SA bits 40 - Christmas in Nelspruit,Mpumalanga (Part 3)

Our next day began at 4.30am, for a full day safari tour in Kruger National Park. This wasn't our first game drive but somehow the thought of entering SA's biggest game park got us all very excited. We didn't really know what animals we'd spot since it was a wild park so I guess that's where the excitement came from. It was already packed at the park entrance gate at 5.30am. Understandable since it was the season holidays, we were told that there would be a big in a national park. That was surprising to hear since it was a national wildlife park, but was even more surprising to see when we passed so many cars and so many cars passed us. Before the entrance our guide (Dave) briefed us quickly about what to do and what not to do. Keep ourselves inside the half exposed vehicle, don't make too much noise when we're close to the wildlife, stay still in the vehicle when we come across an elephant in musk. I understood this later in the day which you'll see why too. Anyway,just as surpised as I was to see so many cars, there was actually paved roads in a national park! Well, at least they were only in major routes of the park. Many areas we went were gravel so it gave us the more natural experience. The first wildlife we saw was the hyena lazing by the side of the road. One of us asked how dangerous the hyenas were, and apparently they can snap a giraffes leg with their jaws so taking on a human bone would be like us snapping off a tootchpick. If a man with their bare hands was to battle a hyena, the hyena would win hands down.


We saw a lot of impalas. Since they were at the bottom of the food chain, they were almost everywhere. Very beautiful animals though, their skin looks as if it's suede and they don't run. They sort of skip and when they do they are really fast! I asked Dave if we would be lucky enough to see a kill but he says there will be very slim chance considering the hunting animals don't always feed and the killing shots we see on NatGeo/Discovery would've taken months to film.

Not too far from these guys were the giraffes. Although their majestic height, they are very vulnerable when they are not vertical. Dave went on to explain how easy it was to keep a giraffe down horizontally by just covering his head with a blanket to keep him blind or by just sitting on it's head when it's down. He also related to how the lions have grown smarter over the years in preying on giraffes. Unlike gravel, tar roads are slippery and because of that the giraffes don't have a good grip to run on and the lions would take advantage of this. How? All they need is just 3 cats, with 1 on each sides of the road and that last one behind. As soon as the giraffe slips when trying to run on the road, they go for the kill.

Call it unlucky as we only manage to catch a glimpse of the rhino (white rhino). Dave said that this was a white rhino (there are 2 kinds;black or white rhino). The white rhino has a wider mouth for grazing while the black rhino has a pointed beak like mouth for browsing. Apparently white rhino is less hostile and we could still stop nearby it for viewing. This is not the case with a black rhino though as it tends to attack anything that's not familiar to it.
Just after lunch we saw some cape buffaloes chilling by the river. Dave told us something interesting about their horns where they origin from the center of their skull, and broadens into a heavy shield across their forehead is called a "boss". A hunter never tries to kill the buffalo with a shot into the "boss" as the bullet will not penetrate. Like wow!

This next spotting was priceless. It literally walked across the car ahead of us and they have been watching it for 5 minutes until we came. Sadly I wasn't quick enough to start up my camera for it. Because it was such a secretive animal some people never get to see it even after a week. The leopard.

We got even luckier when some lions were spotted. How about that, 2 cats in 5 minutes. Dave said it was his first in 10 years as a guide. The quickest he's ever spotted all big 5 wild animals was in 3 hours.

And these guys are always underwater it's so hard to spot them until they surface to breath. Even when they do they only stick out their noses above the water. I remember this animal was always a tricky one to spell in primary school. Hippopotamus!

And to make our experiences more worth it, look at these giants.



So we saw Africas big 5, well technically speaking we only saw 4 as the rhino wasn't a black rhino. Nonetheless it was a great experience.

SA bits 39 - Christmas in Nelspruit,Mpumalanga (Part 2)

As planned, we started our first day in Nelspruit early. This is how 6am looks like here.

This first day would be a light & easy drive along the scenic Panorama Route of Nelspruit. It covers a wide area and along the entire route, one gets to tick-off a few high ground viewpoints, water falls and other recreational hot spots. We did not want to miss this chance.By the end of the day, we would have covered the towns of Hazyview, Graskop, Ohrigstad,pass by Sabie and Pilgrims Rest.First thing I noticed was the HUGE plantation on both sides of the road. At first I've mistaken them for pine trees, only to find out later that they were actually Eucalyptus. Nelspruit has a local industry of timber and paper production harvested from these trees and they are managed by the company called Mondi. Very nice view though, these plantations go as far as your eyes can see at many points along the way.



Our first stop at Graskop Gorge Falls. Water fall is just off the ledge and nearby is the Mogodi Lodge Resort.


We proceeded to God's Window, which I was looking forward to. Sadly, it was a cloudy morning on Friday and we couldn't really see anything from the top. Dissappointing, as we bumped into a family on the way to the top, and according to the man if it was a clear day, we could see see all the way to Mozambique. Damn!

Spider web covered in morning dew.

Imagine my frustration to see only mist and fog.
Anyway we hopped back into the car as it was also drizzling and made our way to the next point of interest, the Lisbon Falls. Check.






And next was the Berlin Falls.



Next point of interest was towards the Three Rondawels, but we stopped by Bourkes Lucky potholes. This valley is very unique as the "potholes" were formed by the swirling waters of the river. Over a period of millions of years and as the river runs dry, these magnificent formations are seen.





Had an icecream here, and off we went to Three Rondawels or also knowns as Blyde River Canyon. The pictures says it all.








As we started to make our way back, we made one last stop in Echo Caves. Nothing much to really shout about, as our shouts don't really echo. It's the stalactites that does echo (a bit) when you tap on it.
This was quite an adventure because at some point of our "caving" adventure, we had to crawl and squeeze into narrow paths and get on all fours to crawl under the stalactite. The best plus point about this cave is that temperature in the cave is very much cooler than the outside. So it was like air conditioning on a hot day.








By the time we finished here, we were all tired from the driving, hiking and crawling. We finally reach the hotel at 5 in the evening. Had dinner in the hotel as everywhere else was closed due to Christmas and ended the day with a few glasses of bubbly :)

to be continued...