NetherlandsNorth HollandGemeente HaarlemmermeerAmsterdam Airport Schiphol52°18’38” N 4°45’50” E
March 2 in the Netherlands ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
We were up at the unearthly hour of 3am and after getting dressed quickly we headed into the lounge to wake Ben up from sleeping on our sofa. We all looked and felt like death warmed up as we didn’t get to bed until nearly midnight and didn’t get much sleep in that time. After a quick coffee we headed out the front door checking everything was locked behind us at 3:30am and then it was a 40 min drive for Ben to drop us off at Norwich airport.
It was now 4:10am and we were 2 hours early for our 6:10am flight and the second people to arrive in the airport. It was eerily quiet.
Within 10 minutes the KLM girls had opened the check in and I dropped my rucksack off. It was our only bag for the hold and weighed a measly 14kgs. This is the lightest we’ve travelled with backpacks.
Once the bags were checked in we passed through security and we both had the usual thing with Norwich airport where they like to be seen to be doing something and my camera bag was checked twice and our fluids were checked.
We had just over an hour in the airport lounge and we spent that time talking to an elderly American man from North Carolina who was on his way to Germany to meet his German girlfriend, he was quite interested in how brexit had affected us.
At 5:45am we boarded our little city hopper plane and at 6:10am we took off, on time and with no delays and we touched down 10 minutes early in schipol airport but then took another 10 minutes driving to our arrival gate.
We were now an hour ahead of the uk and it was now 8am. Our first stage of today was over and we had 2 hours in Schipol airport before our next stage which we weren’t looking forward to as it would be 10 hours of flying time.Read more
South AfricaGautengEkurhuleniBirchleigh26°5’24” S 28°14’37” E
March 2 in South Africa ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
We boarded our flight from Schiphol at 10:20am with no problems. This was the big one. 10 hours and 25 minutes and we weren’t looking forward to it.
Ellie had managed to book me a window seat and herself an aisle seat with a space in the middle but unfortunately the aircraft was completely full and she ended up moving up a seat to let a young black girl take the aisle seat. She was very nice and quite chatty to start off with but once we had taken off she fell straight to sleep and she slept like the dead not waking up even for food or drinks.
The first few hours passed unbelievably slow while I watched my tablet and Ellie watched documentaries on her phone and once our meal was served I managed to close my eyes and fell asleep.
I managed 2 straight hours until 2 gentlemen 5 seats away struck up a conversation for the rest of the aircraft to hear, in fact it was more of a shout than a conversation.
Our aircraft food was up to it’s normal awful standard, I had a vegetarian pasta which seemed to have completely dried out during the cooking process and the pasta had rehardened itself and Ellie had the chicken sausage and mash which had one persons daily salt allowance in just the sausage. Both were disgusting.
3/4 of the way into the flight we hit turbulence that was so bad the aircraft staff all sat on the floors in the aisle as they couldn’t get back to their seats, it was quite scary and even I started to feel ill. That lasted around 20 minutes.
Just as the flight was becoming really unbearable we stated to decend into Johannesburg and we finally arrived at 10:30pm South Africa time and we couldn’t get off the plane quick enough.
We sailed straight through customs and Ellie messaged our hotel for the night and the taxi driver was sent out. Then while I collected our one bag from the carousel, Ellie went and drew some cash out from the atm. Then we had to find our way frantically to parking lot 2 to the collection point as our driver only had 30 minutes of free waiting.
We found our driver Lawrence with just a few minutes to spare and we put our bags in the boot and then he tied the boot shut in typical South African fashion and then we climbed into the car where half the head lining was missing. Now I knew we were back.
Lawrence thought he was driving a rocket but we knew when he was slowing down thanks to the loud screeching coming from the brakes and within 20 minutes we were at our first stop for the night. The aerotropolis motel.
It was now 11:30pm and after locking ourselves in, I had a cold shower and then put the fans on. It was still 20°c at this time of night but we were both so tired and it didn’t take long for us to fall asleep.
