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    • Südafrika November 2022
      Day 14

      Morning Drive Krüger

      November 23, 2022 in South Africa ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

      Wir machen heute einen geführten Morning Drive mit einem Guide im Krüger Nationalpark. Wecken war um 4:30🙈

      Bisher haben wir 4 der Big Five gesehen und es fehlt nur noch der Leopard. Heute Morgen gab es ganz viele Löwen, noch mehr Elefanten, viele Krokodile und Hippos, Schildkröten, Giraffen, ein Nashorn, Warzenschweine inkl. Nachwuchs, eine große Büffelherde (und wir mittendrin..), Antilopen, Zebras, Geier und Adler. Es ist wirklich sehr beeindruckend und immer wieder toll 🤩

      P.S. Mit dem Fahrzeug kann man auch über die Autobahn fahren (braucht man zwingend)      Read more

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    • Misadventures Of WandaThe Elephant Coast
      Day 24

      Marloth Park

      April 16, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

      Passing back into South Africa we continued on good roads for another 90 minutes until we got to the town of Komatipoort where there is a huge shopping centre and we stocked up on fruit and vegetables to go with our game meat. Then it was just a 10 km drive to our final destination of this trip. Marloth Park.
      Marloth Park is a cluster of 4000 homes situated deep in the bush right on the edge of the Kruger National Park. It’s far from being a housing estate as most houses can’t even be seen from the main road of Olephant Street and even though there are small roads leading to houses off of the main tarmac road of Olephant Street the houses still can’t be seen and just driving around is like one giant game drive as animals are everywhere.
      Our first stop was the security lodge to collect the keys and in true Pete unorganised fashion we were early, Pete didn’t know the name of the place or what road it was in and his phone was dead as for the past 5 hours in the car he hadn’t even considered charging it.
      After plugging it in we waited for 10 minutes until his phone had enough charge to get the email confirmation then he gave me the address and I looked it up while he collected the keys.
      From this point on, Ellie and I were really annoyed as for the past 2 weeks Pete has been telling us where we need to stay in Marloth Park to see the best animals. It must be away from the road because of the noise, it’s not particularly busy but the noise starts early with safari vehicles heading for the Kruger. It must have solar because of the load shedding. It must have air conditioning, and be big enough to accommodate a guide and his guests.
      The place Pete had first found was £70 a night but he had cancelled that and used that money to pay for the car repairs, and because they were far more than he thought he then last minute booked another place without even looking at it. Who on earth does that?
      So our accommodation for the next 5 nights is exactly what Pete said we don’t want in the exact area next to the main road where we don’t want to be. To add insult to injury the place is tiny and only our room has air conditioning and it’s the noisiest air conditioning in the world and on top of that the place has no light switches but just bulbs on extension leads plugged into a plug socket. And it cost £10 extra a night than a much nicer place that Ellie found. We were annoyed, and gutted.
      Making the best of the situation Ellie made tea whilst Pete and I had a beer and we sat on the outside area. Within minutes a female Kudu came to visit and Pete was hand feeding it lettuce. Now we had something to compare it’s size to we realised just how tall these things are. The female was easily over 6 foot and the males much taller and there antlers can be as long as 2 meters.
      Once the Kudu had gone I filled up the water trough in the garden and left the hose running in a dryed up wallowing hole for 10 minutes. Then we had a visit from 5 warthog that were super pleased with there newly found watering hole and squealed with delight while bathing in the mud. Then they came right up to us and ate lettuce and bread rolls from a couple of foot away. It was incredible.
      As the sun went down Pete cooked us an amazing dinner of Impala steaks with cheesy mushrooms and Briee Rolls. The whole meal was incredible but the steaks were amazing with absolutely no fat atall.
      Then after setting my camera traps up we finished up our drinks while listening to the hyena howling in the distance before finally heading to bed around 8:30pm.      Read more

