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Ghost and the Gnu

januar - mars 2025
  • Misadventures Of Wanda
This is our journey across South Africa from north to south completely on our own. What could go wrong?? Les mer
  • Misadventures Of Wanda

Liste over land

  • Swaziland Swaziland
  • Sør-Afrika Sør-Afrika
  • England England
Kategorier
4x4, Camping, Fottur, Fotografering, Sightseeing, Turer, Villmark, Dyreliv
  • 18,3kreiste miles
Transportmidler
  • Flyvning11,9kkilometer
  • 4x45 284kilometer
  • Bil65kilometer
  • Går5kilometer
  • Fotturer-kilometer
  • Sykkel-kilometer
  • Motorsykkel-kilometer
  • Tuk Tuk-kilometer
  • Tog-kilometer
  • Buss-kilometer
  • Campingvogn-kilometer
  • Campingvogn-kilometer
  • Svømming-kilometer
  • Padling/Roing-kilometer
  • Motorbåt-kilometer
  • Seiling-kilometer
  • Husbåt-kilometer
  • Ferge-kilometer
  • Cruisebåt-kilometer
  • Hest-kilometer
  • Skikjøring-kilometer
  • Haike-kilometer
  • Cable car-kilometer
  • Helikopter-kilometer
  • Barfot-kilometer
  • 68fotspor
  • 65dager
  • 781bilder
  • 0liker
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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaGhost and the Gnu

    Gatwick

    22. januar, England ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    We left home at 1pm and took the 3.5hr trip down to Gatwick airport in the gloomy and misty British weather trying to avoid the Morons that can’t drive on the way. After a couple of near misses including an HGV that thought it was a good idea to pull straight across the front of us we finally made it to our park and ride car park at 4pm.
    Once we checked the car in it was a 25 minute drive by bus to the departures at the south terminal where we had to queue for 45 minutes to check our luggage in. This is the most luggage we have ever brought on a trip. Both our cases were full to there weight of 23kgs each and we hardly had any clothes.
    What we did have was a double gas stove, a single gas stove, an omnia oven, a heavy duty tyre repair kit, 2 boxes of car fuses and electrical testing equipment, 600 tea bags, a small jar of coffee, sugar and hot chocolate, and various tools to help in an emergency. This was not going to be an ordinary trip.
    After making it through security with no problems and then hanging around the departures lounge we boarded our flight on Norse airways at 7:30pm and took off at 8:30pm.
    Destination Cape Town.
    

    

    

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaGhost and the Gnu

    Cape Town

    23. januar, Sør-Afrika ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Cape Town
    We landed in Cape Town airport at 9:40am after a gruelling 11.5 hr flight. We both felt like we had been run over by the time we got off the plane and if we survive this trip without getting one of the many coughs that were knocking about on board it would be a miracle.
    Our driver Sasha met us at the airport with one of those name boards you always see people holding when you get to the arrivals section, and it was a 25 minute drive to our hotel the stay easy and we arrived at 11:30am too early to check in.
    We managed to find somewhere in the hotel to leave our bags and then we went for a walk to the shopping mall which is about 100 meters away from the hotel and situated on the Canal Walk of Cape Town. The canal walk is a beautiful paved area running approximately 5kms either side of the river and it has a park a huge shopping mall of over 400 shops and a massive food court. It really resembles the Disney boardwalk in Florida and we were blown away by it’s beauty..
    Our first stop in the mall was the biltong store where we brought 400 grams of honey glazed biltong and now we knew we had arrived in South Africa. Our next stop was breakfast in wimpy which is another South African staple. Then we took a slow walk back to the hotel and checked in at 1pm.
    Our room was cosy, with a double bed, tv, and tea making facilities and the first thing I did was clean my teeth and have a shower. Then we both took an afternoon nap.
    At 3pm we decided to go for a walk and walked the entire canal walk looking at all the sculptures and then we walked 2 stories of the entire mall which worked out about 5 miles in total. Then we walked back to the hotel and chilled out for the rest of the evening.    Les mer

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaGhost and the Gnu

    Cape town - Joburg - Pretoria

    24. januar, Sør-Afrika ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Cape Town - Joburg- Pretoria
    We were up at 6am this morning and we had our bags packed again after opening one of the cases yesterday and we were shrink wrapping it closed by 6:30am.
    We headed downstairs for our complementary breakfast and it was an amazing spread of anything you could ever want for a breakfast including fried food, scrambled eggs or fruit and yogurt.
    We settled for fresh fruit and yogurt and 2 cups of coffee before heading back up to our room to retrieve our bags and meet our taxi at 7:30am. We had the same driver as yesterday and he delivered us back to Cape Town airport for 8am.
    This flight was internal to Johannesburg and we were flying with lift airlines and it took us just 5 minutes to check our bags in and then another 10 minutes to get through security. We now had plenty of time to spare as were flying until 10am so we went to wimpy and had a chai tea and a mega wimpy coffee.
    At 9:30am we boarded our little flight and it took off on time and at 11:40am we arrived in OR Tambo Johannesburg airport and we were relived once we had collected our bags as now all of the camping stuff we had worried about getting here was in place.
    We headed for level 2 having booked an Uber to take us to our final destination of the day and a lovely guy called Tebobo picked us up and drove us the 1 hour to the Bushman’s Rock Country Lodge just outside of Pretoria.    Les mer

