South Africa Trip Report: Panorama Route, Days 11, 12

Mpumalanga:

Province Mpumalanga adjoining Kruger National Park has a great driving route through fertile valleys, meandering rivers and up to soaring mountain peaks – the Panorama Route. 

The name Mpumalanga means ‘the place where the sun rises’, and is pronounced ‘pu malana’.

The Panorama Route of Mpumalanga is located along the northeast of the Greater Drakensberg Escarpment, with the canyon starting at Bourke's Luck Potholes and ending at the Three Rondawels. 

The Panorama Route travels along the 33 km long Blyde River Canyon, formed by the erosive action of the Blyde River or ‘River of Joy’. 

The drive starts on the R532 north of Graskop, branching off onto the R534 which forms a scenic loop and rejoins the R532.

The whole province is a 285 kilometer Route, containing several highlights, some lesser known but lovely never the less. It is known for its lush landscapes and rich cultural heritage and one can view deep canyons, looming rock formations, plummeting waterfalls and panoramic mountain views, along with quaint towns.

This map shows the whole route. 

You can hit the main stops and skip the rest if short on time.

This area is adjacent to Kruger Park and we decided to drive this famous route before taking our flight to Victoria falls, Zimbabwe. 

May 31, 2016, Tuesday:

We drove out through Paul Kruger gate. Our original plan had been to leave in the morning. But the plan had to be changed as we had booked early morning Bush walk 5am-8am. It had been fully booked on the previous days.

In hindsight:

We could have left early for the panorama route as originally planned…. We loved it and had to miss few highlights because of lack of time.

We had thought the water falls in that area will not be worthy of visiting because of the drought but they had decent volume of water and were scenic spots. We had seen the Crocodile river dry in Kruger park but it was not the case with Blyde river.

Also the bush walk did not really add to the Kruger experience for us. We would have felt we missed out on a unique experience if we had not taken it… but having taken it, it was a flat experience. They started out late though we reported at 4.45 am. They brought us back only around 9am. We had our breakfast and checked out after that.

Again in hindsight, we should have driven out at once but we lingered doing game drive in Kruger in the hope of getting a better view of lions. The previous day, we had seen a lioness walking along the Sabie river far away, but lost sight of her because of the trees on the road we were on. We saw 2 buffalos running helter skelter from that place but did not see the lioness again. Earlier too we missed out on 2 lions. So we thought we might give another shot at lion viewing… no, lions did not oblige and we left Kruger only by 3 pm. We should have left early!

Our base Graskop:

We drove to Hazyview, 10 km away from Paul Kruger gate. We bought our provisions from the SPAR at the mall there, bought 2 caps from a nice Kenyan girl outside and drove on to Graskop. 

The hamlet of Graskop is perched on the majestic Drakensburg Escarpment above Kowyns Pass, at about 1400m above sea level. Like nearby Pilgrim's Rest, Graskop began as a gold mining town during the late 1800's. Later Graskop became a forestry centre and today it is the travel hub for the Panorama Route.

The ride from Hazyview to Graskop has been scenic, we were sorry to have missed out on details due to lack of time. We called it a day.

Our accommodation was a lovely wood cabin on top of a hill, 5 km outside the town, with a road carved out in the hillside…. LOVED the place… Zur Alten Mine!

It was pretty cold but we had electric blankets. There was room warmer in the bathroom as well and everything was set up for lighting a wood fire as well. We did not light it though! The home has classy furnishings and is set in pristine surroundings... was a steal at the price offered! 

June 1, 2016, Wednesday:

We got up early and saw a spectacular sunrise from our cabin… then checked out at 7 am and started our Panorama Route drive. 

We had a flight out of KMIA airport in Nelspruit at 6.30 pm and wanted to be at the airport by 4.30 pm.

Souvenirs:

We had not bought any souvenirs so far except for a few lovely wood magnets from Lower Sabie shop at Kruger when we had our picnic lunch there at the day visitor area. 