    • Misadventures Of WandaThe Elephant Coast
      Day 25

      Getting The Lay Of The Land

      April 17, 2023 in South Africa

      This morning we were in no rush after our long day yesterday, and as today is the last day of the Easter holidays here in Africa we decided not to go to the Kruger straight away but just take a drive around the area. After all we’re still in the Kruger National Park, even here, and even just driving around the dirt roads we could see anything from warthog to the 7 lion that are here.
      Whilst having a small breakfast and coffees we fed a bushbuck and Impala that came to visit. Then at 9am we set off on our drive looking for whatever we could find and getting the lay of the land.
      Marloth Park is basically one long road called Olephant Street that has a gate either end. Off of Olephant street run several other dirt roads crisscrossing each other to make 300,000 hectares of hidden homes. On one more expensive side of Olephant street the roads lead to crocodile river which is the divide between the Kruger and Marloth Park, on the side of Olephant street the homes are deeper in the bush and completely hidden in most cases and you really feel like you are living in the wild in any of the houses.
      The homes Overlooking crocodile river are on seekoi road and crocodile road and these are the most desirable and most expensive places here and it looks like millionaires row with some huge houses, some even have 3-4 story lookout towers built onto there homes giving them a direct view of the Kruger.
      Further back from there the houses start to drop in desirability but they are equally as beautiful and each one is completely unique.
      We managed to speak to some locals who told us the best places to spot animals including leopards and we even got an idea of where the lions like to hang out and on route we saw warthog, Kudu, impala’s and the biggest herd of giraffe any of us had ever seen. We even managed to see 2 male giraffe fighting.
      Just after midday we went back to the house to grab some lunch and both Pete and Ellie managed to feed a female Kudu by hand. Pete even managed to kiss it on the nose before it bolted off.
      After lunch we headed back out and located the hides overlooking the river with a direct view of the Kruger then we continued with our free game drive and looking at the very unique houses in this very unique area.
      Just before sunset we headed home and I filled the watering hole and straight away the warthogs came back and had a splash about. Then we fed them, the Kudu, a bushbuck and an impala and just before the sun disappeared a bushbaby came out and we left him peaches filled with sugar. It was a really special day and to finish it Pete cooked us pork belly with Bree Rolls and corn on the cob.
      By 9pm we were all completely done for the day and called it a night ready for an early start tomorrow.      Read more

    • Misadventures Of WandaThe Elephant Coast
      Day 26

      The Kruger National Park

      April 18, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

      This morning I was up first at 5:15am closely followed by Pete then Ellie, we were all super excited, today was the day we were going to the Kruger.
      At 6:20am we all bundled in the car, armed with cameras and packed with food and drinks for a picnic later and we set off for the gates.
      Pete did his usual thing of telling us at the gates that we needed our passports which we didn’t have but luckily we had photo ID in the form of our driving licenses and got access. Then we were on our way.
      We first crossed over the amazing crocodile river seeing hippos and crocodile in the water and on the other side we were officially in the park and our game drive had begun.
      We were on the lookout for anything different today and new species were a must and our first sighting was a dwarf mongoose, a whole family of them running along the dirt roads. Then we rounded a corner and Ellie spotted an eagle owl sitting on the branch of a dead tree. This was a super rare daytime sighting.
      By mid morning we had passed hundreds of impala’s, Kudus, water buffalo and wilderbeast when we passed a group of game drive vehicles parked up on a side road.
      We pulled up behind them and from the front of one of the them walked a mother and baby rhino. It was another incredible sighting and we were super close. From there we drove to a viewpoint high up on a rock and had a panoramic view of the Kruger National park.
      Just after 1:30pm and around 100km into the park we came to a rest stop that had a cafe, picnic area and small shop. We stopped here for lunch and Pete cooked us all Impala and cheese sausage in hotdog rolls with Braie sauce.
      From there we had to start heading back as the road we wanted was closed and we just didn’t have the time to go further up and take a detour.
      For the next 2 hours it was pretty quiet animal wise as we were in the heat of the day at 32°c and the animals had obviously sought shelter while we drove around cooking in the mobile greenhouse that is Karin.
      Pete said the animals would start to be more visible again between 3:30 and 4pm and bang on 3:30pm a huge elephant came trundling down the road towards us. Pete turned the engine off and done the windows up and just as he got to the car he turned off the road and walked into the bush.
      Then at exactly 4pm as we started going downhill we spotted something running down the road. As we got closer we saw it was a hyena and we couldn’t believe our luck. Straight away I was hanging out of the back windows with my camera while Ellie was videoing with her phone from the front. To top the sighting off he just ran in front of the car for about 400 meters then he stopped and we were right next to him. He just stood there looking at us while we clicked away. It was another super rare and incredible sighting.
      We drove on and just 50 meters down the road we found another hyena just laying down at the side of the road. We stopped again to take pictures and then realised we were parked next to a huge hole under the road. It was there den, and they were coming out to start the hunt early as it had been so hot all day.
      It was now 4:45pm and we had to be out by 6pm and it would take us another 45 mins to reach the gate with no sightings.
      Luckily there were no more rare sightings and we left the park just after 5:30pm, exhausted from all the hunting but thrilled with what we had seen.      Read more

