Visiting God's Window

March 27, 2017

Packed up and headed out for Hazyview.  Our drive out of Kruger was fairly uneventful, but we did manage to view a lioness sleeping on a rock.  Now the kids are game parked out when the sight of elephant, zebra, giraffes, eland, and lion hardly have them turning their heads.  Arriving in Hazyview has us in a much bigger town than we imagined.  The mall is huge, and loud.  Believe there might have been some gun fire prior to our arrival to the mall, but all seemed back on track.  A pleasant eventing at the Hotel Numbi.

March 28, 2017

Head out for a tour of the Blyde River Canyon.  Our first stop on a very pot holed drive is at Glaskop.  On our entrance to town in the “big swing” which we stop at to have a view.  Levi decides he would like to try the zip line over the 110 meter drop.  After being harnessed up and standing at the edge for about 10 minutes, he finally takes the leap of faith.  Told later by the lady at the Hotel Numbi that it was a leap of faith as their safety record is not the best.  Oh well, Levi is still with us.  We then went for pancakes at Harrie’s Pancake house, world famous no less.  Pretty good stuff.  Then off to God’s Window to throw a coke bottle over the edge, and they further up to the Blyde River Canyon.  A beautiful drive. 

Revenge on the Wart Hog

March 25, 2017 - Kruger

Checked our mileage into Avis and then headed off for a late morning game drive.  Quite uneventful, seeing a lion in the tall grass.

March 26, 2017 - Kruger

Up early for a game drive, out of the gate by 6:30 am.  Two minutes in we find a group of hyenia’s lying on the side of the road.  Then giraffes and elephants.  On our way to Sabie camp, we came across a pride of lions.  So did an unfortunate wart hog, who travelled into their midst from downwind.  The lions were off, the kids heard a squeal, and it was meal time.  Great view of the mightly male feasting, and the females trying to get in on the action.  Got to see hippos kissing in the water, and a few huge crocs at the side of a pond.  Later that afternoon, we had the chance to see many elephant.  Caught a few running down the river, trumpeting away, not sure why they were so vocal.  Lots or rolling around.  Later we had an elephant that had us backing up on the road, as he was not happy with us taking his picture.  At last he decided to move off to the side.  I took off past him and he was mad about our race for freedom, and chased after us.  Lots of adrenaline pumping in the vehicle as the elephant realized that he was no match for the Hyundai bus.  Came across one more angry elephant that gave a partial chase, but my passengers were not interested in any further games of chicken.  After nine hours on the road, we returned to our camp.

Enjoying wart hog.

The animals are dangerous here!

Friday, March 24, 2017

Up early and the tent still looks as it should in the morning.  Packed up camp.  As breakfast was finishing, a family of wart hogs came right up to us.  This was unnerving as the mother had some very big tusks.  We all ended up on the picnic table telling it to leave.  Levi credits himself with being so fearsome that he scared the crap out of one of the babies.  As we were leaving, the crocs were now feeding on the mystery meat, and that gave us about 30 minutes of entertainment.  The crocs we estimated were between 3 and 4 meters.  We then went to the glass factory where they blow glass.  The boys and I agreed, this was way more interesting than we imagined.  We got to view them making animals and glasses from scratch from an elevated platform.  Temperature in the room was around 40 C.  It takes 8 people to make an animal and 3 people to make a glass.  We came away with several small animals for our memories of the place.  We then moved through Pigs Peak and exited Swaziland.  Arriving in Kruger, it took us an hour from the gate to the Scucuzi Camp.  On route saw some elephant and other antelope type animals.  Considering in Addo we stopped for 10 minutes to take picture of elephant poo, now we do not even stop for an elephant.  We are getting spoiled.   40 C in Kruger today.  A late afternoon swim after setting up our tents on some very hard ground felt very good.  Now to find out how poor the internet is here.  To add to our days excitement, after logging off we were walking back from the reception area to our camp when a hyena ran across the road beside us, about 10 meters away.  Seeing a hyena next to you is frightening, and had us all backing up quickly.  We managed to flag down a young couple in a van and tell them they had to give us a ride back to our camp, which they did.  Back at our camp, we then noticed the signs in the abolution blocks about the hyenia problem in the camp.