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaGhost and the Gnu

    The Bushmans Rock

    24. januar, Sør-Afrika ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    We arrived at the Bushman’s Rock just after 1pm and to our delight we had, had a room upgrade for free. It is a beautiful hotel with lovely air conditioned rooms and our room has bi-folding doors that open up onto the pool. All of the rooms have fridges and kettles inside and there is a restaurant on site that does award winning Eisbein.
    Straight away I went for a swim. The temperature is already 32°c and it was nice to cool off. Then we took a walk up the road to the local shop to get some cold water and milk to make teas and coffees later.
    Once we were back at the lodge we both had a lay down for half an hour as we didn’t get any sleep last night as the air con didn’t work and then at 5pm we headed over to the restaurant for dinner where I was expecting the best Eisbein ever and was thoroughly disappointed when my meat turned up uncured and tasteless. I even left some of it.
    Ellie had better luck though, with here deep fried chicken schnitzel and there was so much she had to ask for a box to bring it back to the room. With the meal and a soft drink for Ellie and 3 beers for me it came to £20 which was a bargain even though I hadn’t liked mine.
    At 6:30pm we headed back to our room where we watched a couple of hours of Netflix before crashing out totally exhausted. Tomorrow will be the biggest day of our trip. Our vehicle should arrive and if it doesn’t we’ll know we’ve been conned out of a lot of money and 6 months of planning has gone out of the window not to mention the money. If it does this will be the trip of a lifetime and we’ll be South African car and caravan owners and we’ll be set for years. This whole trip depends on tomorrow.    Les mer

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaGhost and the Gnu

    Ghost & The Gnu

    25. januar, Sør-Afrika ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Ghost & The Gnu
    We didn’t get much sleep last night. I think we were excited, but apprehensive and nervous all at the same time, had we just lost a small fortune.
    At 8am we we got a message from Johan saying he was on schedule and he would be with us at 9am and low and behold, at 9am Johan and his wife turned up with our Ford Ranger and Echo Chobe 4x4 safari trailer. We hadn’t been conned, Johan and his wife actually existed and our truck and trailer were in near new condition and we were so, so grateful.
    After sitting down and having a coffee with Johan and his wife he gave us the paperwork and showed us around the car and then the trailer. Once the handover was complete Johan and his wife left and Ellie and I suddenly felt very nervous. Now we were on our own with a truck and caravan and we have to do everything we have planned.
    Once our nerves had settled we headed out in Ghost our truck, leaving the Gnu back at the hotel and our first stop was the Chinese shop to get as much cheap stuff as we could and this included some extra cooking utensils, cleaning products and spare tools.
    From the Chinese shop we headed to the outdoor warehouse and got camping chairs, a table and some ammo boxes for food storage. Then it was next door to the bedding shop to get pillows and a duvet and then we went to a little cafe on the retail park to get some cold drinks and roosterkoaks, these are basically a grilled Braai roll with fillings.
    After lunch we headed back to the hotel and then we practised putting the trailer up and setting the bed up in the 35°c heat which was roasting.
    Our room now looked like a camping bomb had hit it and gradually we started putting the stuff into the trailer and car until the room looked livable again. Then I jumped in the pool to cool off and had a beer whilst Ellie filmed around the trailer.
    Time had really got the best of us today and before we knew it, it was 6pm and we packed the trailer down making a note of a few things we have to get tomorrow and then we made a salad for dinner. It had been a very draining, nervous but exciting day.    Les mer