    • Misadventures Of WandaThe Elephant Coast
      Day 26

      A Zebra Round For dinner

      April 18, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

      We arrived back at our little house in Marloth park just after 6pm and as soon as the car pulled up 3 Kudu came strutting out of the brush and straight over to the feeding area.
      Pete went straight into the house and grabbed 2 handfuls of pellets and scattered some on the ground and hand fed one of the females.
      Funnily enough after just 3 days of being here this feels normal and we just sat and watched them eating and staring at us while Ellie prepared half a peach filled with Sugar for the Bush Babies. Then just as she jumped in the shower the bush babies appeared in the trees and Pete and I watched them bounce from tree to tree.
      When Ellie came out of the shower I jumped in just to wash the Kruger sand off and as soon as I opened the door to come out with a just a towel wrapped around me, Pete was standing there.
      “Quick, Come and see “ he said and pulled me around to the back of the house where we had been sitting and there at the table was a Zebra.
      Ellie said he had just strolled straight up and didn’t even look scared and there she was feeding a zebra across the dinner table by hand.
      Pete threw another bunch of Pellets on the ground and then the zebra shifted from Ellie to munching his way around the patio.
      Once the floor pellets had run out he just came back to the table, lent right over it knocking a cup over onto the floor and smashing it and that didn’t even phase him. Then he picked up the half a lettuce left on the table and ate that. Still he wanted more.
      This zebra was going nowhere, and now we were his herd and despite him trying to follow us in the house a couple of times he was pretty cool to have. He was also a little intimidating when he put his head in the table and just stared at us begging for food, and we felt extremely guilty eating our dinner while he just stood there 4 foot away watching us.
      After dinner because he hadn’t tried taking our dinner we decided to give him more pellets and he seemed satisfied with that and in return he spent the rest of the night guarding us.
      He was our friend and we were obviously his herd now and he stood just 4 foot infront of us the whole of the evening until we had to go to bed, even then he stood there on guard and made us feel guilty, but we were glad to escape the zebra farts but did hope that he would either still be there in the morning or atleast come back for another visit.      Read more