Day one was done we are in South Africa.Read more
South AfricaGautengEkurhuleniBirchleigh26°5’23” S 28°14’37” E
March 3 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
We were awake at 7am to bright sunshine and the sound of birds coming through the window above our head. We’d had a good nights sleep and couldn’t wait to start our day. I made a tea and coffee and we drank them in bed and then I went for a shave and cold shower and while I got dressed, Ellie had a shower.
At 8am we went to the restaurant and had freshly squeezed orange juice and then a farmhouse breakfast to start the day. It was a good meal and our first conversations with lots of smiley South Africans.
At 9am we returned to our room and got a message from our taxi company saying they would now be picking us up at 11am from the front gates. That was the latest we could afford to be without having to drive the rest of the way on our own in the dark.
At 10:30am we headed out to the front enclosed car park to wait for our taxi company hakunamatata and I sat on the walled garden area next to some huge geraniums and the smell reminded me of my grandad.
At 11:30am and almost an hour late our taxi finally arrived. It was a huge minibus driven by a monster of a woman named Larrisa and after piling our bags into the side door we set off.
It was a long 4 hour journey to Neilspruit and we stopped halfway at a service station which had Rhino, Oryx, Ostrich and Wilderbeast roaming around at the back of it. These were our fist sightings and we now felt we had arrived.
The minibus was unbelievably hot and Ellie sat on the second row while I sat on the third row. Larrisa didn’t stop talking most of the way telling us about all the pies she had fingers in and by the time we arrived at Kruger international airport I felt quite sick from the heat and being thrown around in the back at 150kph. The only time it really cooled down was when we drove through a huge hail storm for 10 minutes. Then the sun came back out and we were roasting again.
At 3:30pm we arrived at the Kruger International airport and said goodbye to Larrisa. Then we went inside to the information desk where we picked up the keys to our camper van and then went outside to the car park to find it.
It took a little while……….the “camper” was tiny.
We unlocked the doors and put our bags in and then I set the sat nav up. The camper was beautifully finished with bed mats, a tent and fridge although the van itself is so basic it doesn’t even have a radio. There’s no central locking but I think if I put my left arm out I could probably reach right out of the left window it’s so thin.
We popped back into the airport and paid the car park fee of £3:50 for all day and then we set off to Marloth Park.
It took us 90 minutes to get to Marloth park and we named our camper little simba on the way. Little Simbas top speed seems to be 60mph on the flat and it doesn’t like going uphill but we can get 75mph out of it going downhill.
Just before it got dark we arrived in Marloth Park and we headed straight to the securcon office to collect our keys. Then we headed to Volstruis Street to our first sleepover. Ostrich Cottage.
It was now 6pm and we were both starving we hadn’t eaten since breakfast and once we had wrestled through the outer security door and worked out how to open the inner patio door with no handle or lock on the outside we were in. Our plan now was to just put our bags in and go to a restaurant for dinner.
On the way back out Ellie slid the patio door shut and I heard it click. The lock had come down and because there was no handle or lock on the outside we were now locked out. Try as I might I couldn’t lift the patio door up to release the lock and I even tried putting the car key in the hole where the outer lock should have been to release the inner lock. Nothing worked.
We locked the outside security door and then headed back to the security office to tell them of our plight and they said don’t worry we’ll send a maintenance team around. Then we went back to the house.
Locking ourselves out cost us 90 minutes but even the maintenance guys said the door was ridiculous and needed fixing. It took them another 10 minutes to break back in.
It was now 7:30pm and we headed off in the dark to the Giraffe bar and grill passing Impala, Warthog and zebra on the way.
Inside the restaurant we both had steak as this is the only place we can afford to eat it, this broke our run of veganism we had been on the last 2 months. Then we went back to our house taking a couple of cold beers with us and once back at the house I sat naked in the splash pool watching a little dyker down by our water hole whist having a beer.