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaGhost and the Gnu

    Camp 1 - Marloth Park

    26. januar, Sør-Afrika ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Camp 1 Marloth Park
    I had, had a pretty good nights sleep last night thanks to some sleeping tablets but unfortunately Ellie hadn’t but we got up at 8am and started loading the car.
    I reversed onto the trailer and we hooked up with no problems and just after 9am we left the Bushman’s Rock Country Hotel and our first stop was the hardware store for some gas line and hose clips and some spray oil. Then it was back to the Chinese shop for some ratchet straps and bungees and then it was back to the outdoor warehouse for a few bits we forgot yesterday.
    That took us to 10:35sm and then we left Pretoria for the 4.5 hour trip of 260 miles to head to Marloth Park.
    Being a Sunday the roads were pretty quiet and once we left the Pretoria ring road which is a free for all motorway, we got onto the N4 and it was quieter and duelled most of the way. And it was a straight run. Ghost drove beautifully and pulled the Gnu like it wasn’t there.
    We stopped about 1/3 of the way in at the services called Alko which has an adjoining wildlife park with rhino, ostrich, impala, zebra and s few other animals. It was packed with people but there was loads of parking and a security guard stood watch over our car while we went in for a nature break and something to eat.
    Back on the road we had another 150 miles ahead of us and it was plain sailing right up until the last 30 miles where it turns into single lane carriageway and there’s loads of coal trucks.
    We finally got to Marloth Park campsite at 3:30pm and it felt like we were back home. We know this place intimately now and love it. We levelled the trailer off and within 30 minutes we had the majority of the trailer ready. It’s hard to know how long it really took because we had to move all of our clothes into it and set the awning up which didn’t take long but it was a new process.
    By 5:30pm we were sitting down on our new chairs, drinking beer and watching zebras and waterbok go down to the river to drink and listening to the hippos chuckling in the Kruger national park opposite. We had impala behind us and lots of warthog with there babies mooching around. It was great. We really felt like we had made a dream come true.
    After dinner of Braai rolls we just sat and watched the sun set, it was amazing.    Les mer

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaGhost and the Gnu

    A Trip to Neilspruit

    27. januar, Sør-Afrika ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    I didn’t have much sleep last night. I had a sore throat, I forgot to put my earplugs in and we left the windows open on the tent so when the sun came up at 5am we were blinded but I was already awake from the dawn chorus. So at 6am I was up and sitting on the chairs looking over the Kruger.
    Our plan for today was to head to Neilspruit for the stuff we were missing. We also needed to swap our duvet out for a much lighter one. So at 9am we left our camp site but our first stop was the gas shop in Marloth park to get a bottle of gas. Here we brought a 3kg bottle and they filled it while we waited, then we headed the 60 miles into Neilspruit. We had been there before to visit the outdoor warehouse and the camping stores but our first stop was a little retail park with a few clothes shops that seemed very, very black so we did 1 circuit and then left and headed straight for the outdoor warehouse. This area isn’t predominantly white but you can tell by the cars in the car park that it’s far more respectable.
    Once we had parked we visited the outdoor warehouse, for some magnets to hang stuff, the it was to the sportsman’s warehouse to get me some trainer socks, then we popped into a hardware store to get a spirit level and some Allen keys to rehang the door on the trailer and make sure we’re level when we park. After that we popped into the spar for 2 more days of food shopping and then it was back home.
    All in all it was a 120 mile trip but we think we have got everything to continue our adventure and when we got home it was 3pm. The day had run away from us again.
    When we had unpacked everything we popped over to the swimming pool to cool off in the 33°c heat. When we swimming there was a cloudburst and everyone else got out, which was weird as they were already wet. Ellie and I just stayed in the pool until it stopped raining.
    We got back to camp at 5pm and Ellie made a salad whilst the warthogs came and laid around our pitch and under the car. There were 2 mums and 8 babies and once the babies had eaten there fill they just laid on there side and passed out. Then they would wake up and jump up and start eating again.
    Once dinner was done we watched the sunset over the Kruger and when it got dark we could hear the lions chuffing. It was super cool.    Les mer

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaGhost and the Gnu

    Our first game drive - Lionspruit

    28. januar, Sør-Afrika ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    I’d hardly slept atall, I had a sore throat and a banging headache that made me feel sick most of the night. So much so that I got up at 4am and took some ibuprofen. That did help but no sooner had I fallen asleep then it was time to wake up.
    I sat in the chair at 6:30am surrounded by warthogs. I did feel like death warmed up but it was still cool.
    By 7:30am we were dressed and after a cold shower I did feel much better, Ellie had a quick breakfast and by 8:30am we were in the car. Today was going to be our first game drive in ghost, and we were going to lionspruit wildlife refuge in Marloth Park.
    It was only a mile away from where camp was and we paid our £6 entry fee for the both of us and the lady opened the gate and we entered.
    Lionspruit isn’t a massive park, it probably only covers 15 square miles but it’s big enough to house 2 leopards, 1 male lion called Monty, 3 white rhino, buffalo, Wilderbeast, Warthog , zebra, giraffe, and thousands of impala.
    We decided to cover the park in a clockwise direction and went to Impala Dam first of all which was void of all wildlife. From there we drove to the gravel pit and found the zebra, on the way out of the gravel pit we encountered a rhino. He came straight out of the bushes and walked straight across the front of the car.
    As we continued we came across giraffe, warthog wallowing in a mud hole, more zebra and and rhino.
    Ghost handled the terrain beautifully and we even had to put it in 4 wheel drive twice to get through some boggy areas.
    We left Lionspruit at 11:30am and after a quick run to the shop we went back to camp for a salad lunch.
    At 1pm we decided to head to the swimming pool to cool down in the 34°c heat. It really was roasting today and it’s set to get hotter. After a 30 minute swim and having cooled down nicely as we were about to get out an old German guy entered the pool and Ellie greeted him. He said hello back and then proceeded to give us his 85 year life story from when he moved to South Africa at the age of 35.
    It was a nightmare. We finally left the pool at 5pm. Neither of us had ever looked so wrinkly and even though it was still 30°c we were now cold.
    We walked back to camp and once dressed I did a couple of my Spanish lessons then we had dinner.
    After that we fed the bushbucks and mongoose that had arrived at camp whilst we watched the sunset.
    Then when it was dark at 7:30pm we headed into the gnu to watch tv for a while before going to sleep. Tomorrow is moving day.    Les mer

