Day 288 May 20 2015 St. Lucia South Africa

Isabel and the happy hippo

some of the many hippos we saw in St. Lucia

sun going down over the hippos and the river

Isabel enjoying the river cruise

actually enjoying the river cruise

being entertained by a chicken at the cheese farm

Day 288  May 20 2015  St. Lucia  South Africa

We woke up shortly after 7 am and surfed the internet and enjoyed a coffee.  In the afternoon we went to a cheese farm where we had lunch.  It was one of the worst meals we have had on the trip and it left Evy and Me with indigestion.  At 3 pm we went on a 2 hour river cruise through the St. Lucia estuary.  We got some really good views of hippos and crocodiles.  David said that he was not impressed with the hippos and crocs as “after Kruger nothing compares”.  He told us that he would not take his kids to Kruger first as it wrecks the rest of the trip.  I do understand where he is coming from as Kruger is an amazing place.  

Day 287 May 19 2015 St. Lucia South Africa

grilling pork chops

a forced candle light supper due to rolling blackouts

seeing who can keep their nose on the ice the longest!  Isabel won!

Day 287  May 19 2015  St. Lucia  South Africa

We drove 4 ½ hours to reach St. Lucia. We followed the national route N2. It was surprising to find so many narrow or unpaved roads as part of the main highway system of the country. There were stenches of 4 lane nicely paved roads and all of the sudden the pavement ended and the road became a dirt lane sometimes with a person waiving flag as indication of the road construction. There is an energy shortage in the country so the hotel gave us a schedule for the blackout times during our stay. It was a good thing one of us paid attention to the blackout times because I took the kids to the pool and forgot all about it. By the time we were back Sam had prepared a great bbq candlelight family dinner. 

Day 286 May 18 2015 Ermelo South Africa

You have to be a close family in this hotel! There is no door on the bathroom!!

doing homework in Ermelo South Africa

Day 286  May 18 2015  Ermelo  South Africa

We left the hotel relatively early and stopped at a nearby Wimpy’s to use the wi-fi. The kids were happy to order a second breakfast as we all have enjoyed the food at this chain. We did not have a clear idea of where we were going or how far we wanted to drive so it took us some time to research, plan and book the hotel for the night. Once we decided on the route and booked a hotel we were on our way. Within 10 minutes driving out of town we passed a slow moving truck at the start of a small hill. The markings the on road where small passing lines surrounded by 2 continuous lines. We promptly discovered this is not a passing line marking, the information came with an expensive price tag: 750 ZAR “donation or you can call it a bribe” to the traffic police that was waiting at the top of the hill and pull us over. We considered this the best option as the official way would had cost us between 1500 to 3000 ZAR and force us to go back to town to take care of the fine. After this little incident we are making sure of the markings on the road before either of us attempt to pass a slow moving vehicle.

When we check-in at the hotel the receptionist inform us he could not find our booking and the room shown on my copy of the booking was in their second hotel in a separate building at the other side of town. Instead of giving us the address he asked us to wait for someone to come and guide us to the place. The ad on the booking stated a family room with kitchen and a separate entrance. When we arrived at the “hotel” we were shown to a nice room at the end of the hall: no separate entrance, no separate kitchen and no bathroom door. The manager offered to adjust the price and reimburse our credit card. Only time will tell if it comes thru.   

Day 285 May 17 2015 Komatipoort South Africa

waiting for the sunrise drive to start

we got up too early for this!