It had been a very long day but after cooking off in the pool I was ready for bed. The air conditioning had done its job and cooled our room down to 16°c and at 11pm we finally went to bed.Read more
South AfricaMpumalangaNkomaziSeekoeigat25°20’47” S 31°45’32” E
March 4 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C
We were awake at 7am and I got up, went to the kitchen to put the kettle on and I was greeted by an Impala sticking his head over our fence waiting for food. Unfortunately we didn’t have any yet so I unlocked our stupid doors and that scared him off.
I made coffee and then we sat outside drinking then watching Impala and bushbuck wander by.
By 9am we were ready to go out and our first stop of the day was the Marloth Game store where we could get food for the animals. We brought a huge bag of sweet potatoes and a 40kg bag of pellets.
After the game store we popped into the supermarket to get ourselves some food but only brought butter and bread as we decided they didn’t have everything we needed and as we had the camper we could drive to the closest town to get a better variety of food.
Our closest town is Komatiport and it was a 30 minute drive to get there. The drive was lovely with little traffic but komatiport itself was a bit hectic and South Africa has this thing where you have to drive through lots of car parks to get to the supermarket and that was a bit of a challenge.
In the Spar we brought a full weeks shopping of meals, extra bottled water and soaps for the shower. It cost us £70 but there were quite a few one off items in that.
From komatiport we headed back home and unloaded our goodies, then Ellie made us avocado on toast for lunch.
After lunch we then decided to check out what was in our camper and see how hard the tent was to put up.
Our little camper is amazing. The back has 2 slide out compartments. The top one is for our bags and stuff and the bottom one has 6 boxes. Each box has it’s own labelled lid and in those boxes are sleeping bags, groundsheet, wash towels and soaps and blankets, kettle cups, plates and cutlery, a gas stove and spare gas, spares for the camper. Down the side of the slide out is our tent and it was super easy to put up. Then there are 2 big foam mattress and 2 pillows in a net on the inside of the roof.
The fridge has 6 compartments and also has 2 stainless steel water bottles and opposite the fridge are 2 lock boxes to put our own stuff in.
After we had rummaged around in the camper and played with the tent we locked up and headed out to explore.
Our first stop was a bird hide overlooking the crocodile river where we saw lots of hippos in the water and lots of impala on the banks.
Here we met an elderly couple who had moved to Marloth Park a year ago and they loved it.
From the bird hide we followed crocodile road along the rivers edge until we came back to the main road. Then we drove all the down to the first security gates and picked up Seeskoi road running alongside the river again.
Along this road we saw, waterbuck, impala, warthog, kudu, zebra and giraffe. It was a great little game drive on our own and as the speed limit is 30kph we just bumbled along for hours watching the wildlife and admiring the houses.
We finally got back to our house at 4pm.
It was still 36°c when we got back and I went for a dip in the splash pool to cool off whilst Ellie started sorting out food for the Brae we were going to have for dinner and she lit the fire. She also through out some of the pellets and sweet potato we brought earlier and within minutes we had 2 bushbuck and 4 impala in the garden closely followed by 3 warthog. Then to our amazement a whole family of mongoose came running through so Ellie went and got our eggs and threw 3 of them on the ground. The mongoose loved them and it was so funny watching them and listening to there little squeaks as they were eating, they also had lots of babies.
Ellie started cooking around 5:30pm, and we had ostrich steaks with Brae rolls. It wasn’t as good as Pete’s cooking, he is now being missed.
After dinner and just as the sun was setting I set up camera traps and Ellie put out some yogurt and bananas to encourage the bush babies, then we just sat back and watched and waited.
The Bushbabies came at 7:30pm. I first sign of them was hearing a rustle in the trees and as we looked up we saw them jumping. I put my hand in front of my face to block out our silly garden lights and then we could see that they were already on the feeding table munching away. We were gutted the garden lights were obstructing our vision so tomorrow night we’re going to cover the lights so we can see down the garden. But atleast we know bushbabies are here.Read more
South AfricaMpumalangaNkomaziSeekoeigat25°20’46” S 31°45’31” E
March 4 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C
I was up at 7am but Ellie was up an hour earlier at 6am. She couldn’t wait for me to check the camera traps and by the time I got up she had already fed the animals and most of them had left. I was left with one lonely warthog and 4 impala.
