung, this particular species rolls the dung into a ball, which can be up to 50 times their own body weight. This ball then serves as a store of food and somewhere to incubate their eggs. This beetle flies and reminds of a small hand held drone in size, sound and the way it manoeuvers!

Further along the estuary we saw the “normal” crop of animals.

Tried to identify this guy but couldn’t, anyone recognise it?

There was also a small aerial board walk we could go along, ingenious how they routed it through a tree.

This is probably our last viewing of the large animals as we head back to Jo’burg tomorrow morning.

We arrived at our new accommodation mid afternoon and after laughing at the “Beware of Hippos” signs (see yesterdays P.S.) we checked in.

Unfortunately there was a problem with the water, there actually was plenty of water just a failing pump, so none was getting to the cottage. Anyway the problem was handled  well, we were given plenty of drinking water and a large bucket of water for flushing!! Problem was resolved the next morning after the plumber returned from his fishing trip!

The other beastie that I could not remember last night when I was talking about swimming in the ocean here was shark!!

Today we had a leisurely breakfast and went into town to pick up some lunch for our trip north to Cape Vidal. This is a trip through the St. Lucia wetlands to a beach about 35kms away. The road was tarmac, but we chose to take the many loops that were unpaved. We saw Zebra, Warthogs, Waterbuk Hippo, Rhino, Wildebeest and various, yet to be identified, members of the antelope family.

Kudus

Warthog

Waterbuk

One of the stops we made was at Mission Rocks to watch the rollers break ashore.

Up at Cape Vidal was another superb beach where we decided to go swimming. Swimming is probably not the best term, it was more a battle to stay upright against the waves while retaining your swimsuit at the same time!!

No, not that one the other one.

Our last morning at the game park, It has been a great 3 days here, the only one of the Big 5 we didn’t see was the leopard.

Last night we Saw a couple of large snails close to the cottage, Lyn’s hand is there for size comparison

After packing we took a final drive through part of the park and then linked over to another part of the park we hadn’t visited before. Unfortunately it was hot already at 30C and most of the animals had wisely sought the shade. We did see a few impala and zebra though.

Rondavaal Accommodation in Park

There has been a severe drought in the area for the last decade or so, the river below has very little water in it today. Fifteen years ago they used to offer boat tours here!

Next we headed out to St. Lucia, a coastal town on the Indian Ocean north of Durban. The estuary is home yo many hippos.

Our plans began to unravel here as we had planned to go on a whale watching boat trip as St Lucia is on the whales’ migration route. Unfortunately due to poor planning on my part, there are no tours available until Tuesday…… we have to leave on Monday. We are consoling ourselves with the fact that this is right at the end of the migration period, so there may not have been any whales to see!

There are some nice beaches here with large waves, if the waves don’t deter you from swimming then the signs that say Beware Hippos, Beware Crocodiles, Beware Something else nasty (memory failure, should have taken a picture) and Beware strong undertow should!

PS…. Only in Africa

Driving home from the restaurant and saw a dark shape in my peripheral vision, turned out to be a hippo running down the side of the road about 10ft from the car!!

I wasn’t going to fight the internet and do a blog today but this guy, seen on an evening safari drive, changed my mind!

Mrs Rhino and her 2 day old baby!!

NOTE

Due to the lack of WiFi I am mixing the days into one entry here and hopefully can get the whole lot out in one shot. This particular entry will not be too well edited as it has taken a while to put it together

An early start this morning, only because they stopped serving breakfast at 08:00, what do they think we are…… tourists???

We headed straight into Durban, no real reason other than it was there, as you should know we are not city lovers. The main motorway that we were on ran straight into the city centre and the continuing road ran straight to the beach. Durban is fairly unique in the cities we have visited in that there are beaches right downtown and stretching for many kilometers.

Below are some sand sculptures

After our brief city stop we headed north along the coast to Umdloti where the guide books suggest we will be able to see many dolphins, I believe the author of the guide book was unable to tell a dolphin from a container ship, as there were plenty of those waiting to enter port!! We stopped there for a coffee, but still not a dolphin to be seen.

Typical of housing along the route

We headed further north to Dilinza Forest where there was a boardwalk set up in the tree canopy. Again, nature eluded us as it appears that all the birds were having a siesta! However, we got a good walk for our daily exercise.

As we walked underneath the tree shown above, it was just like walking in a rain shower. At first I thought the tree had someway of shedding excess moisture, a solution I could live with. However, further questioning led to the truth, it is a rare occurrence where a spitting bug ingests too much sap and has to er……… get rid of it!

These multi trunked trees are Natal Milk Plums

What is it?

After a chicken curry pie from the local Spar store we headed off to our destination for the next 3 nights, Hluhluwe. Phonetic pronunciation attempts to be sent as a comment…. No need to be shy!

The drive was through picturesque rolling hills and we arrived after about 3 hours. Unfortunately, the driver, the navigator, the map and the GPS could not determine where we had to head to for the final 30kms. We finally found a gateway to the park where it should not have been and after a lot of discussion we were allowed in! Not the warmest of welcomes but what we saw within a few minutes of entering made up for it!