Swaziland, the land of 60 km speed limits

Tuesday, March 21

Off to Swaziland.  We hit the border around noon, and the boys had their first experience exiting one country, travelling through no man’s land for a couple of hundred meters, and then having to enter the next country.  Swaziland is not very big, but they make the distances large by having 60 km speed limits everywhere.  And there is a need for caution while driving, as the speed bumps are large and often.  Much better in the van than in the mini I dragged the length of the transmission over the speed bumps 27 years ago in Swaziland.  After finally arriving at Miliwani Game Park, after many wrong turns of course, we drove down 7 km of some very rough gravel roads, and as we are travelling over a land bridge next to a small lake, notice a big croc in the water.  We then entertained us by going onto shore were some large turtles were, pushing one into the water as it was in the way.  Getting into camp found us in the midst of zebra, wart hogs, and impala.  The boys were thrilled with a huge swimming pool with a big log dividing the shallow from the deep end.  And the vista from our camp site and pool were amazing.

Wednesday, March 22

Luke eating breakfast in the morning had an impala come right behind him, and he was able to pat its’ back.  Nate was also getting very close to feeding them as well in the grounds.  We headed into town to check out the markets, and the boys did some bargaining for some various items.  The common starting cost was always 150 rand, but I give you a special price of 100 rand as you are my friend.  The boys also found out rule number 1, if you walk away the price goes down yet again.  Levi’s cockiness comes in useful in negotiations. 

The ancient tree

Thursday, March 23

We did a walk around the Hippo Pond in the morning.  Saw some big crocs, and ended up above several hippos that sparked some fear in the crowd.  As the number one killer of people in Africa, there snorts were enough to send us prairie folk scrambling.  We then travelled to town and checked out the House of Fire and the old market.  Buying rule number 2, the price is always more on the second day.  Our return to camp that afternoon had the crocs with dinner, some type of animal bloated in the water with lots of crocs circling.  A family showed up and were all outside, much to Cindy’s horror.  When the crocs started to approach shore, the young kids scrambled to the vehicle.  Our one tent ended up with a broken fibre glass pool.  Fortunately, I brought some spare parts.  With the boys swimming, Cindy and I were able to replace the broken pole and restring the poles.  With that successfully completed and the tent back together, we started to look at the map for tomorrow.  The ugly snap sound quickly changed the tent back into an odd shape.  After a couple of more hours of work, the second repair was completed and will hopefully hold.  That evening a tour bus came in and the locals put on a singing and dancing traditional show that we watched for a while.

Morning view from our campsite

Rhinos and Hippos, and finally a cat

Friday, March 17, Moved on to Hluhluwe and St. Lucia.  Set up camp after cruising some back roads in search of our place.

Saturday, March 18

Hluhluwe Park tour in the morning.  Saw rhino’s for the first time.  Tough viewing as they always seem to be in the trees.

Sunday, March 19

Walk up to lightning and decided to break camp and head to St. Lucia for a hippo and crocodile tour.  We lucked up with the only two nice straight hours of weather in the day.  Saw lots of hippos and one crocodile.  Hippos can run 45 km on land, and over 20 km under water. Number 1 killer of people in Africa.  Crocs also take a few people down here, as the odd person strays to close to the shoreline and get grabbed by a croc.  Once grabbed, not much of a chance you are coming back.  Determined to head back to our old camp site as it was raining in St. Lucia.  Worked out well as our return to Hluhluwe saw clear skies.