Just as I sat down with my coffee we heard rustling in the bushes and then a family of mongoose came running through. As there were no eggs they didn’t stop this time and they all squeaked and chattered while they ran by.
At 10:30am we headed out with one of the locals and she showed us the ins and outs of Marloth park and was very informative on the rules and regulations of the place and how things are starting to change, mainly for the better. As it stands half of the houses in Marloth park are residential and half are holiday homes or rentals. In certain areas there’s lots of building work going on but there will only ever be the original 4000 stands available.
Just after lunchtime we headed back to our house for some lunch and Ellie made us new potatoes, salad and Wors sausage. Then after lunch we headed back out to the shops where we brought 20 bin bags to cover the lights in our garden tonight. Then we went back home for a dip in the pool. It is currently 41°c today and very muggy.
At 5pm we left our house to go one of the bird hides and watch the sunset and look for animals in the Kruger. We sat there in the hide with the sun directly in front of us. We felt like we were melting.
There were hippos in the river directly below us talking to each other, they all sound like Jaba the Hutt but there were no other animals.
Sunset was good with the sign disappearing on the horizon and then the sky turning a purple colour. It was only then that the temperature started to fall a little.
We got back to our place at 7pm. It was now dark and I got to work covering the lights with bin bags while Ellie sorted out food for the bushbabies. Then I set my tripod up right in front of the feeding table with a camera trap on it and situated another camera trap over looking the fence line which Ellie had lined with bananas. Then I got back in the pool for an hour.
At 9pm there was no sign of the bushbabies but we did have 2 warthog cuddled up next to each other right next to my tripod so we gave up waiting and headed indoors to peep through the blinds. At 9:30pm with no sign of the bushbabies we headed to bed. It was still 30°c outside.Read more
South AfricaMpumalangaNkomaziMarloth Park25°19’58” S 31°48’29” E
March 6 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
Today we were up bright and early at 5am. The reason for this was so we could drive to two trees lookout point almost 4 miles away and then walk along the Kruger National Park border fence.
After a coffee we set off at 5:45am, it was light outside but sunrise wasn’t for another few minutes. Getting anywhere quick in Marloth Park just isn’t doable. The speed limit on the unmade roads is 10mph but you can only do that if the road has been graded, and the speed limit on the one tar road is 30mph. It would take us 20 minutes to finally reach the look out point at almost 6:10am.
Once at the lookout we parked our car and headed along the fence line path that borders the Kruger National park and is separated by the crocodile river.
Straight away we saw hundreds of impala the other side of the river with a herd of Zebra. On our side of the river we had waterbuck right in front of us. A little bit further along we had hippo with babies right infront of us, then the banded mongoose jumped out of the grass right next to us squeezing and chattering as they ran down towards the river. It wasn’t so much of a walk but more of a stop and stare every few feet because there was so much to see. On the way back to the camper we even saw giraffe drinking from the river, it was a pretty good walk.
At 8:30am we headed back home for some breakfast only to be greeted by a pool cleaner and a lady cleaning the house. We didn’t know anything about these coming so we were a bit shocked and decided to sit in the Brai Area and wait for them to leave.
The pool guy was done within an hour although I asked him how long does it take to clean our little cuddle puddle and he said 20 minutes, he was much longer than that.
The cleaner however didn’t leave until 11:30am. If we’d known that we’d have gone out for breakfast.
While we waited for the cleaner to leave I checked the camera traps and finally I’ve caught both the big and small bushbabies on camera. Not only that I also caught the bats landing on the post eating the banana so I’m quite pleased.
After some toast and a quick dip in our nice clean pool all the travelling had finally caught up with us and we both lay on the sofa in the lounge and fell asleep for an hour then we headed out again in the camper to drive along the fence line of lionspruit game park here in Marloth to see what we could see and to check out what was over that side of Marloth.