So apart from visiting the scenic spots, we had to buy the lovely wood carvings we had seen at the Kruger shops.

I knew they’ll be better priced at local vendors and I was right. We bought a load of beautiful stuff at the sites on the Panorama Route at very nominal rates. At the very 1^st spot, a lady quoted R400 for a wood wall hanging… the Big 5 animals carved into Africa map… I got the same for R80 elsewhere. 

Bought very beautiful animal carvings in wood and stone, bead work etc for very reasonable prices!

 I managed to pack all the bulky items safely in our bag before we boarded our flight!

Blyde River Canyon

The most scenic part of the Panorama Route is the Blyde River Canyon, the world's 3rd largest canyon. Blyde River Canyon is lushly vegetated, unlike the Grand Canyon (largest) and the Fish River Canyon (2nd). Its unique flora makes Blyde River Canyon the largest forested (green) canyon in the world.

Blyde River Canyon has numerous panoramic viewpoints and waterfalls.

First for us was the Pinnacle.

The Pinnacle

This is a towering column of cracked rock dotted with aloe plants. It stands 30 m tall, jutting out of the lush indigenous forests at its foot. Located at the head of Driekop Gorge, the Pinnacle is made of Black Reef Quartzite and was formed millions of years ago when erosion caused this buttress to detach from the main face of the Escarpment. 

The Pinnacle lies 6 km's north of Graskop on the R534 road, next to the Ngwaritsana stream at the spot where the first of eight small, cascading waterfalls can be seen.

Needless to say we were the first to enter this site… nobody else around. Lovely sight!

We drove on to God's Window

God's Window

God's Window is a natural viewpoint from the top of sheer cliffs along the edge of the Drakensberg Escarpment. From the Window, cliffs plunge down 700 m to the valley floor.  This vantage point provides panoramic views over the vast lowveld of South Africa. When the skies are clear one can see across Kruger National Park and beyond to the Lebombo Mountains on the Mozambique border! Standing on the clifftop soaking up the views of mighty cliffs, ravines, rolling hills, lush indigenous forests and endless lowveld plains, God’s Window looks out into what Garden of Eden might be, hence the name.

We walked to all the vantage points, hiked through the misty forest and loved the whole place! Next we went on to Wonder View

Wonder View

The highest viewpoint along the Panorama Route on the edge of the Drakensberg Escarpment, Wonder View stands at 1730 m above sea level., Wonder View is about 2 km north of God's Window. Located along the R534 road, Wonder View looks out over the hills and lowveld stretching on for what seems like an eternity. When visibility is good on cloudless days one can admire an astounding 360-degree view from the aptly named Wonder View lookout point.

After enjoying Wonder view, we drove on. We saw the board for Berlin falls, took the detour.

Berlin Falls

Berlin Falls flows through a narrow funnel in the cliffs, plunging to a ledge and cascading into a deep pool 45 m below… very nice.

Then we drove on to Bourke’s Luck Potholes

Bourke’s Luck Potholes

These are large, cylinder shaped potholes in the rocky bed of the Blyde River. 

Located at the start of Blyde River Canyon, about 35 km north of Graskop, these natural rock formations have been created by decades of erosion. As the Treur River tumbles into the Blyde River the waters form whirlpools carrying tiny sand and rock particles that have corroded the bedrock over the ages. These amazing potholes, also called giant's kettles, are one of the top highlights on the Panorama Route.

The potholes occur where the Treur River joins the Blyde River at the start of the Blyde River Canyon. (The Blyde River translates to 'River of Joy', while the Treur River translates to 'River of Sorrow')

In a continuing and centuries-old spectacle, the force of the water in these two rivers, combined with the particles of sand and rock that the rivers transport, wears cylindrical potholes into the sandstone bedrock.

Over time, some of these potholes merge and new ones form, creating an intricate landscape of deep depressions and outcrops of resistant rock.

