24 days: The Strange and Wonderful

We are coming to the end of our first month in South Africa. We have toured three distinct regions so far, and I find myself amazed at the beauty of each. Cape Town and the surrounding wine regions are stunning and there is so much to do that we could have easily spent 3 weeks in each area. And Kruger National Park and the nearby Panorama Route likewise kept us in awe with its amazing vistas and wildlife. I am looking forward to the next seven weeks as we discover four more regions: the wetlands of St. Lucia, the Dolphin Coast on the Indian Ocean, The Drakensburg Mountains, and the Famous Garden Route.

Today is the first day of inclement weather we have had in over 3 weeks. It is pouring rain so we have decided to stay home, kick back and do some reading and writing and wash some clothes. This week we have had the pleasure of staying in a 3 bedroom, two bath villa on the golf course at the Sabi River Sun resort. The resort grounds are quite stunning, built around natural marsh land, complete with hippopotamuses and monkeys. I almost wish I golfed...

We have a huge outdoor dining room with a large braai (a South African BBQ) that looks out over beautiful trees and a water feature. Braais are BIG in this country so most of our accommodations have had lovely outdoor areas. Unfortunately, here in this part of the country there is malaria, and while braais are popular, window screens are not. We are amazed that we find ourselves in this luxury villa, but cannot open our large patio doors to the braai area because the mosquitoes come in. Since our arrival here we have been annoyed that we are unable to open a door or window. We are both on malaria prophylactics, but are still a bit paranoid: might have something to do with getting dengue last year and typhoid in 2016.

This week ran into the strangest (and most frustrating) situation of all. I had booked a couple nights at an Airbnb in Hoesdpruit for us to stay in when we leave here. Hoedspruit is a small town where the airport is. It is kind of a gateway to the private safari lodges to the east and the mountains and Panorama Route to the west. We rented our car there upon arrival, and need to return it on the 26th before we go back to Joburg to catch our flight down to Durban. This week I discovered Hoedspruit does not have any public transportation: no busses, no Ubers, and no taxis. So once we return our car, we have no way to get to our overnight accommodation, and no way to get to our shuttle the next morning. After spending hours trying to solve this conundrum, we ended up having to book another accommodation - thus paying for two nights twice. The new accommodation is next door to where our shuttle picks us up and a 15 minute walk from the airport where we have to drop the car. So Sunday will see us walking down the highway hoping to avoid wild animals. It’s crazy! With our luck, that is when we will see leopards! People come to Hoedspruit from all over the world to safari, and there is no such thing as a cab?? Seriously? I suspect the reason is because all the safari lodges have their own jeeps that pick people up at the airport, and no one, except me I guess, bothers to stay overnight in Hoedspruit. Sigh.

Safari is an experience everyone should try to have, and while private reserve safaris are incredibly expensive (our two days cost over $3200), it does not have to be that way. This week, for the cost of my time share exchange fee ($300), a rental car ($10/day) and $80/day in park fees, we have experienced the thrill of seeing animals in the wild. We have seen as many animals on our own, as we did with the guide and trackers at Simbavati River Lodge.

Self driving in Kruger was fantastic. January is the worst time of year to do it - and we knew that coming in, however, we were awed by the sightings we did see. We got VERY close up to elephants, giraffe, zebra, warthog, water buffaloes, kudu, impala, sable antelope, hyenas, water buck, and countless buzzards, eagles, kingfishers and other beautiful birds. We also saw crocodile, baboons, vervet monkeys, hippos, turtle, lizards, and rhinos. Unfortunately we did not see any lions or leopards. We spent 24 hours driving on our own in search of them, but were not successful. However, being held hostage by an angry giant male elephant, and almost hitting a girafe with the car when it stepped out from behind a tree, and having to back up a long way on a skinny scary road because 50 water buffalo decided to use the road to come our way, all made up for the pesky felines who eluded us.

So my best advice to you if you are considering a trip to South Africa is to - if you can afford it - do both like we did! A 2-3 day private reserve safari and a few days self driving in Kruger. Staying in Hazyview is the perfect location for that as it is 30-60 minutes to all the major Panorama Route sights (caves, waterfalls, canyons etc), 10 minutes to the Kruger Park gate, and there are lots of high quality time share resorts here.

So 24 days into this epic journey and we are mostly thrilled with our choice to come to South Africa. For the most part we have felt safe, and we are impressed with how clean everything is - a nice change from the endless dirty streets of Mexico. Stay tuned for more adventures  and be sure to check out all the pictures and videos on my Facebook page.

PS Since posting this, it has come to my attention that the airport I thought we were returning our car to, that was a 15 minute walk to our accommodations, is not the airport we actually have to go to. Turns out it would be a three hour walk from the real airport. So after much more scrambling we have found someone who for 430 Rand (about 43 CAD) will drive us. Sheesh.