We didn’t see anything along the fence line probably because it was still 36°c outside but we did come across a piece of parkland that according to the locals is an animal highway and you could see anything there.
From our drive we headed to the Bos restaurant. It was now 5pm and this is the party place with a live stage area and even a swimming pool and play area for the kids, then at just gone 6pm we headed home to feed the animals and feed the bushbabies and set the camera up.
Back at our house we already had 2 warthog waiting for us, they were here every night so we’ve called them Wilber and Wilma.
During the day we have a huge male with floppy ears come to us so he’s called floppy ears and another one with a wonky mouth that makes him look like he has a Cleff pallet so I called him Cleff Richards. We also had a little bushbuck hanging around here all day.
As soon as I went through the door I grabbed a big load of food to throw down for Wilbur and Wilma. I went back for another load and when I went back out to throw it I was greeted by a huge Wilderbeast. He was also happy with the food but did prefer the sweet potatoes.
Once the food had gone Frank the Wilderbeast chased off our 2 warthog and just as we thought we were alone we were joined by the little bushbuck. He was on his own and we haven’t named him yet but I had to feed him as he was making me feel guilty. Once the food had gone he stood infront of us looking out down the garden as if he was guarding us for the rest of the night.Read more
South AfricaMpumalangaNkomaziMarloth Park25°21’29” S 31°46’55” E
March 7 in South Africa ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C
We had a really rough nights sleep. South Africa does load shedding and cuts power to distribute to elsewhere and last night our power went off at 9pm. It has gone off almost every night and we hadn’t noticed because the house we are staying in has an inverter. This is a system that when the power is on it charges a battery so when the power goes off you still have battery power.
This has worked for us and run our air conditioning all night since we got here but because the pool guy came and turned the pool pump on for hours in the morning and then left the pump running all afternoon this used copious amount of energy. Also the cleaner had the hoover and a washing machine running so during the day the battery didn’t charge.
So at 9pm when the power went out our battery only lasted 10 minutes and then we were without air conditioning and I hadn’t had it running before bedtime.
Our room gradually got hotter and hotter. It was still 28°c outside which felt cooler than inside when we both got up at 1am unable to stay asleep.
I jumped straight in the pool and went back to bed wet with a fan running of a power bank and Ellie spent ages on the sofa.
We hardly got a wink of sleep and at 5am we were both up getting ready for our first game drive. We couldn’t wait to get in the car because we could put air con on.
Just after 6am we arrived at Lionspruit game reserve. This is a private game reserve owned by Marloth park and is only open to owners or guests at Marloth Park. It has loads of animals including 4 of the big five. The only thing it is missing is elephants.
We paid our 130 rand for entry which is about £5 and then set off and almost straight away a Giraffe crossed the road right infront of us.
Our first stop was 15mins in, at the impala hide where there was a lovely wooden hide overlooking a large watering hole. Here there were hundreds of impala and even a giraffe.
After a 20 minute stop we moved on and drove around 5km to another hide overlooking another watering hole. This water source had 7 giraffe, more impala and a few bushbuck. We even got to see one of the giraffes drinking.
We spent another 20 at this hide before moving to the next where it was pretty empty.
Along the game drive we saw thousands of impala and hundreds of Kudu. We even saw baby Kudu which is the cutest thing ever, we also saw Wilderbeast, Waterbok, Steenbok and lots of mousebirds but no predators and no rhino.
We left the park at 11am as the sun was now in full swing and it was atleast 35°c outside and we headed back to the house for a late breakfast and a rest.
Early in the afternoon we headed out for petrol and a few bits to keep us going for the next few days and then we started packing our stuff ready to leave. Once all that was done I jumped back in the pool to cool off while Ellie managed to feed a little bushbuck by hand. They are very mild mannered antelope.
At 5pm we headed back out to one of the lookout spots called two trees in Marloth Park overlooking the Kruger.
Almost as soon as we got out of the car we saw a cluster of people with binoculars pointing across the otherside of the river. We knew it would be a predator, the question is what one.
