FLASHBACK #62: Wild In South Africa (Days 4-7)

Day 4 – February 15th – Letaba to Satara.

I was woken up at 5am with two jobs: get myself in order and load the cooler box. By 5.45am, Patsi and Jo had met us at our place; I was brushing my teeth when they arrived and Jo made a ridiculous comment about how brushing your teeth was bad for you. "Instead," he said, "you should just gargle with mouthwash". How ridiculous, I thought, but it was too early for me to engage in conversation.

We left shortly afterwards, ready for action, passing the life-size replica of an African Elephant on our way out of the camp. Hopefully, we would see some elephants today.

The sun had just risen and we had our eyes peeled for game on the move. Nothing happened in the beginning. In fact, it was at least two hours until we saw a giraffe in the nearby bush followed by some impala. Later on, we saw an imposing Baobab Tree, apparently one of just seven remaining in the Lowveld. The game started to reveal itself – we saw wildbeest and zebra before heading to Olifants, a rest stop, for late morning coffee on it’s amazing observation point.

We moved on, stopping again quite soon at an elevated stop called Nwamanzi where it was safe to get out of the car. Using binoculars, we scanned the landscape below; there were hippo’s bobbling up and down in the water. As we left Nwamanzi, nothing could have prepared us for what came next. People were gathering on a nearby bridge so we parked up and joined them and saw…
Seeing the hulking elephants wade across the river was, without doubt, the highlight of the day. Just after 11am, we had arrived at Sutara Rest Camp. This is where we would stay the night and was even better than Letaba; it was much better planned, very spacious, and the chalet even had air conditioning! Heaven!

We made a nice lunch of ham, cheese and salami on bread while Kalie barbecued steak and boerwurst (Boer sausage). After lunch, everyone headed off for a nap until 4pm. In the meantime, I sent email using my laptop in conjunction with my mobile phone; I was having connection problems and repeatedly had to call Helpdesk in Helsinki. Eventually, I managed to get things sorted out and it was amazing that I was sending photos, by email, to cold Finland and Britain in the northern hemisphere.

When the others awoke from their nap, we went for an afternoon game drive. Looking at the map, we did the S100-S41-H6 loop and came across a lone giraffe far away in the distance – it looked beautiful from afar and, as we approached it, it casually wandered away. We also saw some baboons who sat very close to the car, grooming one another the way baboons do.

We got back to the rest camp about 6.30pm and we used leftovers from lunch for sandwiches with fruit. About 8pm, after the others had gone to bed, Wia and I were outside working with our laptops. I sent some more pictures by email while she was editing photos. I poured myself a Bacardi and we had our first proper private chat since my arrival. For the first time, we really caught up and I told her all about Bree. Exhausted, we were both in bed by 10pm!

Day 5 – February 16th – Satara to Skukuza

Once again, another early start; up at 4.30am, and out of the park an hour later. Our first encounter were lazy baboons dotting the road as the sun rose. Later, a wildebeest appeared on our left (see photos above). Within two hours of leaving the park, we came across hyena, giraffe, impala, buffalo and a gudu with spiralling horns. A lone white rhino was standing at the end of the road and, as we approached, it hurried away into the bush (see photos below).

About 7.30am, we took Route S86 known as the Nwaswitsontso Loop. Here, we saw two Rhinos as light rain began to fall. When we got back onto the main road, HI-3, a young elephant bull was standing in the middle on the road; we had blocked his way and you could tell that he was thinking, wondering what to do next.

Just after 8am, we stopped for a breakfast of ham and salami sandwiches, coffee and yoghurt at Tshokwane, a nice rest area 41km from Lower Sabie. We set off again just after 9am just as it was getting sunny again and the day's heat was starting to gather over the park once more.

We turned off to check out Orpen Dam, whose waters were dotted with large water lettuces; a sign nearbly declared these to be originally from South America and went on to explain that South Africa declares these to be ‘alien weeds’.

With binoculars, the others could see crocodiles in the water below. I must have been blind, I thought, as I couldn’t seem to train my eye onto anything. Perhaps it was all these early mornings! Wia went on to explain that game watching takes times to perfect.

After yet another brief drive, we stopped again at a place called Nkumbe (348m). A small family were gathered in the shade, binoculars aimed at the huge mass of land below. A South African lady kindly offered her binoculars, guiding them with her own hands to the point where an ostrich stood in the bush; it was out there all alone!

We continued once more, confronted with a long period of nothingness. I made a bit of an error with the map; we had done the Mondozi Loop from the South and not the North. Oops! The result was doing the 12km stretch on the main road twice!

We stopped briefly at Lower Sabie rest stop for ice cream and, as we left, came across a small man-made lake which was currently home to hippos, storks and a crocodile on a rock, it’s mouth ajar. The rest of the afternoon proved to be quite uneventful as the game turned in for their afternoon naps; it demonstrated how big a part luck has to play in spotting game.

We arrived at Skukuza about 2pm and went out for another game drive about 4pm; this game drive bought warthogs, monkeys, elephants and a lone lioness into our view. We got back to the park at 6.25pm and headed for the common area by the restaurant.

There was a nice long river with a wooden barrier from where you could take in the view. Wia took me to the nearby restaurant where the shelter for outdoor eating had bats living in it. Wow! What a site!

From there, we drove to our hut and started preparing a ‘brai’, a barbecue of chicken and bread. Patsi, Wia and I discussed our hearing problems while Jo and Kalie chatted in the darkness outside. Before turning in for the night, I spoke to Mum on the phone; she was pleased to hear from me. I turned in about 10pm.