    • Misadventures Of WandaThe Elephant Coast
      Day 27

      Another Day Around Marloth Park

      April 19, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

      Nobody slept well last night.
      Because of the load shedding where South Africa distributes it’s power to where it is most needed all of the power went off at 12:30am and didn’t come back on until gone 3am. This meant no air conditioning in our little oven of a house and also it is extremely stuffy and with no fans there’s not even any air in the room.
      Just gone 1am Ellie worked out how to open the windows and pulled the curtains back and atlast there was air but there were lots of strange noises outside and we’ve run out of mosquitoe spray so we got eaten alive. It was a really terrible night and when I got up at 6:30am Pete said his night was pretty much the same, although I had heard him upstairs wandering around most of the night. This is also an extremely noisy house, with creaky floors and every door and cupboard in the place squeaks.
      We had nothing much planned today except for looking further around Marloth Park and seeing what the community has to offer and we sat at the breakfast table feeding the warthogs while we all had teas and coffees. It was pretty cool.
      Pete had run out of rizlas and weed and as I went to get dressed he went to the shop to get rolling papers and get cash from the atm.
      When he returned he said he couldn’t get the cash out until 10am because the needed to count the money in the cash machine, but he did have rolling papers.
      Personally I don’t think there was any money in his account whatsoever and Ellie gave him R100 which is £5 in England so he could by some weed from a Mozambiquen guy at the side of the road. To be fair he did get the equivalent amount of weed that would have cost £150 back in England for £5, but I really don’t miss those days of panic when I’d run out of weed, papers or tobacco.
      After the weed stop around 10am we visited the tourist information office and spent ages talking to the couple in there about hikes, bike hire and what the volunteers around the community offer and it turns out you can become a volunteer ranger and they will teach you all about the indigenous plants of the area and hold talks on animals a couple of times a month.
      Then we went to the shops and we found 2 large convenience stores that stock pretty much everything, a bottle store because alcohol has to be licensed differently. A laundrette, a butcher’s, 2 security companies and hardware stores. This place has everything all within a couple of kilometres of each other.
      From the shops we took another small game drive around Marloth park looking for animals and looking at the different style houses. Some of the ones along the rivers edge are absolute mansions. Then it was time to head back home for some lunch.      Read more

    • Misadventures Of WandaThe Elephant Coast
      Day 27

      Baboons Are Not Welcome.

      April 19, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

      As we drove up the driveway to our little house a huge baboon ran across the road infront of us, he had packets in his hand and I commented that he’d just been robbing someone. As we approached the house we saw that a whole window frame had been ripped out and there was the wood and glass all over the floor.
      It was us he had robbed.
      We looked through the window to see utter devastation as all of our food and drink that was either on the side or in the fridge was now all over the floor.
      Once we opened the door the mess looked even worse, he had eaten everything from the eggs, the cereal the corn on the cobs we had, all of our snack food like crisps and biscuits were gone and he had drunk 2 cartons of fruit juice 1 carton of milk and thrown another carton of milk, eggs, pasta and maize all over the floor and smashed countless cups, glasses and plates and to top it off he had then crapped everywhere and rubbed some of it on the walls and carpets. He was a dirty Baboon!!
      First off we called security and a guard drove down looked at the devastation and we told him the alarm had been on. He said because of the load shedding the alarm wouldn’t work and that’s why the alarm hadn’t gone off. Load shedding is a nightmare, but luckily we had closed all of the bedroom doors and our stuff was safe but he had tried our bedroom windows and bent the frames.
      The security guard called the cleaner who in turn called a maintenance guy and he came straight out.
      Pete, Ellie and I started cleaning up and filled 2 black bags full of rubbish and then Petes ADHD kicked in and I washed the floor with a cloth on my hands and knees while he disappeared talking about other peoples holidays in Sodwana bay, but I have come to expect nothing less.
      Chris the maintenance guy put a new window in within an hour and then to mine and Ellies horror he screwed our windows shut with a drill. Now when there’s load shedding tonight we really will have no air, I’m dreading bedtime because I hated this house anyway.
      Once the window was fixed we headed back to the shops to restock on some groceries, luckily he hadn’t got into the freezer and our meat was safe. Then we headed back to the house dropped the food off and headed back out for sunset.
      We drove down to Seekoi street and sat looking at the parklands at all of the wildlife wandering across the plain, kudo, impalas, wilderbeast and we even saw parrots.
      Then we wandered down to the two trees viewing area and just as we got there Pete spotted a leopard on the other side of the river on the edge of the Kruger. He was quite far away but we could still see him and it was definitely a good sighting although it’s not the leopard in a tree I’ve been after.
      As it got dark we headed back for home. It was now 6:30pm. Thanks to the baboon, Pete and I hadn’t eaten a thing all day and at 7pm Ellie had to remind Pete to feed us. Otherwise I think he would have just smoked all night.
      Fortunately he pulled it right out the bag with a warthog stew with Pupe. Then with no zebra coming to visit us tonight we headed for bed.      Read more