Accommodation in the distance

We finally made it to the lodge where we were checked in, again not with out difficulty as it appeared we had a number of reservations, one for 3 nights and one for 2 nights plus one night!!! Finally, we got to out room which was great with fantastic views right across the open spaces. Next problem occurred about an hour later, after we unpacked, Lyn went to close a window as the wind was very strong and blowing the curtains all over the place. Window closed fine but the wind continued……. Window had no glass. Lyn went back to reception who apologised profusely and gave her a new room. New room was fine, except for the view, it consisted only of trees about 10ft away.  My turn to visit reception, most of you know how diplomatic I can be in these situations (!!), but I behaved really well and walked out with the key for our third chalet. The view from here was infinitely better than the second offering and about half as good as the first. It was also a stand alone 2 bedroom full catering chalet about twice the size than the one we had paid for, I just feel (slightly) sorry for the people who had been upgraded to this chalet and were given our second choice instead.

All the above took a couple of hours to sort out, after all this is Africa! Evening meal is included in the deal so we headed off for food, then back for an early night as we had to be up by 0430 (yes half past four) the next morning.

Next morning we fell out of bed at the appointed hour, got ready and presented ourselves at the pickup point. All went smoothly with the bureaucracy except for one elder English couple who forgot to bring their ticket (they could easily have passed, in looks and voice, for Lord and Lady someone or other). When the  guide asked (tongue in cheek) why they had forgot the ticket the husband answered in loud, perfect Etonian English “because we’re bloody stupid!” They got on the truck with no further problems!

Below is a series of pictures from the trip.

SunRISE not Sunset!!

Learning to Fight

Morning Coffee

White Rhino are quite prolific here, but they ask us not to publicize the numbers seen on social media due to poaching concerns.

Vulture

Our guide had a “feeling” as to where we may find lion. There was a herd of water buffalo, with one elder standing guard away from the herd.

Water Buffalo Tick Removal Service

Sure enough the guides experience paid off and in the distance in the shadow of a clump of trees were 2 female and 1 male lion. Our first view!

Depending on what we see tomorrow they may or may not be a blog due to the contortions required to publish it!!

The daily medical bulletin, I woke up far more alive than dead today, so much so I enjoyed my Full English, AND could smell the diesel fumes for the first time in a week!

We left our B&B after a post breakfast walk in futile search of a geocache!

These flowers were hanging off the eaves-trough / gutters around the B&B identify please.

Today were taking a slow drive to the outskirts of Durban, which is on the Indian Ocean. Our only planned stop was at a Zulu village in the Valley of a Thousand Hills.

Along the way we spotted a monkey posing for us so we just had to stop and get a photo!

We slipped into geocaching mode after a couple of hours, and came up to an interesting cache. It was at the site where a British Armoured Train was ambushed back in the second Boer War. The cache was at the grave-site of 4 British soldiers who were killed at the scene. Unfortunately the cache was on the far side of the double rail tracks, so when in Africa etc. I crossed the tracks…. didn’t feel right but. Found the cache, got a wave and a “toot” from a passing train driver, and fled back to the other side.

Back safely on the other side was another plaque to the same incident, this one commemorating the capture of (The) Winston Churchill who was a young journalist on the train!  the capture of (The) Winston Churchill who was a young journalist on the train!

Again we followed the back roads rather than the motorway to our next stop, even had to use the A/C at times as the temperature hovered around 30C.

Fortuitously we arrived at the village with a minute to spare before the tour began. The tour comprised explanations of Zulu culture, their dances and their houses.

Because I am; Lazy, over full, tired choose as necessary, below are the pictures only

The reason for the overfull feeling is that we’ve just returned from the local pub after consuming 1 pint of beer, 1 8oz glass of wine, 2 excellent main course and two deserts for $30 Cdn, probably $3 US by now!!

Last night I went to bed feeling the best I had for a week, that meant I should wake feeling great…. Wrong, this cough just loves me so much it won’t leave. It’s becoming just a little frustrating

Today we headed off from Robert and Mollies to the Drakensberg mountains about 350Kms SE. We planned to take the back roads rather than the motorway for a lot of the trip, a good decision.

The visibility was a little hazy, but the scenery was still pretty neat and into the bargain we saw some wildlife.

Zebra.Mother and Foal

Kudus

Springbuk

Drakensberg Mountains Below

The main objective to day was to pick up our hire car for our trip east next week. This was slightly more problematic than it should have been as credit card and drivers license were not sufficient, a passport was also required. This required a 20 minute trip back to the house and then back to the rental place. This was a little more traumatic than expected as the place closed at 13:00 and it was 12:10! Roberts driving, including an emergency braking to avoid a large dog while we were doing 130kmh, got us back in time! Lyn was quite happy with this turn of events as it gave her over an hour in a gigantic fabric and crafts store.

With car in possession we headed out for some lunch, then back home via a model aircraft airfield, unfortunately there was no flying there today.

Back home I did my usual crash for a while, but woke up feeling better than I have for sometime, so much so that we went for a walk around the neighbourhood.

The most notable thing here is that nearly all properties are surrounded by walls and electric fences, with numerous guard dogs inside.

Below are some views from the walk.

Who Can Identify the Bird…… We Can’t!

Some Art Work

The Plainer Part of Town

Robert has a plot of land with a large house and small bungalow in it. He and Mollie recently moved out of the large house as it was too big, and now live in the bungalow and rent out the other place. Below is the sign outside the main house.

The Main House

The fountain area at the main house was created by Robert and is his pride and joy!!