We can view the potholes from a number of vantage points and bridges that criss-cross some of the most beautiful formations. Not only are the shapes of the formations spectacular, but the sandstone is layered and colored in shades of amber, taupe, ochre and brown, so depending on the soil content of the water, the river levels and the time of day, the landscape constantly changes.

These natural sculptures are named after a prospector, Tom Bourke, who had luck finding gold at this site. 

There was a school kid group along with us and the kids clambered over rocks laughing and yelling adding another dimension to the awesome place.

We had our picnic lunch here before resuming our drive to The Three Rondavels.

The Three Rondavels or Three Sisters Viewpoint

The Three Rondavels are three huge quartzite and shale rock formations, rising over 700 m above the surrounding Blyde River Canyon. The sheer rock faces of these three rounded peaks are draped in orange lichen and crowned with green vegetation as they stand majestically side-by-side.

The name 'Three Sisters' refers to Chief Maripi Mashile's three most troublesome wives - Magabolle, Mogoladikwe and Maseroto (from left to right). 

The name 'Three Rondavels' comes from the South African word 'Rondawel', which refers to a round, thatch-roof hut. The name 'Three Rondavels' was given to these distinctively shaped hills because they resemble the traditional huts.

 The viewpoint, located near Blydepoort Dam off the R532 road, offers beautiful views of these three famous geographical features and the surrounding bush and dams. The Three Rondavels view is flanked by the massive Mariepskop (at 1944m) and the rugged Swadini, forming the southern and northern buttresses of the Blyde River Canyon mouth.

After going to one more view point Blyde Canyon, we turned back on the same route we had come. 

Ideally it would have been great to take the loop and see the other attractions but we had no time. On the way back, we visited the Lisbon falls

Lisbon falls

Lisbon Falls - the highest waterfall in the area, drops 92 metres over sheer cliff, flowing in two or three streams. Lovely!

We hit Graskop again. We had intended to go to Hazyview and then on to the airport. But our accommodation owner had told us to hit Sabie and White river to reach the airport.

On the way we saw Mac Mac waterfalls

Mac Mac waterfalls

Near the Escarpment the Mac Mac River plunges 56m into a deep, forested gorge in two streams. Very pretty.

Flight to Johannesburg

Through out the drive, we hardly had any car on the road…. Just a few vehicles passed us by on both sides. We had the pleasure of having the whole vista to ourselves! There were a few loggers with huge loads of cut trees. The area has such lush pine forests, there were a few patches where trees have been cut but there were few others where young trees were growing. On the whole the drive as well as the stops were top notch!

We reached White River. White River is located just north of Nelspruit. We did not have to go to Nelspruit but had to take the direct road to the airport. We stopped for directions, double checked them and reached the KMIA airport at 4.30 just as we had planned.

We had our food, repacked bags with the souvenirs and were just in time to check one bag and board the flight.

It was a short flight and reached Johannesburg in an hour.

We called up our hotel airport lodge for their free pickup. The morose main guy picked us up. He directed us to a young guy for checkin…. We told him we don’t want the room no 18 we had been assigned the previous stay 2 weeks ago. This guy was polite, he said "Let me show you a few rooms and you can have your pick". The very 1st room he showed us--Room no 3 right near the reception looked clean and the bathroom was regular construction, not just half walls like the previous room. We took that room and called it a day.

We had a British Airlines flight at 10.30 am the next day to Victoria falls and wanted to reach the airport at 9 am. 

Earlier we had planned we’ll ask the hotel driver Memory to take us a short drive through the city. However, we saw a big indemnity notice displayed prominently at the reception lobby.

We felt uncomfortable and decided we’ll skip the drive into the city as our bags may not be safe in the room when we were away!

June 2, 2016, Thursday:

The next day we had our breakfast (included in room rent) at the hotel. There was only bread and some meat options put out. We explained we are vegetarians and the young guy in charge gave us fruits, yogurt… no cheese though! There was one more unpleasant incident, when son was drinking water in the breakfast room, reception girl yelled at him…STOP RIGHT THERE. He was not in any forbidden territory anyway. Surprised to see such rudeness. Thankfully we had met with such warmth every where else, we shrugged this off. We will not be recommending Airport Lodge, Johannesburg to friends or family… that’s for sure!  

