Our travels
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About us
 Wednesday 10 september A few minutes before 8 the telephone rings. It is Erica the taxi was late and she will not be at Schiphol Airport at 8:30. We imagine how it looks inside the taxi, all passengers including Erica are ver nervous and the van is just standing there in the traffic jam. When we arrive at Schiphol we meet Kees, Marry and Lenie. We decide to check in our lugguage and go for a coffee. Just as we finished the coffe Erica is calling again, she finally arrived. Time enough to have a coffe too. There is a huge queue at Gate F7. After we passed the security check we can walk straight into the airplane. At 10:30 the 'Beijing', our Boeing 
747, is airborne.Three movies and two meals later we arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa. We are the last ones to get a stamp at customs. This means we don't have to wait for our lugguage, it is already there. At the car rental office we are helped immediately. In space L28 we find our silver Toyota Quantum, a luxury van met darkened windows. It is only a short ride to the Airport Grand hotel. We have a last drink in the bar and go for a good night sleep. But a hotel next to the airport has one disadvantage. The airplanes are here al night. Never the less we slept well. Thursday 11 september 
The sun is shining brightly when we wake up, it promisses a nice warm day. Breakfast at eight. It is a breakfast buffet where you can choose
anything you might want, and more. We take our time and discuss the plans for the day to come. Our first action is crossing the road to the
largest mall of Johannesburg, the East Rand Mall. Get some money from the ATM and buy some drinks and sweets.
Then it is time to leave the city. Our first attempt is not the right one, but after a short detour we manage to find the road to the
'Cradle of the Humankind'. This is an area is where the eldest skeletons of humanoids were found. Hence the name.
Our first stop is at the Sterkfontein Caves. The caves are not very special, but it is the place where the famous skeletons of 'Mrs. Ples' and 'littlefoot'
were found. Mrs. Ples is a Australopithecus scull of 2.1 million years old, littlefoot is an almost intact skeleton of the same species but he is
dated from 3 million years ago.
While we take a tour through the caves a group of scientists is digging, but we can't have a look in that area. We bought a combination ticket to the Sterkfontein caves and Maropeng, an interactive museum about the birth of the earth and humankind. The building has the shape of a burial mounds (called Tumulus). The museum starts with a boatride through the elements water, fire, air and earth. Next you can explore many interactive stands which explain how the earth and humankind were born. It was an interesting day, but it didn't feel like "welcome home" like the guide at Sterkfontein wanted us to believe. It is only a short dive to our lodge for the coming two nights: the Heia Safari Ranch. Immediately after the gate we see some impala, springbok, blesbok and zebra. Between the rondavels we notice the giraffe the website promissed us. The rondavels are spacious, with a lovely veranda and a huge bathroom. Time to have a tea on the veranda and enjoy the antilopes wandering on the grounds. At 7 we go to the restaurant for dinner. The portions are big, too big for us. If we had known we would have passed on the first course. The waiter has some difficulties with splitting the bill, but at the third attempt all is well. Tired but satisfied we go to our rondavels.  On the map at the right you can find the airport, the Heia Safari Ranch and Pilanesberg (our next destination). Maropeng, the Cradle of the Humankind, is located between Mulderdrift and the rhino of the Heia Safari Ranch. Click on the map for more info about the gameparks. Friday 12 september What a disappointment, when we wake up the sun is gone. It is clowded. But with the wildlife roaming free around the rondavels it promisses to be a nice day. Lenie starts the day with with two giraffes in front of her door. And while we are enjoying breakfast  a group of 10 zebras is coming to the pool to drink. In the morning we walk around the campgrounds, near the lake we see several waterbirds, like the fisheagle and the goliath heron. On land we encounter wildebeest, several groups of impala and springbok, a giraffe family and we meet the grazing zebra's. After a snack for lunch we go for our first gamedrive in an open jeep. Our driver is not the talking kind, but he tells the right stuff about the animals we see. The jeep takes us to the other side of the lake there we find an ostrich with eggs. First the female is watching over the eggs, but late in the afternoon, just before the sun went down we pass again and the male is garding the nest. Our guide tells us, that he stays there all night. His black body is a good camouflage during the dark hours.  The elandantilopes have young ones. And we cross the path with a rhino family. The father is rubbing himself on an old anthill to get rid of the parasites. And it looks like he is enjoying that. Other animals we see in this small gamepark are hartebeest, black wildebeest and blue wildebeest, a buffelo, hippo and ofcourse herdes of zebra and impala. Birds like plovers and guineafowl. Back in camp the giraf is waiting for us. We go to our rondavels to freshen up for diner. The restaurant is crowded. The large groups go for the buffet, but we decide to chose a la carte. Today we are warned and go straight for the large portion of the main course. Maybe we will have room for some dessert later. The waitress has a better system, she just wrote six orders and splitting the bill is childswork. 