We headed down to the group and they pointed us towards a rock on the otherside of the river and above that rock was our first leopard. He was probably about 150 meters away and we could barely see him with the naked eye but luckily I had my big lens on the camera and I managed a few shots. Not the best but a sighting is a sighting.
We carried on walking trying to spot the female leopard to no avail but we did spot hundreds of waterbok down at the river and up at our side of the fence. There was also buffalo on the otherside and one got dangerously close to the leopard and we thought we were going to see the leopard attempt to take it down but in the end he just strolled off the other way. During the walk we met a young South African guy who now lives in Braintree of all places. We couldn’t believe it.
We left 2 trees just after sunset and drove back home in the dark and when we pulled up to the house about a hundred banded mongoose ran across the front of the drive. One had to go back for one of its babies and it was so small she was carrying it. Quite often it’s the smaller animals here that really make you love the place.
Back at home it was now 7pm and 30°c inside and outside.
Ellie started dinner while I went and put the air con on and then we sat in the garden with a little bushbuck eating our dinner and slowly melting.
Hopefully we’ll have a better nights sleep tonight as this is our last night here and tomorrow will be our first real dangerous game drive on our own. We’ll be up at 5am and heading into the Kruger.Read more
South AfricaMpumalangaBushbuckridgeMbangwane24°51’27” S 31°53’41” E
March 8 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C
We hadn’t had a great nights sleep again.
At 9pm when we were indoors watching the tv and melting we discovered a spider running around the lounge like a mad thing. At one point he got on the sofa and I promptly jumped off. Then as he started climbing the wall Ellie took a quick picture and started searching on google.
The answer came back “Huntsman Spider”. And then load shedding kicked in and we lost all power and the internet.
We weren’t going to argue with google and decided to let the spider have the play of the house while we went to bed. Securing our door tightly and wedging 2 spare pillows and my camera bag on top against the door incase he did get bored out there.
Load shedding only lasted for 2 hours this time and just as the room reached boiling point the air con kicked in and we were off to sleep.
The alarm went off at 5am and I was first up and the power was back off.
I grabbed the torch and headed out to the kitchen and lounge and there was no sign of our eight legged fiend and we were still alive so that was a bonus.
We had coffee and then started loading the camper with the food stuff and the fridge stuff then we went in the bedroom to finish packing our personal belongings and Ellie picked her rucksack up and put it on the bed and just as she went to grab the zip I shouted “Stop”.
There was the spider, sitting on Ellie bag right at the zipper.
I’d just had a shower and the power was out and it was dark so Ellie grabbed the bag while I kept a torch on the spider and backed down the hallway, through the kitchen and lounge naked and then into the garden where we got a piece of card and flicked the spider off and then ran back in. All this before we’d even left.
By 7:30am we were ready to go and after Ellie had found the keys which she had left in the toilet we said goodbye to the animals and the house and dropped the keys back to security.
We were now heading out on our first serious game drive and our longest drive yet. We had 100 miles to cover to get to our next stop for the night.
We entered the Kruger National Park just before 9am and to start with it was busy but as we got past the point of day visitors we were on our own. It’s just a 30mph speed limit in the Kruger but we stuck to 20mph hunting for animals on the 80 mile stretch between the gate and our camp for the night.
Our first sighting was a cheetah walking through the bush, then we saw the biggest herd of Zebra we had ever seen. There was easily over a hundred. We saw Wilderbeast, Impala, hundreds of giraffe and elephants, and I got a great shot of a banded snake eagle just sitting on a branch.
The temperature outside was well over 40°c and it was magnified by the black tar road we were on. It was just too hot to drive with the windows open in the end. Every time we opened the window it was like opening an oven door.
At 2pm we arrived at Satara campsite. This is where we would be spending the next 2 nights and after checking in we found a shady spot and put our tent up. Then I had a cold beer as I was melting from hammering the stakes in and then we left the camp for an afternoon game drive.