Monday, March 20

Another day at the camp site under sunny skies.  We will head out for an afternoon game drive this afternoon and then will head into Swaziland tomorrow.  Our afternoon safari drive had us finally track a lion.  The smell of a week old poached rhinoasaurus was thick in the air, and it was reported that there were lion laying low in the grass just off the road.  We laughed as the safari vehicles waited a few minutes before the guide apologized because time was limited and they had to move on.  After about ten minutes, the mighty beast stood up, way closer than we were imagining, and had a look around.  An awesome end to our Hluhluwe visit.  It was so good that we ended up missing the food store and our supper ended up being fairly limited.  Great fun as Levi and Nate showered in side by side stalls, and the water pressure is not balanced.  As one would adjust, then the other would, and the angry banter would escalate between the two as then kept adjusting their water temperatures, neither able to stop for a second.

Our first lion, a teenager eating rhino

The boys are back at school.

Monday, March 13

Port Alfred

Packed up in the morning and on the road for East London.  The city was difficult to manouver in our search for a camp ground, and just was not a nice looking place.  Decision was made to move onto to West Chintsa after a recommendation from our Cape Town host Ciska.  Arrival at the Backpackers was interesting, as the camp site had many cattle wandering around, a nice cow patty in the middle of our preferred camping site, and some interesting residents.  We returned to reception to find out that we could get a small self catered house for the same price.  Camping is not always the most economic.  The view from our front porch is incredible.  The location is very isolated, but a fifteen minute drive had us arrive at an incredible grocery store, basically in the middle of nowhere.  Awesome!

View out our window

Tuesday, March 14

West Chintsa

Signed the boys up for school this morning.  They are to start today at 2:00 pm.  School was cancelled today due to high winds on the open seas.  Moved to our new house that was a little moist.  We walked through the winds down the beach to East Chintsa and checked out the big homes with steep drive ways.  On and off rain gave way to a spectacular lightning show in the evening over the Indian Ocean.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

West Chintsa

With their teacher Antonio

The boys returned to school today after the Tuesday storm day cancelled classes.  Surf school seems to be decidedly more popular than the traditional school we are all use to.  On the beach at 9:00 am learning the basics, and by 10:00 am they were on the ocean catching waves.  The boys surfed until about 11:30 am, then had to take a break and warm up with some lunch, and then were back out for a couple of more hours in the early afternoon.  High winds and a long day finally packed them in for the day.  All three had pretty red looking knees, but they were all catching waves. 

Thursday, March 16, 2017

West Chintsa

Farewell to our little house with a view as we start making our way toward the northeast corner of South Africa. 

An entertaining drive through the former Transkei.  Instructions prior to departure from the locals, lock your doors, do not stop, and drive slow due to all the livestock on the highway.  Travelling through the cities was greatly entertaining.  The main drag fulfilled the true African stereotype.  Packed with people, lots of open markets on the side walk, everyone walking on the road way, and garbage everywhere.  Looked as though someone broke all the collected bags of garbage on the highway.  Construction on the highway added to the element of keeping the driver awake.  At one stop we had an 18 minute delay.  They queue vehicles and allow them through until there are no more.  Probably had 300 vehicles come through from the opposite direction before we could go.  Ended up being about a 2 km stretch, so guessing they could not communicate back and forth to stop traffic.

Our arrival at the Mantis and the Moon backpackers resort had the adults shuttering, and the kids thrilled.  We stayed the night in a tree house with lots of geco feces on the walls. 

Finally, elephants!

Thursday, March 9, Plettenburg Bay

A day at the beach.  The boys got to enjoy body surfing, until they found out that my advice about avoiding face planting was correct.  Levi will be alright.