 Our other pictures of the Heia Safari Ranch are at http://tomengonnie.multiply.com Saterday 13 september 2008 Again it is clowded.  But the animals don't seem to care. Before breakfast we spot monkeys, peacocks, impala and giraffe all near our rondaval.
After breakfast we leave for the Northwest Province. At the Hartbeestpoortdam we make a photostop and have coffee at
Tan Malie se winkel.
Around one in the afternoon we arrive at Pilanesberg Gamepark. After buying a ticket we go straight for the lodge. Our rooms in the Bakubung Bush Lodge are spacious and have a lovely terras outside. As the lodge is inside the crater the game can walk by. But during our stay we only see birds and a couple of vervetmonkeys. Although the sun is high in the sky and the animals are probably hiding in the shade we go for a gamedrive at 2. Nevertheless we spot a lot of animals like elephants, rhino, steenbok, impala, zebra, wildebeest, waterbok and baboons. At seven we review the day at dinner. Dinner is served in buffetstyle. You can eat absolutely everything here. The buffet is simply too much. After the saladbar i am full. Kees decides he don't want to pass on desserts though. Sunday 14 september At 6 in the morning it is time to go for a gamedrive in our own minivan in the Pilanesberg Game Reserve. Ofcourse we are not the first and absolutely not the only ones in the park. 
This morning we see an other animal from the big five, the buffelo. A large herd is walking about hundred meters from the road. The telelens
is just capturing them. People in an oncoming vehicule tells us about a troup of lions somewhat further on. But how much effort we make, we
can't find them. Well maybe this afternoon.The breakfastbuffet is as alrge as the dinner buffet. It is just impossible to taste everything. After breakfast we take some relaxing time in the camp. Try to photograph some birds and have a coffee. At 2 we leave again to find the lions. And we manage to locate them this time. But they are very far away. Maybe another time, another troup. We still have some safari time left. Very special was the brown hyena, which surprised us and was to quick to capture on film. All the pictures we did get are on our Multiply Page. 7 is the time for dinner again. And again we eat too much. Kees offers to pay for the drinks. But it seems some higher power forbids it. First he names the wrong room number. Then we didn't calculate the amount right and the third time the waitrees is coming back it turns out we all have my last name in the computer, as i booked the three rooms....  This maps shows the gameparks in Limpopo, we are heading for next. Pilanesberg is at the left bottom. First we will visit Mabula, northeast of Pilanesberg. After that we will drive to Kololo. Kololo is not the map but is neighbouring Welgevonden, north of Mabula. From Kololo we will make a gamedrive in Welgevonden, which is Big Five country. Our last gamepark is Mabalingwe, next to Mabula. Monday 15 september 2008 The gates open at 6 this morning and we are there. Now we know where to find the lions and we go for it. This time it is much easier to spot them, but they still are a fair distance from the road. It is telelens time again. But we do manage to find the brown hyena too. This time he walks through the high grass and is carrying a piece of meat. But because of the high grass it is not such a nice view fro our cameras. Back to he lodge for, once again, a very large breakfast buffet. Because it is my birthday today, the others bought me a present. It is an apron with african design. So at home during cooking i can think of this trip. It is time to pack our bags. Once more we cross the entire Pilanesberg Gamepark from south to north  but still we didn't see elephants up close. And this park is known for elephants...The road to Mabula is dull. We drive through the dry bushveld, a large fire on the shoulder of the road is a welcome distraction. But when we are there we are glad we can pass without burning something. This so called controled fire, is not under control anymore. Suddenly we see a large green spot. It is an area with some agriculture businesses. But it is just a few fields of grain and then are in the dry bushveld once again. All the way up to Mabula Private Game Reserve. The website of our lodge had a not so detailed direction page. We printed the map, it stated the lodge was next to the Mabula Gate. But the guard at the gate doen't know a Sable Lodge. And we are not the list of expected guests. He walks inside his guardhouse to make a call. I am getting a little bit woried. What if this lodge doesn't exist? That teaches me to book from the internet and pay upfront. I am thinking of solutions, where to find accomodation for six? But then all seems well, the Sable Lodge does exsist. We have to report at the timeshare reception. But they also are puzzled by the name Sable Lodge. What number is it? Finally we are presented with a map and the receptionist points out the very last lodge on the map. At the Sable Lodge they do expect us. The housekeeper is very friendly and shows us the livingroom, the kitchen and our seperate cabins. After that Rebecca arrives, the ranger and general manager. We arrange a gamedrive at 4, and go to our cabins to relax. When we get into her jeep we ask Rebecca to find elephants for us. She is asking around on the radio, has anybody seen them?  There not that many elephants in the park.