    • Misadventures Of WandaThe Elephant Coast
      Day 28

      Last Day In Marloth Park

      April 20, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

      This morning I was up first at 6am, closely followed by Pete. Our original plan for today was to stay at the house until mid morning then head into lionspruit game reserve just behind Marloth Park.
      Ellie got up at 7am and then we were joined by a bushbuck and a Kudu for breakfast and we fed them sweet potatoes and the pellets we had brought from the game shop. It’s lovely being so close to the animals. At 10am we popped to the shops and on the way we found the biggest chameleon we had ever seen, Pete picked him up from the middle of the road and gave him to Ellie. Then he crawled up her arm and luckily we found a tree to drop him off in before he got to her hair.
      At midday we decided to head to the Tin shack Mozambique restaurant where Ellie and I had steak and Pete had a chicken and cheese wors sausage.
      After that we headed back to the house and then Pete went for a lay down and Ellie and I sat in the garden feeding a Kudu by hand. The kudu had a veracious appetite and ate half the bag of sweet potatoes and kept on giving us the guilt look every time it ran out. In the end we decided to go for a walk to the tourist office just to see what else was on offer and when we got back from the walk an hour later the kudu was asleep behind the splash pool but soon woke up when she heard us opened the door and then started giving us the guilt look again. I gave her a couple more sweet potatoes and then Pete came back downstairs from his nap and he was hand feeding her for ages.
      By now it was getting late and I realised we weren’t going to get to go into the lionspruit game reserve or go back to the Kruger and I was slightly disappointed.
      For our last sunset here we decided to drive to the hide on Seekoei Street and see if we could see any animals but except for a few elephants far off in the distance we didn’t see anything but the sunset was amazing.
      At 6pm we arrived back at the house to find that the load shedding was back in effect and there was no power which also meant no water because the pump to get water from the ground is also electric. Today the power has been off more than on and it is a nightmare when you take power for granted although being in such a sunny country there’s no reason not to have solar installed and out here it is relatively cheap so that is another reason to hate this little house we’re staying in.
      At 7pm Pete cooked us a meal of Kudu and Impala Wors Sausage in cheese topped rolls and it was delicious as usual. Then we sat in the garden listening to the hyena howling while bushbuck and kudu ate the sweet potatoes from the feeding station. It was a very cool last night in Marloth Park.      Read more