Day 6 – February 17th – Skukuza to Durban

What a day! We left Skukuza Rest Camp at 5.30am and headed south of Route HI-1, then H-3. We did the Mabjula Loop, stopping briefly at a high observation point where the car revved against the gradient. Once at the top, we were treated to a dawn-lit vista where leaves rustled in the nearby bush – we never did find out the cause.

Before we got to the Malelane rest stop, we had seen giraffe, rhinos, impala and a zebra who was not looking himself; well, he looked stripy, yeah, but he had a wound on his side and his tail had been removed, perhaps during a fight with a fearsome predator of the wild.

When we arrived at Malelane, where we would leave Kruger Park, we visited the Berg & Dal Dam and watched the many impala drinking from the river.

We finally ended up leaving Kruger Park about 10.30am, and started speeding towards Carolina on Route 38 then taking Route 36 to Ermelo; the trip was uneventful, although the scenery was lovely.

We passed mango and banana plantations and, as we headed higher, we could see bush fires making their way through the dry land below. About 20km before we reached Ermelo and during my second nap since we left Kruger, the car suddenly stopped.

I woke up and asked what was up. Apparently, we had a flat tyre and Kalie had already called the road services. What the hell, I thought, why didn’t you wake me? There was no way I was going to wait for roadside help in what could be Zulu-land for all I knew. I changed the tyre and Wia happily took photos of the whole incident. Within 20 minutes, we were on our way to Ermelo and, once we were there, we got a new tyre and got the wheels rebalanced which took a lot of time.

While we waited, Kalie was selling some boermusik CDs to some local folk and, then, I realised that today was going to be a looooong day; we had more than 500kms to go and it was already 3pm.

We gave lunch a miss and headed along the picturesque Route 11. It WAS picturesque, but you kind of felt that you had been here before because the landscape was quite similar to what you had seen earlier. After a while, we came to a very interesting place, Majuba. Here, in 1881, the British were defeated in the first Anglo-Boer war; peace negotiations later took place at O’Neill’s Cottage in Majuba’s foothills.

It was now passing 4pm and you could tell the sun was starting its descent. We headed onwards and I looked back on Majuba Hill and wondered how this could have been a war scene.

Further south, at Newcastle, Kalie explained how he once owned a bakery in the town. Later, he also owned a car showroom.

Some good music came on the radio – Maija Who and Stay With Me, an old song by Shakespeare’s Sister. It was comforting to suddenly hear such familiar music so far from home. Music really does cross borders well.

By 5pm, we reached the turnoff for places such as Dundee and Glencoe – how Scottish sounding! Later, we passed places like Fort Mistake, then Biggarsberg and Ladysmith; this town was named after the wife of Cape governor, Sir Harry Smith, and the town achieved fame during the 1899-1902 Anglo-Boer War, when it was besieged by Boer forces for 118 days.

We drove through the town and the centre was littered with garden shed lots that served as market stalls. At this hour, all the stalls were boarded up and the place had a kind of empty, inactive feel to it.

At 6pm, we joined Route N3 via the Bergville Toll Plaza. Distance to Durban: 160kms. We stopped at an Ultra City Service Area and dined at the Whistle Stop restaurant – I downed a double cheeseburger and chips with my first ever cream soda! Yummy!

We got back on the road and arrived, finally, in Kloof 20kms from Durban. We found Patsi and Jo’s place about 9pm; it was a lovely, cosy place. We told them all about our flat-tyre incident in Ermelo and relaxed on the patio with a cup of coffee. After that, we unloaded the car and everyone was in bed by 11.30pm.

Day 7 – February 18th – Kloof & Durban

I woke up at 8am, feeling groggy! Quite clearly, I had slept in too much compared to the last few days! It was quite overcast outside and it would stay like that for the whole day. After a bacon sandwich, some weetabix and mango, we headed out about 10.30am.

We got the car cleaned then drove from Kloof to Durban to visit Ushaka Marine World. As we drove through Durban, I noticed that the city’s people were mainly native blacks and of Indian origin; crowds of people mingled among the many colonial buildings and the traffic came to a brief standstill.

Eventually, we arrived at Ushaka. We toured the ‘Wreck’ area where tropical fish and sharks lived in harmony. After that, we grabbed some Kentucky Fried Chicken and took it to the beach which was followed by a quick dip in the Indian Ocean. The waves were quite high, the current strong, but the water was warm. Well, it was the Indian Ocean, you know!












Afterwards, we headed back into Marine World and watched the dolphin show. It was a pretty good show and it was nice to hear the young children ooo-ing and aah-ing!

We left Ushaka about 3pm and headed back to Kloof. As we left the city, we stopped at the Durban Pavilion, a shopping mall modelled around a Victorian pavilion. It was HUGE! I had a quick look in some computer stores and checked out a couple of DVD and CD stores.

As we left the Pavilion, Kalie told me that Durban has the highest concentration of AIDS/HIV in the whole of South Africa. I was quite shocked, but I told myself: hey, this is Africa!

We got back to Patsi and Jo’s about 6pm and, after saying grace (don't laugh, it's true!), tucked into a filling dinner of Lamb Shank with rice and broccoli cheese. Yummy!

After dinner, I settled down with my laptop, a cup of coffee and some Millionaire’s Shortbread and started the process of deleting the crappy photos taken so far on the trip. So far, I had taken more than 700 photos and, by 10pm, I had filed these in date order, deleted 300 crappy ones and copied them onto Wia’s laptop.

Once again, we were together, still catching up after a hectic seven days together; we showed eachother photo-presentations from the past, sharing memories from the last four years since our last meeting. Wia is a whiz at digitally manipulating photos. Using Patsi’s home internet connection, I sent some email home, finally getting into bed at 12.30am!