But she trying hard to find some tracks. Other rangers call in the elephants are closeby. First we see the tracks and then we see a group of them
walking parralel to the road. Not much further we find ther est of the herd in the water between the reeds, near a dam.
We stay on the dam for a while and see them come out of the water. They turn left straight onto the dam in our direction. Rebecca backs up to the
end of the dam and they pass us gracefully.
Time to have a sundowner. For the occasion, it is after all my birthday, i ordered some sparkling south african wine. What a great way to
end a perfect day. The beautiful orange glow of the setting sun, the wine, the elephants.In the Sable Lodge there is no restauarant so we go to the Mabula Lodge for dinner. There are only a few guests and there is no buffet. We can chose from the barmenu. We go for game, impala carpaccio, kudu wrap, warthog stew, it is all good and tasty. It is like a birthday meal. Tuesday 16 september 2008  We decided to skip the morning gamedrive, but it doesn't keep us from waking up at 6. It is the time for the warthog to pass through camp and see if there are any leftovers. The birds start to sing and the sun is coming over the horizon. After breakfast, at the Mabula lodge, we go for a walk. Weather is good, the sun is shining and there is a light breeze. The surrounding are beautiful and despite the route is not very well signposted we have a nice walk. We didn't see any game during our walk, but maybe that is for the best.  Back at the Mabula Lodge we visit the reptile centre. It is a small building that houses some small crocdilles and a few snakes. We walk to the hippopool, the viewing deck is awesome, but no hippo in sight. Although the viewing deck is a great place to sit, it is shaded, there is no bar here. So we go to the lodge to have a drink and a snack for lunch. The toasted ham and cheese sandwich with chips is getting us through the rest of the day. We still have some relaxing time left before our afternoon gamedrive.  Today we find a herd of buffalo. They are grazing and we get very close to them. And not much further three rhinos cross the road. A male is following a female and her young. He is clearly interested in her and doesn't want anyone to even look at them. He sprays in our direction to show who is the boss here. As we are the only guests in the park tonight there is no buffet at the Mabula lodge and Rebecca has ordered some meat and salads so we can have a braai in the house. There is gemsbok sausage, eland on a stick, lamb and chicken. In short it is too much for our small dutch stumics. And we keep the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Wednesday 17 september 2008 
It is a quarter past six when Rebecca drives us to the Mabula Lodge. There we get into another jeep with driver Stanley. He will bring us to the
seperate area where they keep the lions. The lions are owned by the Mabula Lodge so we have to go on a gamedrive organised by the Mabula Lodge.
Patrick, Rebeccas'husband is the manager of the lion area. While we are trying to follow the liontracks Patrick already found them. He tells
the good news to Stanley over the radio. We are very closeby and arrive as the first jeep. Three lionesses are lying on the road. After a while
we backup so another jeep can have a look. We take another path and approach the lions from the other side. There we see a male lion. He stands up
and walks into the grass ,
there he finds another male. He is not amused and they growl and threaten eachother. But then things calm down.
We drive back to the Mabula Lodge where we enjoy breakfast.Just after ten Rebecca picks us up again. We decide to have a relaxing day. Ofcourse we go on a gamedrive with Rebecca in the afternoon. We set standards high and ask her to find the Roan antilope. But because there is much wind, the game is seeking shelter in the bushes and we don't see much animals at all. Certainly not the roan antilope. Tonight it is a busy night at the Mabula Lodge. A chinese touristgroup is staying here. The occasion for the lodge to organise a night in the Boma. There are Zulu dancers with a spectaculair act. They dance in the fire. As the fire is burning all night we are sure it is very hot. This is our last night in the Mabula Game Park, and we enjoyed our stay. Our other pictures can be found at tomengonnie.multiply.com Thursday 18 september 2008 A relaxing morning. Ofcourse we wake up on time, but we can easily have a look around and see how the birds wake up. We have breakfast at 8:30 and after that we pack our bags and settle the bill with Rebecca. After we payed our conservation fee at the timeshare reception we leave Mabula at 11:00. Next destination is Kololo. In Bela-Bela, a resort town with warmwaterbaths, all roads are good and wide. It is not clearly marked which is the mainroad and it takes us a while to find the road to Nijlstroom. 