We reminded them we needed our airport transfer when no car appeared after 9am; the main guy came up and drove us down to the airport, 3 km away.

That was the end of our South Africa stay and we were on our way to Victoria falls!

Hurrah!

http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2016/06/africa-trip-report-victoria-falls.html
covers our time at the glorious Victoria Falls

Our Videos:

Our videos covering this drive are in these links:

https://picasaweb.google.com/108910506663540711253/6294685377235791985#6299827349868562370

Panorama route drive 1: God's window, Wonder view, Berlin Falls, Bourke's Luck Potholes

https://picasaweb.google.com/108910506663540711253/6294685377235791985#6299826341786227266

Panorama route drive 2: Three Rondavels, Lisbon falls, MacMac falls

South Africa Trip Report: Kruger National Park, Days 6-10

Kruger National Park

We spent 5 nights in Kruger, May 26-30 and checked out on May 31st. Introduction, some highlights and pictures of our stay in KNP are in earlier post

http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2016/06/how-to-plan-trip-to-africa.html

I'll cover a short report of our KNP stay here with some general observations and video links.

Logistics:

We booked our Kruger accommodation online and availed the 5% discount.

https://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/

Wild card:

We had bought our Wild card also online, so we did not have to pay the daily conservation fee at the Park. We showed them our card and ID at checkin and it was all sorted!

https://www.sanparks.org/wild_new/

gives details.

For us, the calculation was as follows:

WILDCARD R 3,005 for 365 days for 2 international visitors

Our expense if we had opted to pay cash:

R 280 /day conservation charges kruger: TOTAL for 2: 560x5: R2800

CAPE POINT: R125… so for 2: R250

BOULDERS: R 65…for 2: R130.

We got a 20% discount for the table mountain cable car too.

So definitely viable for us economically leave alone the convenience of not having to pay at each point!

Choice of month of visit:

Dry Season:

The winter months from April to September are extremely pleasant with warm dry days and cold nights. Traditionally, the best game viewing is in the winter as the vegetation becomes sparse and water is restricted to rivers and water holes.

We like to avoid heat and we found the choice of late May excellent for Kruger, Cape Town as well as Victoria falls.

Malaria risk:

The highest malaria risk period is between December and April, the last day of April marks the end of the rainy season. We did not take any prophylactic medication... please read up thoroughly, consult your doctor before taking a call!

The ankles are the most critical area Malaria mossies tend to hunt low, going for legs and ankles, as opposed to incessantly and annoyingly buzzing around the head. It's probably at least part of the reason the insect is known as a 'silent killer.'

In reaching a decision about adequate protection, it's worthwhile to read SaTHNet's (South African National Travel Health Network) expert advice on malaria:

santhnet.co.za/index.php/…277-malaria.html

Any person developing flu-like symptoms 7 to 20 days (or even longer) after being in malaria areas should be tested immediately for malaria, until the symptoms clear or an alternative diagnosis is made. 

Expectations from safari:

When we start researching an African safari, the term "Big Five" often comes up.  Big 5 is just an old hunting term, which has now become an overused marketing phrase. The "Big 5" refers to the African: lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and Cape buffalo. ... and as said was actually coined by big game hunters. and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot,  rather than their size. Subsequently the term was adopted by tour operators for marketing purposes.  If we go being happy to see any wildlife, we will enjoy yourself much more, give me cheetahs, giraffes or zebras (which are not part of the "Big Five") over a buffalo any day!

 May 26, 2016, Thursday:

Flight:

We had a flight booked on SA Airlink Cape Town to Nelspruit 10 am reaching Nelspruit at 12.35. We had had the option of flying into Skukuza or Hoedspruit but had chosen Nelspruit. It’s just an hour’s drive to Malelane gate and Berg-en-Dal is just 8 km from the gate, 20 minutes at game driving speed.