Friday, March 10, Plettenburg Bay

After a rainy night, we were off for Addo Elephant Park.  The town of Addo was not what we were expecting.  On the map it looks big, but in reality, it was a little frightening.  Shanty town in the middle of nowhere.  We are pleased to see that our campsite is incredible.  After a couple of miles down one of the more potholed roads, we camp across our farm site.  It was once a prominent citrus farm, and has been converted into a B and B with both cottages and campsites available.  We set up camp and headed out for a game drive to see elephants.  After about 90 minutes of driving the park, thinking either someone miss named the park, or we were the only people to travel through the park without seeking an elephant, we finally spotted one in the distance.  A hundred pictures later, we then came across Carol’s Rest, a water hole that allowed us to park right next to a herd of elephants.  The hundred pictures will be deleted.  That night we went for another game drive.  Elephants were within meters of our vehicle.  Back at the campsite, we meet up with the runners.  Addo is the sight of ultra marathons this weekend, a 44 km, a 76 km, and a 160 km run.  Some of the 160 km runners are using this as training for their future 400 km run.

Saturday, March 11, Addo

More elephants, watched 40 or so at the water hole.  Elephants our now passe, as we are now on the search for lions.  We check at the game park reception to see if any campsites are opening up here, as it would allow us to get an earlier start.  As we wait to ask, we start reading the guest book.  The reviews that people have taken the time to write are lengthy, thought out, and exceptionally critical of the park’s staff and reception.  We agree with the inefficiencies, as we get stopped at an initial gate for no decided purpose that we can determine.  We have not had to wait very long to enter the park, but an example of the inefficiency is that the game gate opens at 5:30 am, but you cannot get the pass for entrance until 7:00 am, and you can only get the gate pass on the morning you enter.  The day is a scorcher, up around 40 C.  I am struggling next to the pool, but manage to keep cool.  Hope the runners are alright.

Sunday, March 12, Addo

Packed up prior to the rains falling.  Into the park, for a north to south drive, allowing us to see the south half of the park and exit on our way to Port Alfred.  After driving through some rain, which is not conducive to positive game watching, we did see some elephants, and drove next to five African Buffalo for about a mile.  Exiting the south gate gave explanation to the negative reviews for Addo.  We stopped at the south gate exit to find over 30 vehicles lined up trying to get in, a long line of people trying to pay to get in, and no one moving very quicky.  In the 15 minutes we were there, only three vehicles entered, and we heard to hear lots of angry people.  Only one person was working the reception desks.  Glad we were exiting.  On to Port Alfred.

Heading East along the Indian Ocean

Waves at Wilderness

After Oudtshoorne, we traveled to Knysna for two nights, and then to Plettenburg Bay for one night.  The kids greatly enjoyed the waves, and tried their hand at body surfing.  The science lesson was quickly learned about the higher the wave, the shallower the trough, as the boys had a couple of headslams into shallow water from up high.  We then travelled to down the N2, stopped at the worlds highest commercial bungee jump at 260 m high.  I decided I have nothing more to prove, and Levi was willing but too young.  Not sure how willing after seeing the depth of the gorge.  Addo Elephant park was our final destination, and after travelling through some fairly rough looking

Boukarous Bridge

townships and shanty towns, arrived at our destination.  Friday morning we headed into the park.  We were starting to get worried that all we were going to see was elephant (massive) droppings, but 90 minutes into our drive we finally came across 10 elephants at the watering hole.  Very entertaining.  In knocking off the big five of African game, we saw elephant and cape buffalo today.  Thought we sighted some rhinosaurus', but could not get a close up.  Will try later this afternoon.

