After Kruger, we stopped here for a couple days before heading back to Johannesburg. Our lodge is in the middle of a small game reserve so lots of antelopes cross the gate every day to come and feed on our part of the area. With the Blyde river in the front, we hear Hippos all nights so if getting a good night of sleep is your priority, this is not the place.
The more interesting thing to do/see in this area is probably visiting the Maholoholo Animal Conservatory nearby which rescues injured animals to help them get back on their feet again. Those that can heal fully are released back into the wild, those rescued at infant stage are kept here permanently because they never had the chance to learn how to hunt to be able to survive on their own, same for those so heavily injured that they lost their ability to hunt such as vultures with only one wing left, very sad indeed.
The area is also famous for their African Silk production so we could not miss the chance to spoil us with some very nice bed sheets. The only off-putting thing about this is that lot of shops while advertising for African silk does, in fact, sell silk made-in-China… Globalization has its price, I guess.
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Our “kingfisher” bungalow with river view at Blyde River lodge, a decent place, nothing luxurious but not too bad either. Breakfast was disappointing but dinner was quite good.Pool area of the lodge but the autumn weather didn’t call for a dipOur lodge is only one gate away from a small game reserve so wild animals wander very frequently around our room. These always came in the early morning.J still thinks this is funny. Well…Getting very close to a cheetah at Maholoholo animal conservatory. All animals were found wounded or poisoned. The people there are doing a great job in healing them, knowing that most of them can never be released back into the wild again because of their injuries.The staffs are giving extensive educations to the animals’ biggest enemy as well – human beings!Vultures are often poisoned because some legends said that eating them would give you the supernatural power they are believed to have for being able to spot their preys from very high abovePretty heavy birds !
Such a beautyNot much of a beauty, a little scary indeed. We were told that the wild dogs are “killers with a heart” because they kill their catch immediately by breaking their necks. Lions, on the opposit, eat their preys alive cause that way the meat and blood stay warm for several hours… Life is in fact not at all peaceful in the bush!The eagle liked being caressed on the neck, he even bowed his head
Giraffes are normally very shy of human presence. This one though, was pretty cool and let us touch him for a while. He’d probably gotten used to it after living here for so long.Driving into Blyde River CanyonIt’s the third biggest canyon in the world, much smaller than Grand Canyon but still very impressiveBlyde River waterfall, this part deep in the canyon does not see sun light very often so the water here was really cold, like real icy cold. J dared me so we both went in. It was so cold that you bones hurt but we had a good laugh in the end. So it was all worth it.Trekking paths on the way back from the waterfallWe bought our supply of fruits for the road from these street vendors a lot because they were the best, coming straight from the farms nearby. Looking back I wish we could take back more with us to Germany. How I miss these juicy mangos…Wild flowerOften we just walked around the hotel park on foot cause we were told there’s no really dangerous game living on the site. Giraffes are actually really shy, they always run away when we approach them. What a shame!
This was the closest I could get to any of them. They ran away right after this picture was taken.
Kruger is probably the biggest and most famous National Park in South Africa so it’s kind of a must-see when coming here. The park is so huge that we spent 5 days driving from one camp to the next and only covered half the ground.
Some note on the side: the purpose of visiting a safari is watching game so you drive very slowly to look for rarely-seen animals such as lions or leopards who hunt at night and spend their days sleeping, that’s why on average we drove only about 50-70km/day. The density of animals you see in the park depends heavily on the seasons. Dry season is always a good time to watch game because animals usually gather around the water holes. Sometimes people spend hours hiding around to wait for some interesting animals to show up.