But we find a supermarket, here we buy some water and they have an ATM so we can get some money. In the hall of the supermarket a man is playing
on a keyboard. Suddenly we recognise: "Tulips from Amsterdam", strange to hear this so far from home. A Vaalwater we turn into a dirtroad.
Along this road we see several gameparks and it doesn't take
long before we see some game, a sable antilope. A bit further we see some beeeaters nesting in the banks along the road. But the other
30 km is just a dust road. But we forget that easily once we arrived at Kings Chalet in
Kololo. Our chalet is a huge building, once the house of a hunter.
The building is filled with stuffed animals. From the enormous veranda we are looking over the park and the neighbouring Welgevonden.
A nice place to enjoy the bottle of wine we bought in the restaurant.
Friday 19 september 2008 Yesterday we booked a tour for 6 this morning to the neighbouring Welgevonden. It is not far. Out Kololo Gate, right and directly in the next gate into Welgevonden Game Reserve. First we have to fill in some forms to waver any responsibility, but then we can look for the Big 5. 
First big game we see are rhinos. But we have seen them plenty and we want more. The guide says he sees lions. He must have very good eyes,
because none of us can find them. But when he drives on we all see a male lion coming out of the high grass. A lioness is following him.
The male has blood around his mouth, one can see he has eaten recently. But the lioness is skinny, he probably ate it all. The male crosses
the road and disappears again in the grass. The female hestitates, should she follow? But them hunger wins and she turns back to the field
with the impalas. (you can see this dramatic story in our short movie, at the bottom of the page)The ranger is keen on getting us a third member of the big 5 and we follow elephant tracks for quiet a while. But it takes us very long to find the large elephant bull that made. It is 10 o'clock when we return to Kololo to have breakfast. Again this breakfast is much more than we are used to at home. And when the waiter asks us what time he make lunch for us, we politely thank him for the effort. Dinner at 7 that is enough. Back at Kings Chalet we see a spotted bushsnake crowling on our veranda. It glides up along the wall and disappears in the reed roof. Time to go and discover Kololo. At the reception, where Tom picks up a mountainbike and i ask for a map with walkingroutes, we show a ranger the picture we took of the snake. He is excited, a good picture, and he recognizes the snake immediately. He tries to calm us, it is a harmless species, but we were absolutely not afraid. He had better calm down his female collegue, she freeks out. A snake under your bedroom roof? The routes on Kololo are short ones and i follow several routes so i can explore the entire grounds. In two hours i have seen all four corners. Back in the chalet a refreshing shower and a cup of tea. No sign of our house snake. At the end of the afternoon we go for a gamedrive on Kololo and then i see there is some game. When you walk in the field the animals can hide before you are in the area. But a jeep is much faster. We see giraffes, impalas, zebras, blesbok, kudu and more. At the top of a hill we enjoy a drink while the sun is setting. Saturday 20 september 2008 Breakfast is outside, but our table is in the shade. With the amount of wind today, we don't think it is a good idea. So we move our table until it is in the sun.  After an endless breakfast,
we get 6 mountainbikes from the shed. Today we are going for a ride with the six of us. After trying some bikes for size we manage to find good
ones. First we ride to the river, after that we turn at the gates of Grootfontein. The game is staying away from us, but still we have a great time.
After this physical effort we go for lunch. At Kololo they know how to serve a light lunch. It is a piece of lasagna with some salad. Just enough
for us. Time to relax at our chalet. At the end of the afternoon we go for another gamedrive on Kololo. The jeep is packed with guests, and the
children are not quiet at all. But still we see more game than yesterday. The giraffes are teasing the wildebeest and zebras. And in the woods two
Blesbok go for supremacy. A lovely end of a good day. Again dinner is a bit too much, but it tastes so good... Escpecially the dessert, with lots and
lots of amarula.Sunday 21 september 2008 After breakfast it is time to pay our bill. At Kololo they charge 3% extra if you pay by creditcard. No problem we pay cash. But that is not to their liking, they don't want so much cash money in the house. Well that is not our problem. 