The start of road trip South Africa

Our first stop was Bontebok National Park just outside of Swellendam.  On our three hour drive we saw lots of ostriches, and even a couple of elephants, although the elephants were in a private game park.  Arriving at Bontebok, our drive into the camp ground had us come across three bonteboks, the gazelle type animal that the park is noted for.  Sharp horns!  We were allowed to do a nature walk as Bontebok has no predators in it.  After our first night of tenting, the adults slowly got out of bed the next morning and we went for a short game drive.  About to give up on seeing nothing but bonteboks, we managed a glimpse of a red hartebeest, and then with them about five Africa zebra.  Walked up to them and got to listen to the male grunt away at us before taking off.
We then packed up and headed for Oudtshoorne.  Oudtshoorne gained its' fame for ostrich farming, as in the 1800's, the feathers were for the British elite and very much sought after.  The other claim to fame for Oudtshoorne is the Cango Caves.  These caves are kilometres long, and much not discovered, and has some of the largest stalactites, stalagmites and columns in the world.  We elected for the easy tour, as the adventurer tour has people crawling through long 30 cm wide tunnels.  Even the kids were not interested in that.  Our guide told us that one women got stuck for 11 hours before then finally were able to soap her out.  We felt bad for the people stuck on the other side of her.  After the tour, there was a video on a group of explorers who a couple of years ago travelled to an unknown cave to explore and video.  They had to pump water out of the entrance, then crawl about 200 m (with camera gear) through a narrow tunnel.  There return required someone to remain back to pump out the water again, as the tunnel had refilled.  My favorite part was that as they are leaving, the found a wine bottle sitting on a rock formation were a previous group had celebrated.  Their expressions were priceless.  We have all decided that spelunking is not for us.

We then headed to an ostrich farm for a tour.  The boys all got the chance to sit on the big bird, and Luke was the only one in the whole group to ride it around the ring.  He was happiest when the ride was over, although his expression did not exactly show it.  As his tent mate, I really hope they treat the ostriches for lice.  Our other close encounters with the ostrich that day included my being kissed and Nancy having a neck massage.  The kiss involved my putting food in my lips, closing my eyes, and hoping for a peaceful ending.  Nancy's neck massage was far more lengthy and entertaining (for me).

Then for a relaxing afternoon by the pool enjoying another nice hot day.  Monday we head for Knysna.

Final few days in Cape Town

After a great day of conquering Table Mountain, Monday had us head into the Cape Town tourist information office to get our National Park pass figured out.  Three words to describe that process... Dif e cult!  Anyways it was finally completed.  We then headed over to the Robben Island museum to catch a ferry to Robben Island, famous for detaining political prisoners.  Nelson Mandela of course is the most famous, but certainly not the only substantial detainee.  Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years there, but the other notable political prisoner was Robert Subokwe, founder of the National African Congress.  He was given a house on the prison grounds, but no one was allowed to speak to him, for four years!  Seeing the prison, Mandela's cell, and the Island was a memorable tour.  Upon returning to Capetown and home, the paragliders were up and operating.  We raced to the landing pad just down the street from our apartment and got Luke and Levi signed up.  Within 30 minutes they were flying off Signal Hill high above Sea Point.  The video of the boys flying was exceptional.

Tuesday had us take a tour of a township just outside of Capetown.  We received a history lesson on the plight of blacks in South Africa, and how until 1988 they had to carry a Dom Book at all times with them, or be imprisoned (Dom means stupid in Africanse).  By the looks of the shanty towns, it seems that equality and socially acceptable living conditions are still a ways down the road for millions of blacks in South Africa.  In the evening the boys and I went to the park to play some tag.  Turning 51 has it disadvantages as my quick turn resulted in an Achilles injury.  We went down the street, with me hobbling the whole way for sympathy, to the Rockport Restaurant for my birthday dinner.  Very enjoyable eating outside for a February birthday.  I then hobbled back home after the rest of the crew.
Wednesday morning has us go on a road trip south for Anarctica.  Our first stop was Kalk Bay to check out the fishing action.  We then went to Boulders, home of the African Penguin.  Cindy and I remembered being on the beach 20 years ago, and were disappointed that it was all on crowded boardwalks that kept the people and penguins well separated.  We then walked a little further down and found the Boulders beach.  Then we were tripping over penguins (Cindy tripped on one and it crapped right there and then - she is the reason for the board walk I guess).  Two hours later after swimming and crawling around with the penguins, we headed for Cape Point.  Next land mass is Antarctica. 
We the drove back via Chapman's Peak.  Beautiful drive, unless the passenger side is next to the high drop off into the ocean, and the passenger is not keen on heights.  Cindy was very brave, and I believe the isometric workout of grasping the dash and armrest was a good workout.

Anarctica somewhere behind us