What didn’t work:

Our day did not pan out as planned… it was almost a washout. Our flight got delayed. It could not land in Cape Town and was diverted. It was a sunny day but there appeared to be a haze preventing planes landing! We took off only after 12. We had checked out of our apt at 7 am and gone to the Company’s garden on the way to the airport but could not devote time… we had to return the car and report for boarding by 8.30 am. We just sat wasting our time till the delay was resolved.

We landed at 3 pm. To get optimum use of time, son rushed to the car rental counter while I waited and collected our one checked bag.  This saved precious time and we avoided the queue that forms when others also get to the car rental counter after collecting bags.

We collected our rental car (upgraded to the luxury category Audi) and were on our way only by 3.30.

We were at Malelane town around 4.45 and were racing through the mall SPAR there for our provisions. We made it into the Malelane gate by 5.10. The security gave us our exit pass card and told us to drive to Berg-en-Dal. We drove in the fading light. Thankfully we did not encounter any animals. 

We checked in, got our room keys and had to creep around in the dark with our bags. We were thankful it had not been more late.

Kruger gates observe strict opening and closing times. Late arrivals are only allowed in cases of emergency (proof and valid reason required) until 21:00 for guests with pre-booked accommodation at certain camps within 10km distance from the relevant gate. An extra late arrival fee will be charged which is payable at the gate. A ranger car will have to be paid for to accompany the latecomer to the camp.  No late arrivals are allowed at Pafuri, Phalaborwa or Phabeni Gates or any other gates for camps more than 10km away.

There is a big board about what to do in case of snake bites; warnings about being careful around baboons and not feeding them are in each accommodation. When some visitors feed any wild animal, they change its behavior and it starts expecting food from all visitors. Baboons which have been fed some times become aggressive when they don’t get food from other visitors.

We decided not to book any activity in this camp… we planned to get up early and be on our own game drives.

Our strategy:

We drove around slowly, when we spotted an animal/bird, we took a picture and a few seconds video if possible and then sat and watched the scene for a while. We missed out recording many of the interesting things we saw but our videos still contain quite interesting footage!

May 27, 1016, Friday:

We had got up well before 5, packed food, had breakfast and were in our car by 6 am. We drove slowly out of the camp on the tar road and within a minute saw this elephant just a few feet away. Wow!

After a few more sightings of warthog, giraffe, buffalo etc, we turned into a secondary road. 

A truck was tailgating us, we gave way for it to pass. When we reached a bend, we saw the truck parked and an elephant standing right on the road eating. Talk of space crunch… here we are invading the elli’s territory on a narrow road! We were remarking how glad we were that the truck had overtaken us and was ahead right now when the elli stopped feeding and started walking toward us. I have already described the scene in the earlier post.

Here is the same account for reader convenience:

This elephant found this truck guy a little too close, stopped feeding, started walking toward him throwing mud on himself… we backed off speedily as the track is a little too narrow for surviving an oncoming elli.

Truck guy pulled to a side almost into bushes giving space for elli to walk and waited.

Elli kept coming…

We wondered if we should follow the guy’s lead and park by the side… but the track is too narrow for our comfort and the bushes too thorny!

We made a 3 point turn and left the scene watching the rear view mirror for updates! We saw truck guy reversing and elli continuing calm strides… then could not see the truck. Decided to turn back.

The elli had decided to continue with the feed and had turned back to his tree. The truck guy again stuck quite close as you can see!

After these few minutes of drama we quit the road, enough excitement for our very 1^st hour of game drive!

(Well actually, son wanted to stick on and watch further developments! Truck guy was his hero! I was uncomfortable with the situation…what if another elli or 2 decide to emerge behind the car… we’ll be truly trapped then! I ordered that we should leave the scene!)