Kruger has much greater population of wildlife than Hluhluwe or Kgalagadi but somehow it was the park we like the least. There are paved roads from North to South, from East to West with only a few dirt roads on the sides (which are the most fun to drive, off the beaten track and away from all the crowds) so you don’t really need a SUV to drive in here. There are also supermarkets and restaurants at most camps so no need to pre-purchase your whole supply of foods and water either (we had like ten liters of water in our van). Everything sounds really convenient, but that’s the thing that makes the whole experience a little less “interesting”, at least for us. Having fallen in love with Kgalagadi (we’re already planning a revisit for our next Botswana-Namibia trip) we came here hoping to “see” much more. We did see more wild animals than in other parks, but were a little bit disappointed nevertheless. Everything was so “civilized” in Kruger that we both felt like we were missing something the entire time. It was like being in a very big zoo with lots of lazy visitors who know so little about what-not-to-do or respecting the animals’ privacy (like the green car in the third picture), which was a bit annoying as well. Don’t get me wrong though, I would still recommend visiting Kruger if you have the chance because we did enjoy our time here a lot. We’re just pretty sure we wouldn’t come back the second time, mostly because there’s still so much else to see.
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Impalas, probably the most-seen animals in every park in South Africa. The locals call them “McDonald in the bush” for a reason.African Elephants live in big family groups, while young males start to go their own way when reaching adulthood (very similar to lions in this respect). These young adults, especially ones that are trying to mark their domain by peeing or producing some liquid out of their ears and mouth, are often very aggressive and hence dangerous, you don’t want to mess with them. Even though you receive enough information like this upon entering the park, we had the feeling that most people didn’t even bother reading it. Like these below..This car stood in the elephant’s way the whole time and wouldn’t go on reverse until the it got very very close. Because of reckless people like these, some elephants had gotten killed in Kruger for “attacking” visitors (you can google it, there’s lots of videos on youtube, sadly). But it’s not the elephant, it’s the people that provoke them. Some people just don’t get it. The park is their home so whey they have the feeling you’re trying to “invade” it, they’ll come at you. It’s not so hard to be respectful while in someone else’s home, isn’t it?!BrotherhoodA 500mm lens is a must hereI have to admit this is not a nice sight to see, but that’s life in the bush and visitors are not supposed to interfere in any way. You’re lucky if you’re on the upper end of the food chain.some peace every now and thenJ always has a better eye for spotting small creatures like thisCan’t remember the name of these animalsThe female of the race I can’t rememberOur car and bungalow for the first nightWe were very lucky to spot this leopard while driving along a dirt road cause they hunt at night and often sleep all dayVery sleepy indeed …..Giraffes again
Every giraffe has a different patternWell equipped with fridge !A rare bird called hornbill
Our only sighting of a buffalo herdVulturesCurious Burchell’s Zebrasisn’t he handsome?Sun rising at Olifants Rest Camp where we spent our third night in the park. We often woke up early to enjoy the sounds of the bushMy beauty still a bit sleepy
A Baobab tree, the little white spot on the trunk is P !Lunch break at another part of the river, typical landscape of Kruger Park.Kissing hippos ?Happy hippo family
That has been a difficult shot with the big lensLooks like the heraldic bird for GermanySunset view from our last camp. We had this entire 3-bedroom lodge for us which we barely needed. Somehow after 2 weeks in the country, we had gotten used to the sound of Hippos huffing at night and birds singing (very loudly) in the morning so if it had not been for the mosquitos, we would have slept outside that night, right here, on this terrace. How could you say no to this view.
After falling totally in love with Umngazi River Resort, we didn’t expect much when arriving in St. Lucia knowing it’s a very small touristy village. That’s when you’re mostly positively surprised, I think. So were we.
We chose to stay at Lodge Afrique which was a little bit out of town, but like I said, it’s a really small town so we could still go everywhere on foot. One night on our way back to the Lodge after dinner, we saw a hippo grazing on the side of the street. We actually heard it first before spotting it cause it’s impossible not to recognise their huffing sound. We had heard about this being quite a frequent sight in St. Lucia, which has the highest density of Hippos and Crocodiles on the East Coast, witnessing it though was a different story, both exciting and frightening at the same time. People also told us that, despite being rather aggressive in the water, hippos are quite “human-friendly” on land knowing they’re not in their own territory. The most remarkably thing for us is, these hippos really went pretty far away from the water to reach downtown St. Lucia, which was like 10min drive with a car. Maybe they really thought the grass was greener on the other side ;-).