We left camp at 3:30pm and our map said that this particular drive would take 3hrs10mins. At 4:50pn we realised it was actually going to take much longer and as it was still warm we turned around and started to head back. We hadn’t seen anything we hadn’t already seen.
Just as we left the dirt road and turned onto tarmac we encountered some elephants standing in the road. The was a huge female with a young elephant and underneath her was a tiny baby elephant. We stopped and turned the car off so as not to annoy them.
Then I checked my side mirror only to see a huge bull elephant emerging from the trees.
Then another group appeared from the other side of the road behind us.
We were in the middle of the herd.
I wanted to start the car and make a run for it but my gut told me just to sit it out. Elephants are very readable and the bull wasn’t showing any signs of aggression. Yet.
He left the tree area and came on to the road right behind us, then he walked down the side of us and turned onto the grass on the other side of the road.
I took that as my que to leave and I started the car and slowly edged passed the mum and babies. That was our first close encounter.
We had to back at camp by 6pm because that’s when the gates close and fines are issued and we got back at 5:30pm. Then we headed to the restaurant for dinner and sat outside to eat as it was still above 30°c.
After dinner we headed back to our tent taking the 500 meter walk through camp in the dark to the very loud sounds of hyena at the camp fence situated just behind us., it was as scary as scary gets. Then after a lovely well needed cold shower we got into the tent while the hyenas whooped at the fence behind us. It’s going to be a scary night.Read more
South AfricaMpumalangaBushbuckridge24°26’6” S 31°48’40” E
March 9 in South Africa ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C
We were up at 4:45am. The night had been unbearably hot at 35°c until the early hours of the morning when the wind got up, even though we had 2 USB fans from our Motorhome running.
I hardly got any sleep and was really grumpy when I went out to the camper in the dark and couldn’t find the stove or kettle without banging all of our doors and waking the rest of camp up.
Eventually I worked it out and after 2 warm coffees we left for our first game drive of the day at 5:30am watching the sunrise as we left the camp.
We turned right out of the gate and then right again onto a tar road that ran past a huge watering hole. Here we saw lots of hippo.
Then we turned right again onto a dirt track running up to a smaller watering hole that was full of crocodiles.
We sat here for 30 minutes watching as a Wilderbeast entered the water for a drink and almost head butted a waiting crocodile. The crocodile had obviously eaten because the Wilderbeast was right ontop of it and the crocodile never moved. We thought we had a front row seat to national geographic live but it didn’t happen. Not that we wanted to see the Wilderbeast get eaten but I do want to see the croc fly out of the water.
From this watering hole we headed back on ourselves stopping when we saw some Southern Ground Hornbill which are on the endangered species list with only 1500 left in the wild.
Almost back at camp we turned right and then left onto a dirt loop. This route would take us along 2 rivers and leopard had been sighted here the day before. We didn’t see any cats except for an African wildcat but we did see hundreds of giraffe, Waterbok, kudu, Giraffe, and even Baboons.
This loop should have take 2hrs 45 mins according to the guide book but it took us hours and we finally arrived back at camp at 12:30pm ready for lunch.
It was much cooler today with more cloud cover and we ate outside at the cattle ranch restaurant, then we headed back to our camp for a shower and chill out until we went again for an afternoon drive.
At 3:30pm we headed back out. We decided rather than just drive around looking for the animals we’d wait by a watering hole and just see what turned up and we weren’t disappointed.
When we first got to the watering hole there was just one baboon nearby and it was cool to see him go to the water and bend down to drink. He knew there were crocodiles in there and he went to the shallowest part and when he was done he would look across the water to see if he could have any drink.
After the baboon a herd of elephants came down with lots of babies. Once they had,had their fill they just wandered off into the bush and disappeared. Then 3 Zebra came down but they knew about the crocodile and just walked on by. At the same time the baboon had climbed a nearby tree and decided to pick a fight with an Ayer’s Eagle. There was a huge commotion and the eagle ended up in the next tree right at the top and the baboon kept growling at him.