Guess the truck guy would have had his fun observing the elli at close quarters for as much time as he wanted, engaging in silent drama with a very aware elephant!

Here’s a short video of the elli walking toward us toward the beginning of the video…

https://picasaweb.google.com/108910506663540711253/6294685377235791985#6296815182917370002

Kruger 1 :

A little while later, we were on another secondary road when we saw 2 symmetrical elephants statue, it turned out to be 2 ellis mirroring gestures with their trunk…. Pretty nice to watch!

 

The other interesting highlights were watching a herd of 30 plus ellis crossing the road, which is also in this video.





A matriarch was standing by the side observing us while the herd crossed…



my camera is jumping all over because I tried to keep the matriarch in sight while trying to see the main herd too. Son was slowly moving the car a little forward for better viewing and we did not want the matriarch to get annoyed at our movement when her herd was crossing

Our fav sighting: Elephants

We saw several elephant herds with small babies… Kruger exit pass issued when we check in has to be kept with us all the time and it gives a list of instructions on things to do/not to do when in the vicinity of elephants. Not to get too close to elephant babies is one of them. We saw the babies always under the watchful eye of an adult, even when they wander off, the mother rushes to its side. We saw this several times and captured it once on video.

The ellis are so light footed we can hardly hear a twig break when they silently move about in a bush just near us. Several times we were taken by surprise seeing a huge elli close to the road in the undergrowth after initially thinking it was just bushes.

We had been observing a herd for some 2 hours, driving off and coming from the opposite direction, watching some of them cross to the other side etc… we were just remarking how gentle 2 of them looked. One decided to cross back… we were in her path and we backed off slowly. She started crossing but the car at the other side also in her path stayed put. She had to veer a little… she turned to face the errant car, took a couple of steps toward them and shook her head… before scuttling off into the bushes. We were so surprised because we had just a little while ago remarked how gentle this particular one was!

   In most of our elephant sightings, we noticed they looked up, lifted their trunk at our direction, observed us for a while before resuming their activity... like this little one is doing in the pic below.

 

Some times they started to walk toward us and that was our cue for moving off!

It was really such a privilege watching wild elephants free in their habitat. 

Other highlights:

We had assumed the water hole scene we see in all animal documentaries can only be witnessed by professionals who wait around for hours at the scene. But we saw at least 6 lovely water hole scenes…

 small elephants butting and playing with each other, 2 males swaggering and making mock charges, a giraffe pacing near a man-made tall water well waiting for an elli to finish, the same elli making way for a new comer elephant, several zebras, a rhino, a giraffe and an elephant all at the same water hole, 

impalas drinking with a lovely reflection in the water,





hippos enjoying their dip, buffalos and a croc enjoying a snooze (not side by side of course), several birds frolicking around… the list goes on.

Warthogs were pretty fun to watch… saw one warthog kneeling to be better positioned to have his food … quite interesting.

In the beginning we found rhinos pretty skittish and moving away when they sensed our presence. 

Later we had great close up views of rhino babies as well as adults…

This cute little baby pranced near the mother and the mother drove away a male rhino which came a bit too close! Caught in our video!

Baboons and vervet monkeys were found grooming each other!

They were around in day visitor picnic area as well. In the evening when we were returning to camp, we pulled up at a day visitor area hoping to use the restrooms. We saw this baboon quietly sitting at the table, looking around … as if waiting for the wait staff to come!



We did not get down but drove on…  

Saw several animals trying to deal with their itch… ellis, buffalos scratching themselves on convenient trees,


the ox pecker birds pecking at giraffes, rhinos …

This is the very rare black rhino... very few left in the wild or even zoo as reader Mike has pointed out in the comments below...

Again we had assumed only pros who wait around for long manage to get a glimpse of these!

Saw hyenas as pack eating a kill



and later a hyena mom with her baby in a burrow!

It was great to see zebras getting frisky







and a zebra mom nursing its baby.

Giraffes were always a delight to watch...

