Hiya!
After 7 beautiful days in South Africa it was time to go back to Johannesburg. After our homemade breakfast in Ashbourne Hazyview we started driving to the south.
We stopped every two hours, as it would be a 6 hour ride to Joburg. We also stopped somewhere 35kms out of Nelspruit to see some horses. As you might know, I love horses. I discovered the opportunity to go horsebackriding in the valleys of Nelspruit and we thought it would be nice to do this on our last day. But it turned out we needed a reservation so there was no horsebackriding, but we did see two beautiful horses and even better: wild horses!
And after almost 7 hours in the car we arrived at the airport of Joburg around 8PM. We were both very tired and it was a very intense holiday, but each activity was worth it! The flight back home (which departed around midnight) was long, very long, and very sleepless. The boy and I have trouble sleeping while sitting upright. So we were awake the entire 11 hour flight. But again, everything was worth it. We had the best time! And I would highly recommend South Africa to each and every one of you! We both would love to go back and to see Capetown as well.
Hi loves,
We agreed on having an easy and relaxed day, but this is not exactly how it turned out. First we drove to Pilgrim's Rest, a historic village where they discovered gold in South Africa many years ago. It's like a living museum, such a beautiful scene with the purple trees and old buildings.
Pilgrim's rest was very nice but after one hour you've seen it all. We had a late lunch in Sabie and afterwards we drove to the Lone Creek Falls. After a short (200m) hike you'll be at the viewing point and it is a very beautiful and strong waterfall!
And after 7 amazing days in South Africa, it was time for the last evening in Hazyview. We went back to the Summerfiels restaurant to enjoy a romantic 3 course diner outside. It was delicious, perfect and again very romantic! A night we will never forget!
I forgot to mention our hotel for our last two nights in South Africa. We spend the nights in Ashbourne where we got our own little cottage. It was really nice and eventhough I prefer Cuckoo Ridge, this hotel is a very good option as well (and cheaper).
Hello y'all!
Day six of our trip! As you have read in the previous post we spend the night in the beautiful Sabie River Bush Lodge. It was the third day of our safari and we were desperate to see the big 5 before we were going to fly back to Amsterdam.
We had an amazing day in the park. It was a lot of driving, but it was so worth it! After half a day of driving around in the Kruger park, we ran into a rhino at a drinking spot. So beautiful and special! With the rhino we saw 4 out of the big 5 in Kruger. But we were also very anxious to see the leopard! And while we drove back to the gate, we noticed so many cars in front of us! They all stopped and we discovered why... The Leopard! There were two of them, relaxing in the shade from the burning afternoon sun.
Hi everyone,
After a short night in Olifants (the restcamp) we had the entire day to drive around in Kruger Park, I mean: we really wanted to see the big 5!
The 'big 5' animals are the lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard. During our first day in Kruger park we already saw the elephant and the lion. And today we could add the buffalo to our list. We're keen to see the leopard and rhino too, but today was not the day unfortunately.
But: we did see some other very interesting animals! We had to brake really hard for a turtle, and shortly after our meeting with him we also saw two snakes on the road (one of them was a black mamba!). It was a really good day for the safari!
After driving around for the entire day in Kruger, we left the park to spend the night in Sabie River Bush Lodge. We got a beautiful tent for the night from where we had the most amazing view. Sabie River Bush lodge is an amazing place to be, with wonderfull and very friendly staff. The restaurant is pretty amazing as well and it was just very good to spend the night in such a beautiful place.
Hi everyone,
After two nights in Hazyview and discovering the panorama route, we headed to Kruger Park. But first we had to change our rental car for another one. We drove through a pothole (a large hole in the road) during the night and hit the hole very hard: a flat tire and broken rim as a result.
We changed the ford fiesta for a toyota and drove to the Kruger gate, a 30 minute drive from Hazyview. As soon as our vehicle was checked at the gate and we payed our fee we could explore this beautiful nature reserve.
As soon as we entered the park we ran into lots and lots of antilopes. We started to take pictures like crazy but we soon discovered that the antilopes were everywhere. At a maximum speed of 50kms per hour we drove to the north of the park, where our 'rest camp' was situated. We read about Olifants (the rest camp) in the lonely planet and decided it would be our restcamp for a night.
Olifants is a beautiful restcamp next to the olifants river: a good place to spot the big 5. You can easily spot the hippos taking a morning bath in the river. You have your own little bungalow which is very simple but good enough for one night. Upon arrival at the restcamp we had an hour to unpack and to get ready for the sunset drive with a ranger.
The sunset drive took about 3 hours and we saw so many animals! And as soon as the sun set, we saw a hyena and her cubs and besides that we had three big lions walking in front of our car! Anyway: enough talking, let me show you the pictures!
Hi everyone,
During our third day in South Africa we woke up early to drive the so called 'Panorama Route'. We decided to do things a bit different and headed to the Pinnacle viewpoint first.
While we arrived somewhere around 11 in the morning at the first viewpoint, it was already above 25 degrees celcius. Very warm, esspecially when you compare it to the Netherlands, were the temperatures are somewhere around 5 to 10 degrees during daytime. We also headed to God's Window and Wonder view which were both pretty amazing as well.
Hello y'all!
After just one short night in the beautiful White House Lodge in White River, we woke up early to see the Chimpanzee Eden Sanctuary somewhere 15kms out of Nelspruit. I must say that monkeys in general and chimps specifically are my most favorite animals. So it was more than a dream coming true to visit the Jane Goodall institute.
The sanctuary is home to chimps that have been misplaced from their natural habitats in Africa. They have two large groups of chimps who they gave back a protected natural habitat. You can't touch the animals, but you can look at them and see how they live. The sanctuary is located in a beautiful nature reserve which makes it even more amazing! It was a fun day and I would really advise anyone who is going to South Africa to visit this beautiful sanctuary!
Hi everyone!
At first I would like to apologize for my absence. I made a couple of posts in advance, but by far not enough to cover each day that we were enjoying South Africa. But we're back, and back in business!
So no, we didn't went to Cape Town. The flight was completely full and two days before the start of our holiday we changed our plans. I arranged an extra day off and so we departed one day earlier to... Johannesburg! Still South Africa, but this flight had enough open seats for us and after some research we found some amazing things to do in the surrounding areas of Joburg.
The flight was 10,30 hours, but we managed to stay awake with lots of magazines and a movie or two. We arrived around 10PM and headed directly to our hotel in Joburg. It's not a fun place to be; the townships of Johannesburg. It actually can be very dangerous: it's very important to lock the doors of your car and to be aware of people strolling around traffic lights. I'm sure Joburg has amazing places, but you need to be carefull in some areas in town. But oh well, we were there just for one short night.
