Category: 2019-04 US South Africa

Since we bought a brand new tent, we decided to use it for a few days. Today we went by Uber to the rental station to rent a PickUp Ford Ranger. It became a Nissan NP 300. The rental took a little longer, because we had to set up our credit card first because of the considerable deposit (2500€). By the way, May 1st is also a public holiday here. In the Addo Elephant Park we pitched our tent and warmed up a can of Schakalaka for supper. The stars are shining and the crickets are chirping. Good camping weather! 24 degrees during the day and 14 degrees at night.

Again, we have seen elephants, zebras, kudus, warthogs, monkeys and birds along the way.

Silke

A nice lazy day with sleeping in, baking bread, a little planning and a short walk through the neighborhood. We wanted to visit an outdoor store but the road to it was blocked by a gate. Almost all properties are protected by high walls and fences , some with additional electric fence. A local resident , who was just walking his dog. Gassi went, has told us that there have been many robberies and burglaries and one therefore closed off the street. It turned out that the man 52 years ago from Wolfsburg emigrated here. We talked a little nicely and then he drove us nicely in his car to the store. We bought another new sleeping bag for me and camping cookware. We went back by Uber, because it had started to thunderstorm.

Silke

Finally we slept in again. Until about 7:30! We spent the whole day planning and researching on our little terrace. In between we ate breakfast and dinner!

Silke

PS: our landlord came home from a boat trip in the afternoon and told us about hundreds of dolphins he had seen off the coast. At the moment, large schools of porgies are being pushed towards the coast with warm water and the dolphins come to fish.

Today, after a coffee, we took an Uber from our accommodation to the airport. At 9:45am our plane took off with safair to Port Elizabeth.

The planes are especially pretty decorated with hearts! In PE we took an Uber again to our accommodation “Relaxed City living”; a nice apartment. We walked to the supermarket about 2-3 km away and bought food. Today we had grilled vegetables, baguette and beet salad.

Silke

At 6:00 am the gates of the camps and gates of the park open. Shortly after, a caravan of different vehicles sets off. “Morning Game Drives . We should have followed the jeeps as we heard afterwards that they had spotted lions at the “Hippo Pool”.

You have to remind yourself every now and then what a great place this is, with how many beautiful animals. Much too fast you get used to the sight of the exotic animals and are only fixated on the ones you haven’t seen yet, just the lions. There is a giraffe running next to the road, or a herd of monkeys playing in the tree, the hippos splashing in the water and an elephant causing a small traffic jam because it doesn’t want to leave the road. …

A vulture, osprey or stork hardly stands out there. Let alone the small birds, squirrels or geckos.

4 of the Big 5 we have seen in the last few days. Elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhino. It’s a bit like playing hide and seek with the animals. You look out of the car all day and scan the area. The lions won this time. We almost saw another one just before the gate. At least ten cars and jeeps were standing there by the road searching the bush. But the lion must have lain down in the thick grass and taken a midday nap. We drove out of the park and dropped off the car in Johannesburg. We checked in again at the Terrylin Guesthouse near the airport and ate our sandwiches and noodle soup in the dining room.

Silke

Today we drove from Olifants Camp to Crocodile Bridge Camp in the south of the Kruger Park. At the bridge over the river we were stopped by a gang of baboons. At the Tshokwane Picnic Site where we took a short break, a monkey ( Vervet Monkey) stole my apple!

Zebras were grazing on the side of the road. We saw buffalo, crocodiles, hippos, impalas, kudus, eagles, vultures, hyenas and elephants.

We were even able to spot two rhinos just before Crocodile Bridge. Our bungalow had a kitchen again, so we prepared spaghetti with tomato sauce.

Silke

For breakfast we were visited by a Grey Go Away Bird and a Red billed Hornbill. Then we spent about an hour at the lookout point at Mopani Rest Camp watching the many elephants bathing. They were swimming and playing in the water. Whole herds kept coming and going from the bush.

Afterwards we went to Olifants Rest Camp where we rented a bungalow. At 16:30 the evening safari Sunset Game Drive started. We didn’t quite like the guide as he started off a bit unfriendly and listless. It was a larger jeep/bus with an open top and 30 guests. We were able to admire the sunset at the Olifantsriver and we saw many animals on our drive into the night. Elephants, giraffes, zebra, hippo, civet, hyena, springhare, kudu and impala, …. . In the distance we saw a thunderstorm in the night sky. Our absolute highlight today , a leopard. He was completely relaxed on the side of the road, but then went into the bush, because the flashlights probably annoyed him.

Silke

All night a buffalo was grazing behind our cabin and making noise. Early in the morning we saw him. Also an elephant came by the waterhole for a short while!

After a breakfast (funny: a frog sat on the coffee can) we all signed the guestbook and then it was time to say goodbye to Nyalaland. Chritopher delivered us punctually at 9:00 o’clock in the Punda Maria Camp again. Afterwards we went again to Mopani Camp, where we had booked a night game drive. The ranger Cindy drove us (6 guests) from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm through the park and told us a lot about the nocturnal animals. To meet an elephant at night on the road is very exciting. Elephants only sleep about 2 out of 24 hours.

We also spotted a hippo in the bush. At night they come out of the water and eat grass. Especially the males cover long distances. They can reach a speed of 40 Km/h on their short little legs.

We still saw Chameleon, African Civet, Genet and hyenas. And many bats were fluttering around our van.

Silke