    • Misadventures Of WandaThe Elephant Coast
      Day 29

      Marloth Park to Sodwana Bay

      April 21, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

      Overnight we had countless load shedding. It was definitely off more than it was on and when I woke up at 6am it was still off. Luckily the time that it had been off had just about filled the pipes with water and I managed to boil just enough for teas and coffee’s, then I sat in the garden with Pete and we were joined by the bushbuck, and deicker before a huge male kudu came in and scared them both off. Then the 4 warthogs came back and scared the kudu off and finished off the last of the food.
      We were packed and ready to go at 9am and after a last sweep of the place for any belongings we left our hot noisy hell hole with no power clean and tidy, Barr the mess the baboon had made. Then it was a trip to the field security office to drop the keys back and then we took a final drive around the gravel and dirt roads of Marloth park with Pete fantasising about how he could fill a huge house as a game and safari lodge. He’s got all the ideas but absolutely no money.
      We finally left Marloth Park around 10:30am and headed straight to Komattiport for fuel which was £100 for which we paid and food at the spar while Pete said he had phone calls to make but we knew by then he was phoning his mum because he’d run out of money.
      When we got back to the car with food for the journey he admitted that his mum couldn’t do a bank transfer because there was no internet.
      We got the Swaziland border just before lunchtime and we had to pay for the car which was only £5 and even though Pete took his card in, he may aswell have taken a brick.Then 90 minutes driving into Swaziland Pete got pulled over for speeding. The fine was R60 which is around £2:50 and they insisted he pay the fine but obviously he didn’t have any money and we only had R20 which they wouldn’t accept. Then they started telling me they were going to take my driver and I just laughed and said that’s ok I’ll follow you and finally Pete managed to talk his way out of it and they let us go.
      Another 90 minutes of driving and we passed through the Swaziland border and back into South Africa.
      We stopped back at the game shop that sold game meat for me to get Biltong to bring home because it’s in smaller vacuum packed packs and then we were going to get an impala wors sausage to go with our ostrich steak and braai rolls but Pete then saw Impala kebabs and insisted we get those instead. Then we realised that we would also be feeding Ron aswell who was back at the house, which wasn’t a problem as Ron would normally insist on paying his way, but for someone that is constantly skint Pete has got really expensive taste. Especially when it’s not his money.
      Back on the road I couldn’t wait to get back to our little house and get out of the car which costs us money every time we get in it.
      Pete said we could drive back through Phinda Game reserve which I knew would take an extra 2 hours but we are here for the animals so we agreed as this would probably be our last game drive.
      Going through Phinda was actually really amazing. It felt like all the animals had come out to say goodbye, we saw 3 Rhino just standing at the side of the road, then we saw a mother and baby rhino laying across the road. We passed hundreds of giraffe, 2 of which were right on the road and we had to drive past and they were about 4 foot away. Then we saw hundreds of zebra, then a massive herd of impala just walking up the road towards us, then wilderbeast and finally a lonely water buffalo who looked very grumpy. It was a lovely last game drive.
      Finally we were back onto tarmac and with just 30km to go I was relieved, and when we finally got back home at 5pm we had been in the car for 6 hours.
      Unloading the car Millie the cat came down to greet us and he was super pleased to see us and wanted lots of cuddles. Then after dropping our stuff off back in our room we all went upto the house where Pete and Ron played chess, I had a non alcoholic beer and Ellie had tea, we were all starving but with the chess game going on and Ron and Pete talking,time ticked on and dinner didn’t even get thought about until 6:30pm and didn’t get started until 7pm.
      While cooking dinner Ron said that he had turned his new job offer down and now wanted to return to Richards Bay on the 24th with us to start looking for something else and Petes face just dropped and turned to panic. Pete had thought originally that Ron would be here for 6 months, when we picked Ron up it had already turned into 3 weeks and now it was just another 3 days. Pete spent the rest of the evening talking in South African to Ron trying to twist his arm into staying longer because we knew that if Ron went, nobody would be here to pay to feed him.
      At 7:30pm dinner was served and it was just the kebabs and potato wedges which were extremely tasty but there was no sign of the ostrich steaks so I mentioned them and hopefully we’ll be having them tomorrow.
      After dinner we all sat in the lounge area of the house. I couldn’t wait to get into bed and luckily Ron said he was going to bed first at 8pm and then the rest of us could follow straight away.
      It had been a very long day of driving and this was our first night in 5 days we would be able to sleep with the windows open and have air in the room.      Read more

    • TravelerRondreis zuid-afrika
      Day 5

      Komatipoort onze 2 de loge

      August 5, 2023 in South Africa ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

      Vandaag vertrokken we richting onze 2de loge. Vlak voor vertrek troffen we nog een familie Vervet aan 😊.

      Bij onze 2 de loge is het wel wat spannend (vooral Abilene en Shailo vinden dat), in onze achtertuin ligt de krokodillenrivier en hier zwemmen uiteraard krokodillen maar ook nijlpaarden.
      En deze kunnen langs je loge lopen 😬.

      We hebben vandaag niet heel veel gedaan. Een wat rustigere dag, wel verdient!
      Zijn naar komatipoort gereden waar onze 2de loge is, hebben boodschappen gedaan en daarna hebben abi en shai even gezwommen.
      Uiteraard zijn we ook nog even bij die spannende rivier wezen kijken en daar troffen we onze 4 grote vrienden aan. Kun je ze zien?

      Vanavond gaan we vroeg naar bed, morgen om 5 uur gaat het wekkertje. We gaan dan naar het Krugerpark alle dieren spotten, maar vooral de Big Five natuurlijk.

      Al nieuwsgierig?! 🥰 Tot morgen!      Read more

      See translation

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    Nkomazi

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