Final return to (and from) Jo'burg

The weather was unusually turbulent in Jo'burg during our last few days. We did a bit of shopping and spent a lot of time updating the blog as we had access to a desktop and decent wifi at last: Apologies to anyone who may have looked in vain for updates over the last few weeks! A more recent but related problem for us has been 'load shedding', an increasing frequency of 'scheduled' power cuts which threaten Christmas plans for many and the South African economy for all.

One unusual but very enjoyable outing we made was to the Lindfield Victorian Museum. The owner of the house where she had grown up, Katherine, dressed as a Victorian maid, guides tours through her rooms full of antiques and has tremendous knowledge of the objects and social history of the period. Fascinating! And as a bonus she also had a number of William books and several bits of Staffordshire!

We also visited a couple of galleries (CIRCA and Everard Read) and were surprised to spot a sculpture by Dorte Berner who we had visited in rural Namibia!

KnowThyself (Catherine Norman)

We enjoyed a few minutes of sunshine on our last day and could not resist 'Make your own Magnum' in vibrant Rosebank before catching the Gautrain to the airport and the long flight to freezing and wet London!

Addo Elephant Park

We began our long journey towards Jo'burg with a short break close to the Addo Elephant National Park and Scotia, a private game reserve. They were two very different experiences. Addo was a vast area of very poor and dry land created as a National Park to conserve a rapidly diminishing elephant population. There is no guarantee as to what you may see on a game drive and all the wildlife is native to the area.

Fighting warthogs

Resting Impala

In contrast, Scotia has a limited acreage and the bulk of the animals have been brought in, we were even told the price of some on the drive. Many end up as food for the lion population! But sightings are virtually guaranteed. We found it a little commercialised but still an interesting experience.

Nyala

Hippo spotted on evening drive

The following day was mostly spent in the car travelling on the usual almost deserted roads as far as Colesburg. We broke the journey to visit the Valley of Desolation in the Candeboo National park near Graaff-Reinet. Fantastic views over the Karoo.

Drakensberg

After another two days with a lot of driving and a night at Bloemfontein, birthplace of J R Tolkein (we resisted the Hobbit hotel in favour of the Golf Lodge!), we arrived at the Royal Natal National Park. The weather did not look too promising!

Fortunately it did clear up reasonably well and we were able to spend most of the next five days hiking. The view of the Amphitheatre from our cabin was spectacular.

The best walk we did was about 18km up the Gorge with the usual collection of ladders, chains and boulder scrambling.

Carolyn declined having this picture enlarged further!

Spot the thatched roofed cabins!

One interesting moment came when we sat a few metres outside the cabin enjoying a cup of tea after the walk. Carolyn went back in to the kitchen to discover banana skins all over the floor. Nic turned at the resulting scream to see a large male baboon with bulging cheeks making a rapid exit! About 8 bananas, an avocado, 3 peaches and a pear in about a minute!

We then moved on to the Golden Gate National Park. More touristy but still with great views and walking. Our longest walk was to the Wodehouse peak, very remote indeed at the top.

Mushroom Rock

Spot the hikers- we were there!

St Francis Bay

We were lucky enough to have the use of an apartment belonging to a friend of a friend and enjoyed a few relaxing days by the very windy Eastern Cape coast. The washing machine did overtime.....

St Francis Bay is an upmarket holiday destination that is so quiet it is almost unreal out of season, and we were there only a few days before the hordes were due. The northern part of the village is constructed around a series of canals which we attempted to tour by canoe although the wind made that rather interesting. The attractive and spacious houses are all thatched and we enjoyed an ogle from the water! We also did a couple of coastal walks and enjoyed the crashing waves at Shark Point.

Shell hunting

Natures Valley and Slackpacking on the Dolphin Trail

We drove alone down to Nature's Valley, a magnificent unspoiled beach and river estuary to the west of the Tsitsikamma National Park.

Next stop the Dolphin trail! A two day three night adventure shared with a family of four Africaaners (great fun but with some very politically incorrect views) and our guide Henry. Our luggage was moved between accommodations (hence slackpacking) and we were spoiled with great picnics en route. Enjoyed swimming in the transient rockpools! No dolphins sighted but a few distant whales.

View from first chalet: Wow!

Storm's River Bridges

Unidentified companion

Fernery Lodge at trail end

Commercial aspect of the Fernery supplying Dutch flower markets

The Garden Route

Having picked up a hire car and having heard that the whales were 'late this year' we were well rewarded during a lunch overlooking the sea at Hermanus with a mother and calves close by in the bay. We then meandered down to Oudtshoorn to visit the Kanga caves and Highgate Ostrich farm. We had rather low expectations of the latter but it provided the most hilarious experience of the trip to date when Nic had a go at riding an ostrich!

 

 

 

 

No caption required!

A drive over the winding Swartberg pass to the rather quaint village of Prince Albert provided some great mountain scenery.

 

The coastal section of the Garden Route was stunning and for us one of the the highlights was a full day walk around the Robberg peninsula. 

 

Another very memorable was a day spent at Birds of Eden, the largest free flight aviary in the world. A fabulous collection of native and other colourful birds. We are definitely becoming twitchers on this trip, the binos are working overtime out in the wild and even in the gardens of some of our accommodation!

 

Golden Pheasant- Male the flashy sex!

Livingstone's Turaco

White faced Whistling duck

Crowned crane

Memories of Guinness Ads!

Malachite sunbird at Bayside Lodge!

We also squeezed in a quick visit to a monkey rescue sanctuary which helps to rehabilitate wild monkeys which have been foolishly kept as pets.

Lemur: Eyes bigger than brain!

Elvis

There were some fabulous deserted beaches nearby although sometimes the route of the proposed walks were not too obvious. At Plettenberg Bay we were also sad to say goodbye to Liz and Robert.

Last evening together!