this guy was getting ready to take out the SUV

just another rhino

"the last supper" in Kruger

a chameleon crossing the road

Day 285  May 17 2015  Komatipoort  South Africa

We made the mistake of taking the 3 hour sunrise drive this morning.  We had to be at the meeting point at 4:45 am.  We did not see very many animals the ones we did see were far away.  We got back to the camp at 8 am and we ate breakfast and packed up.  We left the camp at 10 am and drove towards the Crocodile Bridges gate.  On the way we saw the expected giraffes, rhino, impala, elephant, wildebeest, zebra, hippos, crocodiles and buffalo.  We also saw a dung beetle rolling his ball of dung across the road and a lion dragging a freshly killed impala.  One of the elephants that we saw started walking towards the car then stopped and shook his head and started to swing his foot a bit.  He then blew his trunk onto the ground causing a cloud of dust to rise.  I immediately backed up a 100 feet but the elephant still looked like he was getting ready to charge.  I backed up another 100 feet and he eventually went back to the tree that he had been eating.  Getting stared down by an elephant that is substantially larger than the vehicle is defiantly a reason to be concerned.   We checked into the hotel shortly after 1 pm then went looking for a restaurant.  We could find nothing open in the town we were in so we decided to drive the 50 km to the Berg-en-dal rest camp to eat at the camp restaurant.  On the way to the camp we saw zebra, elephant, giraffe and wildebeest as well as a chameleon crossing the road.  After supper we took the gravel road towards the gate and got really close to a few rhino, giraffe and an elephant.  We also spotted a grey rhebok which was another animal that we had not yet seen.  We are done visiting Kruger and it has been an amazing experience and enjoyed by everyone.    We were expecting to be planning our next few days at the hotel but the internet does not work.  We know we are heading toward the St. Lucia estuary but do not have a clue what is available for accommodation or what there is to see around the area.  I guess we will be looking for a restaurant or coffee shop that has internet access tomorrow.

Day 284 May 16 2015 Lower Sabie Rest Camp Kruger National Park South Africa

sunrise at Kruger

looking at more hippos 

the first lions we saw

at another view point near Lower Sabie

I can still carry him

If you get eaten it is your own fault

Day 284  May 16 2015  Lower Sabie Rest Camp  Kruger National Park  South Africa

We were out the gate at 6 am and went for a 2 hour ride.  It was nice to see the sun rise over Kruger.  We saw our first lions of the trip.  We came across a pride of 8 female lions and 2 cubs.  We have been very fortunate and have seen the “big 5” plus many other animals and birds.  On the drive in the morning we also saw 2 eagle owls, several rhinos, giraffe, buffalo, hippos, crocodiles, wart hogs, impalas and zebras.  We also saw another new animal, a slender mongoose. 

Day 283 May 15 2015 Lower Sabie Rest Camp Kruger National Park South Africa

checking out the crocodiles and hippos

looking for lions

a klipspringer

at a view point on the way to Lower Sabie

enjoying the break from being in the car

some of the first rhinos of the trip

Day 283  May 15 2015  Lower Sabie Rest Camp  Kruger National Park  South Africa

We drove from Satara to Lower Sabie taking mainly gravel roads.  The driving distance was about 150 km but it took from 10 am to 5:20 pm as we were driving slow most of the way.  The new animals of the day were white rhinos and klipspringer.  The female and male klipspringer took turns jumping onto a rock really close to the passenger window to pose for a picture.  We also saw a massive herd of buffalo, there had to be more than 500 of them.  We stopped at one of the best view points we have been to in Kruger.  It was overlooking the reservoir of the Orpen dam and we saw 2 baby hippos on the bank and many large hippos eating in the water.  There were also many crocodiles both on the bank and in the river.  There were also birds, elephant, buffalo and impala.  In the night the kids went swimming in the pool then we dropped large ants onto a nest of small ants and watched them attack and eat the large ones.  It was interesting to see how a tiny ant would grab the leg of the big ant and hold him until reinforcements came and overwhelmed the large ant eventually killing it.

Day 282 May 14 2015 Satara Rest Camp Kruger National Park South Africa

one of our lunch time visitors

a stop for lunch near Satara

just another giraffe

just another warthog

just another elephant

just another tourist

Day 282  May 14 2015  Satara Rest Camp  Kruger National Park  South Africa

The temperature reached 38 deg C today; we were very happy we had air conditioning in the car.  On the drive from Orpen to Satara we saw many elephants, giraffes, buffalo, zebra, impala and a troop of baboons.  When we stopped at a picnic spot we saw a few dwarf mongooses.   Once we reached Satara we signed up for another 3 hour sunset drive which left camp at 4:30 pm.  On the drive we very lucky and saw 2 cheetahs and a leopard while it was still daylight.  The first cheetah was fairly far away but the second one was only 20 meters away from us and sitting down watching.  The leopard crossed behind the truck did not seem in a rush to go anywhere so we got a good look at it as well.  Once we got the spot lights out we saw 2 civet cats, an african wild cat, 2 spotted hyena one of which was using a culvert for a den and was lying down at its mouth only a few feet from the truck.  We also saw giraffe, zebra, buffalo, blue wildebeest, warthog, waterbuck, elephant and a few other animals.  It was a great drive.