These cheetahs gave us an amazing glimpse for 10 minutes right near our car before a noisy car drove them away into the bushes





Kudus were plenty though they are supposed to be endangered. In fact, the bull kudu’s horns are the symbol for Kruger National Park! Only the males have horns as they fight for dominance.

We saw some little out of the ordinary stuff…. 

This young one looked a mix of kudu and impala to our eyes! It was alone, unlike the rest of the clan which are always found in groups. 

We named it Impudu and hatched up a story of how it’s being sidelined from the herd because of its odd looks! 

We found a young impala all alone, bravely grazing and wondered in what circumstances she got lost!

We saw a very hurt hyena limping away. We so wished we could do some thing to help in these cases but then what can one do!

When we exit the park, they check the boot of the car … I guess they want to ensure people are not smuggling away such abandoned young ones! Just kidding, ha ha!

 We had assumed the African wild buffalo will be big… it is the size of domestic cattle.



The inclusion of buffalo in Big 5 is because of the difficulty to hunt one.

And the birds were so colorful...

Lilac breasted Roller...

Burchell's Starling...

Glossy Starling...

Go-Away bird... Grey Lourie...

Vulture...

Yellow billed stork...

Fish Eagle...

Our videos capturing our highlights are presented at the end of this post.

Returning in fading light:

We felt early morning drives are a little over rated in cold seasons as animals are probably in some warm bushes waiting for sunrise and warmth. The ranger strategy of driving us to waterholes before sunrise obviously did not yield any sighting during our morning game drive with Skukuza ranger. As we joked, a hot chocolate/cappuccino fountain might have attracted animals, not cold water in such weather!

Driving back to camp in fading light was a challenge for us. On our 1^st full day in Berg-en-dal, we found a car stopped in front with its light on an elli on the road. We were there for some 10 minutes till that car moved. We assumed the elli is gone and moved forward, only to find the elli quite close as we passed!

On the following days, we tried to follow another vehicle as pilot when returning… when possible of course!

On the last day, we got delayed and were on our own…there was a big giraffe right in the middle of the on the road… as we slowly cleared him there was another one again right in the middle! During day light hours, animals seem to tolerate vehicles but as darkness falls, it becomes their territory fully. We ended up 20 minutes past curfew returning back to camp and son got an admonition from the gate security. The guard asked for our exit pass and we thought we were going to be fined. Thankfully he let us go after our profuse apologies!  

I’ll wind up the Kruger days with some comments on lodging.

Berg-en-Dal: 

The name Berg-en-dal means Mountain and dale... very apt. We had booked here because we heard the lodging is refurbished and the landscape is more scenic with koppies. Of course it’s game rich as well. We found all these true and had a great time here.

The game viewing was AWESOME in Berg-en-Dal area.

We drove to Crocodile Bridge lodge and and had our lunch in the day area there.

That was near where we saw the herd of 30 ellis crossing.

There were plenty of rhinos to be viewed at close quarters right near Berg-en-Dal, in the secondary road that branches off to the right when we leave the entrance of the camp.

Giraffes and zebras were plenty to sight, right on the road. Though the crocodile river is bone dry because of the sad drought, there were plenty of sightings and we never had a slack time.

Only whinge was that we had to pack up and leave after a relatively short stay. (Our first day here had been so delayed because of flight delays. The next evening, we had to pack up as we were moving to Skukuza.) I know many people stay in several camps, moving everyday to a different camp! Guess we are not happy to cope with such movings.

Skukuza:

In January 1^st week, we found we could not book the river side bungalow for all 3 nights of our stay by May end. So we booked the interior bungalow for the 1^st night. This proved a bit of a hassle as we had to check out after our 1^st night and check in again at the river side bungalow.

Our rondavel...Rondavels are African thatched huts

Also the interior bungalow had no hot plate and I had to use the one in the communal kitchen for making rice and soup for us. The fridge is outside (no cage or lock) and I found it a little odd when baboons are around. Anyways, we did not have any incident.