During our 4 days here, we went kayaking for crocodiles and hippos watching, visited the Crocodiles Center and learnt a lot about so many kinds of alligator and crocodile worldwide. We also loved hanging around in the garden of our Lodge and going for long walks along Cape Vidal beach. We were very sad to leave, but also every excited to reach our next destination, the one and only Kruger National Park.
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Lodge Afrique, which made us feel more like home than we expected. There’s a lot of privacy cause each room has its own entrance, as you can see here. It’s at the middle-price range and definitely a great value for your money.Tessa, manager of the Lodge, who treated us so warmly we would come back to this place again just for her. Hope she’s doing fine!Fruit market on St Lucia’s main streetThe main beach of St Lucia, which goes on and on.Another smile that makes me smileWooden pathway from the beach to the parking lot, it’s no surprise to spot crocodiles underneath.Cape Vidal beach within the St. Lucia Marine Reserve, still no hotel or resorts allowed, only some camp sites. I really hope it will remain like this for a very long time.Male kudu, who has the most elegant jumping/running style of all the bush animals. We were left in awe seeing one jumping across the road in front of us.Female KuduHardly imagine to find sushi in a country like South Africa. We went for the usual local dishes though.Kayak tour on the Mfolozi river for hippos and crocodiles watching. Despite much warning, people still come swimming in here on occasions. A couple days before we arrived, a newly-wed couple went in for a midnight dip and was never found again.
No words needed 😉St. Lucia Crocodile CenterBuying some fruit on the way to our next destination. Yes, we ate them all.
Originally we didn’t plan to visit Hluhluwe Park (pronounced “shlushluweh”) because we were going to spend 5 days in Kruger already, but since it’s just a short drive from St. Lucia where we were heading from Umngazi River, we thought dropping by for a night would be fun. We’re so glad we did. Writing this post from our 2015 perspective, it was way more interesting compared to Kruger even though it is only about one-30th of Kruger’s size. When you’re there you really feel like you’re part of the nature around, the roads are empty and sights are clear for kilometers on end. All the animals are so calm they’re wandering around right next to your car totally unawared (and unimpressed) of your existence. While you have to be patient to find any Rhinos in other Parks, they’re everywhere here, both Black and White Rhinos, for it being a transition hub for the authorities to distribute and control/protect the Rhinos population in all South Africa. It’s still hard to understand why people nowadays still believe their horns be a god-sent medicine. It’s made of the same type of protein as your hair or fingernails (Keratin), why not chewing your nails instead?
The whole park is made up by two parks in fact: Hluhluwe & iMfolozi running from North to South. Since it’s quite a small Park, it doesn’t take long to cover its ground so we did one half in the afternoon we arrived and the other half the next morning before heading to St. Lucia. It turned out to be the Park we enjoyed the most on this trip.
First sight at the entrance of the Park, we knew immediately it was a promissing sight.Sunset in the SAN (South Africa National Parks) camp. Basic accommodation but you have everything you need at a fair price.Hyenas are quite aggressive animals but this guy’d probably had a good hunt that night so he was totally unimpressed as we stopped our car right next to him.
White Rhinos with flat mouth: these mother and child walked in front of our car for a long while.
It’s not the color that separates Black & White Rhinos for them having similar color, it’s actually the shape of their mouths that also define their eating habbit. In German, the Black Rhino is called the “Spitzmaulnashorn” (pointed-mouth Rhino) because they eat by picking fruits and leaves from branches. The mouth of White Rhinos like these in the picture above are wide and flat for grazing on grasses.
Black Rhinos with pointed lips/mouth
Burchell’s Zebra on the way back to the camp
Last year we were lucky to take a glimpse of some Mountain Zebras on the West Coast because they are nearly extinct. Burchell’s Zebras are more common, actually they’re everywhere. We really like them, they’re not as human-shy as giraffes and let you approach quite close.
This kid was right behind our bungalow
This guy was in our way so better be prepared to use the reverse gearBeautiful Impalas, some locals told us that they are also called “McDonalds” in the bushMale impala with a bird looking for bugsP on top of our Toyota HiLux hunting for good picturesWildebeest / GnuShamwari birdFinally, some giraffesSo eleganta little less elegant ;-).