We take our time while driving back to Bela-Bela, some photostops and a good lunch at a padstal. The homemade pie and the icetea, made of syrup,
are just a welcome break. It is just after two when we enter the gates of Mabalingwe Game Reserve. Immediately after the gate we see an ostrich couple with young chicks.The guard at the gate tells us to folllow a sandtrail for 7 kilometers, signs will lead us to the Itaga Lodge. Before we get there we see nyalas and a young giraffe. Because we stop for pictures and to enjoy the animals it takes us an hour to get there. The staff empties our van while we are enjoying a welcome drink. They even put the van in a shaded area. After we point out our lugguage the staff brings everything to our cabin. The cabins are nice, we even have an outside shower. At 4 there is what they call a high tea. Some snacks, sweet and salty, with a drink. The chef comes by to discuss the menu for tonight. There is something on it for everybody, but is promisses to be a lot. Our guide Wade asks what we want to drink on the gamedrive and we leave at 4:30. We see lots of nyala during the gamedrive but no elephants as Wade wanted us to see. Dinner is good as expected. We end the day with a coffee at the campfire. Monday 22 september 2008 At 6 we get some coffee, tea and biscuits from the restaurant. And 6:30 we climb in Wades jeep. Again he tries to find the elephants. 
The area where they were seen yesterday is nithing but dry bushveld though. But we see the regular game
like nyala, impala, giraffe, ostrich, warthog. The breakfast, or brunch as they call it, is ready when we return. And we are hungry after the
long search.
The rest of the day we can relax. First a good shower outside in the sun. Behind the bamboo screen the rockdassies are running around on the rocks.
In front of the restaurant they made a waterhole. This is the perfect place to sit and watch the animals. Many birds come by and a nyala with young
comes to have a drink. The nyala also like a taste of the waterplants. Behind the waterhole a warthog is shuffling around on its knees.Before we know it it 4 again. A beer with a salty snack or two. The chef is smiling from ear to ear when we compliment him on the menu. Wade packs the wine and beer and on we go, again camera hunting for elephant.But not one in sight. The sunset from a hilltop is great though. Wade doesn't give up easily and even though it is dark for an hour he is keeps on searching untill 8. We are hungry, but still the chef made us too much. A coffee with amarula at the campfire and on to bed. Tuesday 23 september 2008 A 5:45 a herd of nyala is coming into the camp. Time to get some tea and biscuits. Kees is ill, therefor Marry and Kees skip the morning gamedrive. Wade decides to hit another area of the park. At the other side of the mountain everything is much greener. There are some dams and they hold a reasonable amount of water. This means we see more game. But Wade desperately wants to show us the gray giants, and drives back through the elephant area. 
Again we have no luck. It is 10:30 when we arrive back at the lodge. Just before that we saw a rhino with young.
Today is a hot day. After the brunch we take a shower in the sun and we leave for the shade watching the birds. The day passes quietly until 4.
The usual ritual, snacks and ordering dinner, getting into the jeep. We ask Wade to go to the other side of the mountain again. Because we are
sure we can see more animals there. And it is true, after we see some oryx, far away on a hill, a group of tsessebee crosses the road.
And in the dark we see some night animals like the watermongoose and a nightswalow.
Wednesday 24 september 2008 We decided to skip the morning gamedrive because we want to have some time for packing for our trip home. Wade has the habit of staying out very long. But still we are up early. So we get some tea and enjoy the animals that are showing themselves at this early hour. 
After the brunch we leave Mabalingwe. We see a last rhino with young and then the safari is over. We have enough time to get to the airport as our
plane leaves tonight. At the old trainstation of
Beestekraal we have a drink at the terras. They made a nice restaurant/shop of the old station building. Certainly worth visiting.
Especially the signs in afrikaans, what reminds us of dutch are funny. Around noon we arrive at the Wildt Cheetah Centre. But a lot changed since our last visit. No visitors can enter that didn't book upfront. A pitty, but we have to find something else to do. We drive to the Hartbeespoortdam. A tourist spot in the area. But it is a public holiday today and everything is packed.In the end we find a spot to relax a little. At the Preller House (an african writer) we take a short walk. The house is not very interesting, because we don't know anything about this man that fought for the Afrikaans language. It is not clear how long the walk is and we decide to go on to the airport. Ofcourse we are far too early, but that leaves time to have a bite to eat and to shop. Only one night and we are home again...
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South Africa 2008
South Africa 2008