The river side bungalow was way better than the interior one, we loved it.

Yes, that's the fence keeping out the ellis... not sure how??

The African sky was so amazing… we had not seen that many stars anywhere else! Even the Milky Way is visible. Such an unforgettable sight!!

Ranger Activities at Skukuza

We booked 2 activities in Skukuza. We booked an early morning game drive. Besides us, there were only 4 others, 3 girls and a man. 

We had heard that there is a tracker and the driver. We had only one ranger who drove the vehicle, the girls who sat at the back of the jeep held the torch and shone it on the dark bushes. Hardly saw much game. 

We wore thermal innerwear, a sweater and jacket, wool cap, gloves and were fine. We used the blankets available in the vehicle too. 

Our ranger was a nice guy but we felt the vehicle is too noisy and emitted fumes.

Which animal will stay around such noise and fumes is beyond me! Also the girls were a little loud and scared away a kudu by shouting! We had much better experience in our own self driven vehicle.

When we returned from the game drive, we had to check out, drop the key in the box at the gate by 10am.

Early morning Bushwalk was available only on the day we were leaving and we booked that as well. Only 8 people in each group and we were accompanied by 2 rangers each carrying a loaded gun.

As I had already read in reviews, we were shown animal droppings and given a lecture on which animal it belonged to. The reviews said there will be a talk on plants/ trees as well… we did not get that! Basically we were driven in a jeep for ½ hour, and walked in a loop around pretty bare grounds. No chance of surprising any animal but it was nice to watch the African sunrise. The snacks (crackers and cheese, dry mango slices, roasted peanuts) and juice they provided was pretty good too… only one item was meat, so we vegetarians had no complaint.

The game viewing near Skukuza was surprisingly sparse for us. Hardly any sighting on the famed H4 road. We drove up to Pretoriuskop, the day picnic area there was pretty stranded. There was one group using the area and after they left we were the only ones around. A bit scary. There are mandatory warnings that we are getting down at our own risk in all these areas and of course we sign an indemnity bond absolving the park of all responsibility in case of untoward incidents.

http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2016/06/south-africa-trip-report-panorama-route.html
is the next post covering the following 2 days in the panorama route

 Our videos:

Here’s a link to our videos with a short description of contents:

https://picasaweb.google.com/108910506663540711253/6294685377235791985#6296815182917370002

Kruger 1 :
Elephant Space crunch when elli decided to walk on the road toward us throwing mud on itself,

chatroom when 2 ellis mirrored gestures with trunk,
slinking elli in bushes, elli salute, warthog kneeling, zebras
giraffe, 30 plus ellis crossing

https://picasaweb.google.com/108910506663540711253/6294685377235791985#6296468853167472706

Kruger 2: Rhinos,
waterhole with giraffe, rhino, zebras and elli,
buffalo's mighty itch, rhino again, zebras, baby elli,
elli itch,
ending with elli showing annoyance at car by stepping in and shaking her head

https://picasaweb.google.com/108910506663540711253/6294685377235791985#6296472080136335202

Kruger 3: zebra crossing, frisky zebras for some 7 min, cute rhino baby with mom, giraffe

https://picasaweb.google.com/108910506663540711253/6294685377235791985#6296848164288330130

kruger 4 : ellis at waterhole, cheetahs, zebra mother nursing its baby, hyens as mom with her baby in burrow

https://picasaweb.google.com/108910506663540711253/6294685377235791985#6299372584975085778

Kruger birds

https://picasaweb.google.com/108910506663540711253/6294685377235791985#6299379582091360146

Kruger 5: Elands, vervet monkeys, baboons,
impudu?? solitary impala cub,
giraffe, hippos, blink n you'll miss glimpse of Lion,
impalas at water (with reflection)

https://picasaweb.google.com/108910506663540711253/6294685377235791985#6299389440892645298

Kruger 6: warthogs, dungbeetle
Ends with baboon at table... hey what does one have to do to get some service around here??