On the way back we stopped at a second watering hole where there were loads of hippos. The Juveniles were scrapping it out seeing who had the biggest mouth and the ones who lost had to move. There was also a mum and baby and the baby kept on jumping on the mum. It was crazy to see how playful he was compared to how hippos normally are.
We got back to the gate at 5:50pm and then I decided to use the pool to cool off and we met a lovely South African family in there and spent the whole 45 minutes just talking until it got dark and the Jackals came. We then decided to head back to camp as we had forgotten our torches, it was a proper sketchy walk home.
Back at our tent we cooked a very light dinner of Chilli and Garlic Braai rolls with cheese and then we decided we were done for the day. There was no sound of hyena tonight so at 8:30pm we headed for bed ready for an early start.Read more
South AfricaMpumalangaBushbuckridge24°12’33” S 31°38’24” E
March 10 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C
We were up at 5am this morning and this time we had left the kettle, cups and stove out ready to make coffee first thing and that’s what I did.
Then it was time to move camp and like some kind of military operation we loaded “little Simba” back up with the tent, sleeping bags, pillows and table and chairs and then our bags. By 6:15am we were rolling out of the gate.
Our next stop was Letaba Camp but we couldn’t check in until 2pm so instead of turning left out of the gate we turned right, then right again onto a dirt road a little bit further up from the watering holes we had visited.
This road was about 40 miles and our top speed was 15mph running along the gravel washboard track. I’m surprised we’ve got any teeth left in our heads.
Near a water source we saw hundreds of animals. Zebra, Waterbok, Impala, bushbuck, steenbok, giraffe and even hippo. Away from the water and where the river had completely dried up it was baron of all life except for the odd bird. Unfortunately a lot of the river was dry which made the drive tedious and by 9:30am it was really getting hot outside and the herd animals we saw were already sheltering under trees so we gave up looking for big cats.
We did come across some beautiful viewpoints all overlooking the river and where there was water there was an abundance of wildlife.
At one point on route we encountered a huge heard of elephants blocking the road and there was a massive bull so we had to reverse. They kept walking towards us and we ended up reversing about 200 meters until they eventually went off to one side and we could go past. All that was left on the road was a trail of destruction. Branches pulled out of trees and trees that had been completely knocked over. It was an incredible scene.
We finally left the gravel road and got back onto the tarmac with just 26 miles left and we managed to do the full 30mph which is the speed limit here the rest of the way. We had covered 80 miles in 7.5 hours and arrived at Letaba camp at 1:30pm.
The camp let us check in early and as much as we wanted a spot next to the fence to see the hyena there were no decent spots in the shade with electric left so we found a spot in the middle under a shady tree and here we pitched up.
As soon as we had made camp we went to the restaurant and had a sandwich and chips and then we headed back out down to the Dam for our evening drive.
At 4pm we reached a grassy clearing running down to the river with hippo and Waterbok dotting the area.
The vegetation at the side of the road here is much thicker than the plains at Satara so we decided to call it a day and head back to camp.
As we returned we stopped at the shop for cold drinks and just as we were about to enter a monkey came running out with a packet of biscuits closely followed by one of the staff screaming and shouting. There’s nothing funnier than a grown man chasing a monkey.
As we got back to the tent we realised we were all under attack from monkeys. As we pulled up they fled our camp and no damage had been done, but the trailer tent next door was now a complete play area with the monkeys dropping out of the trees and bouncing of his awning like a trampoline. Then they would jump back up the tree and do it again. Ellie and I tried stopping them but then that became the game. It was so funny.
We gave up trying to deal with the monkeys and went for a quick dip in the pool to cool off although the water was easily bath temperature and when we came back to camp another camper was seeing the monkeys off with a slingshot.
By 7pm it was pitch black and the hyenas were at the fence line whooping and giggling trying to work out a way in. We could see them clearly with another campers spotlight.
As I sat down for the first time and started writing about our day we heard rustling in the trees above us. We thought it was a snake and shone the torch up only to be greeted by a bush baby just sitting there watching us.
This is a pretty cool camp.Read more