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaGhost and the Gnu

    Enter the Kruger

    29. januar, Sør-Afrika ⋅ 🌬 30 °C

    We were up at 6:30am and I made coffee whilst Ellie sorted the bedding out. By 7:30sm we were packing up and by 8:30am we were ready move, and as a first attempt at packing everything away we were pleased with an hour.
    We weren’t leaving yet as we had to get some shopping to do, some diesel to get and Ellie wanted to drive down the crocodile river road.
    Unfortunately Spar didn’t have any of the salad stuff we wanted and when we went to get the diesel the petrol tanker was there. Then we got stuck on a 4x4 road along the edge of the crocodile river but I managed to turn us around and get out of it, but that little escapade cost us nearly an hour. Luckily because it took so long the petrol tanker had gone on the way back and then we got diesel.
    We finally left Marloth Park at 10am and we entered The Kruger National Park at 10:45am. Now it was the long journey of 80 miles to reach Satara Rest Camp. That doesn’t sound far but with a top speed of 30mph that worked out at 3 hours.
    We treated the drive as game drive even though I was travelling faster than spotting speed and it was good to see different animals. Elephants, Buffalo, and Wilderbeast.
    We stopped half way at an outpost and got something to eat and drink before carrying on and once on the move we came across the biggest herd of buffalo we had ever seen. 2 of them were blocking the road and we had to wait 10 minutes for them to move.
    At 2:30pm we finally arrived at Satara and we were exhausted from the drive and the 34°c heat.
    We found a nice little spot with electric just a few meters away from the fence line and it took us 30 minutes to set up. Excluding the time it took me to hammer the pegs in because the ground was like concrete. And as soon as camp was ready we went swimming to cool off.
    Back at camp Ellie cooked dinner in the omnia oven on the gas stove and then as the sun set we went and sat by the fence line to watch for hyenas. We didn’t see any tonight but we did hear the lions roaring and we saw hundreds of fireflies which we had never seen here before.    Les mer

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  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaGhost and the Gnu

    Our final game drive in the Kruger

    31. januar, Sør-Afrika ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    We were up at 4:45am and after a couple of coffees we left camp just after 5:30am.
    This morning was terrible for sightings and we got all the way to Orpen camp 45km away and hardly saw anything.
    Halfway through the return journey we came across a queue of cars and our initial thoughts were it’s either lion or wild dogs, but we were wrong, it was a leopard up a tree with a kill. Unfortunately it really was a long way away and there was a landrover and safari vehicle hogging the prime spot and they weren’t even taking pictures. The unwritten rule is take your pictures and have your viewing and move on. Not these guys, they were proper camped out and blocking the road and after 15 minutes of waiting we managed to jossle our way into a decent position. We got a couple of shots and moved on.
    By 9am the temperature was already in the 30’s and when we got back to camp at 10am for breakfast it was 34°c in the shade. After breakfast we didn’t really have anything to do so we dozed on our chairs and the sun got hotter and hotter.
    Over at the wash house I had a cold shower and found a brown armoured cricket which was a weird looking creature and then at 2pm I suggested we just go for a drive to have the air con on so that’s what we did and we managed to get through the hottest part of the day in the car. Today it got to 41°c in the shade which was just to hot, and it’s only going to drop to 28°c overnight.
    Back at camp we had dinner and we were joined by Martin the monitor again and some hornbills who decided to use the birdbath we had made.
    At 7:00pm we headed back over to the fence line to watch for hyenas and luckily one walked right by us just the other side of the fence and after 10 minutes he came back.
    We waited another 20 minutes and then decided to call it a night. We were in bed by 8pm.    Les mer

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