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 South Africa 2010
A travel story about a 3 week trip through South Africa. We rented a Toyota van and travelled with 7 persons 3500 km from the
Johannesburg international airport. We visited Pilanesberg Game Reserve, the Blyde River Canyon, Klasserie Game Park, Swaziland, St. Lucia Wetlands
and the battlefields in KwaZulu Natal. Friday 23 july It is half past 2 when a bus from Taxi van der Laan enters our street. In the bus I see Peter, Willeke, Suzan, Marko and Marjolein. They come to pick me up. This bus will take us to Schiphol airport. The adventure starts. First we fly to München, where we will take another plane to Johannesburg. It rained in Münich. As we were not at a gate we had to run through the rain to catch the bus to the terminal. When we approached the terminal the bus made a sharp turn and rode back to the plane. There was still one passenger on board. We are happy we have plenty of time to transfer. First we find a place to get a drink and relax a little. At the gate of our SAA plane we have to scan our passports due to South African government regulations. After scanning we get new boarding passes. But something went wrong and we I get 4 boarding passes on my name, while all the other 'den Dekkers' don't have one. Back to scanning lady. It is all sorted out and we can go on board. It takes a long time before we leave. The captain announces that a hatch is not closing because of a damaged trolley. And finally after 1 hour they solved the problem and we leave for Africa.  Saturday 24 july At 09:00 we arrived in Jo'burg, through customs and collecting our baggage didn't take long. But Tom was already waiting for us. He came with a nice white Toyota van, in which we all had a window seat. It took us 90 minutes to leave Jo'burg behind us and drive into the Cradle of the humankind. The first stop was the Maropeng museum. This is the place to discover more about the beginning of the earth and mankind. The evolution is explained through interactive displays.  After a light lunch at the museum we drive on to our first accommodation. Immediately after the entrance gate of the Heia Safari Ranch we see our first game. There are giraffe, zebra, impala, blesbok and springbok. We rented three rondavels at the Heia Safari Ranch. we get the keys of number 49, 50 and 51 at the border of the lake. A beautiful view and the animals are walking by frequently. Time to celebrate Willeke's birthday with cake and a cup of tea or coffee. After that some of us go on a walk to find out what there is to see. Marko and Suzan find a feeding spot of the giraffes and the caretaker asks if they want to feed the giraffe. Yes, please !! At the end of the afternoon we have a drink at the terrace next to pool. while the zebra family is coming to drink from the pool. Tonight there is a buffet and because everything looks great we decide to have eat from the buffet instead of ordering from the menu. It turns out to be a good choice, everything also tastes good. Because we are very tired from the flight last night we go to bed very early.  Sunday 25 july When we wake up the sun is shining, it is promising to become a great day. We take it easy this morning. Breakfast at 08:00 in the restaurant. A 'real African' breakfast with fried eggs and bacon, but also healthy fruit. We booked a gamedrive to the Rhino & Lion Park at nine o'clock. The park is just under 30 minutes driving in the open jeep. Terrence is our driver and guide. He tells us all about the animals we see. This first gamedrive is a huge success. We see ostriches, blesbok, black wildebeest, impala, springbok, buffalo and rhinos. And next to it, in a separate area, also predators like cheetah, lion, white lion with young and wild dogs with pups, in the distance we see vultures circling in the sky.  Back at the Heia Safari Ranch we go for the light lunch at the edge of the swimming pool. The zebras are coming for a drink from the pool. The zonkey (a zebra and donkey crossbreed) is with the group. Time to have a look around the Safari Ranch. We walk to the dam at the start of the lake. On our way we meet some wildlife, a giraffe and a group impalas. Willekes' video camera stopped this morning. But we managed to get it started again. The camera is wrongly indicating the battery is down, but it still works. That is good because we are planning to see a lot more the next weeks. We end the day again on the terrace. Peter and Gonnie discover the beverage it is going to be this summer: Old Brown Sherry (OBS). We will drink lots of it over the next weeks. Marjolein chases a vervet monkey, and gets her picture of the blue balls and red dick. When Suzan wants to tell about it later she calls it the 'pervert monkey', a huge laugh follows. When we have dinner at 7, we are the only guests in the restaurant. We order a la carte, everything is great but we will have to get used to the huge portions. After the coffee, or tea, with amarula (a local liquor) the bill arrives. We can't believe it. Only 140 euro, three course dinner for 7 people including our drinks on the terrace earlier. Back to our rondavels, a cup of coffee (every rondavel has a hot water cooker and instant coffee and tea bags) Monday 26 july 
After breakfast we pack our bags and leave for Pilanesberg. Coffee at Tan Malie se Winkel, a convenient store from grandmothers time at the
Hartbeespoortdam. But we first we walk to the dam. The lake is not completely filled and there is no overflow or spillage of water.We have melkteert (a sort of cheesecake) or appelteert (applepie) with our coffee and enjoy the slogans on the wall in the afrikaans language. We can read and understand it, because it has the same old dutch as origin. The slogans can't be translated to english without losing their touch. On we go. It is a long straight road from here (70 km) before we arrive in Pilanesberg. A lost stop at Spar supermarket in Sun Village. Here we buy drinks and chips for the coming days. The Spar sells everything with the exception of beer and liquor (they do sell wine...) But that is no problem as there is a liquor store in the same mall. We buy a tray beer and a 2 liter bottle OBS, that must be enough for the coming three days. 
Before entering the Pilanesberg park we decide to have lunch at the Bakubung resort. While sitting on the terrace in the sun,
enjoying our toasted sandwich, we see a group of elephant in the park. They are far away, but are moving the direction of the road. We finish lunch
quickly and jump in the van. Camera ready, and there they are. Shortly after each other two groups cross the road right in front of us.
We drive through the park in the direction of the Manyana Resort, where we will stay for two nights. On our way we encounter several animals like rhino, hippo, impala and lots of bird species. Our chalets 44 and 45 are at the edge of the camp. While we are having a drink on our terrace giraffes pass by with the setting sun at the background. But it is too dark to get a good picture of it. We have dinner in the restaurant. On weekdays there is no buffet and we are allowed to pick something from the menu. Everyone chooses wild meat, like impala, kudu and eland antelope. It was great, but again half a portion would have been sufficient. No problem for Suzan though she manages to get a dessert in anyway. Despite the impolite and not very enthusiastic service we had a good night. Marjolein and Suzan play a game of chess with the large game outside before we return to the chalets. Tomorrow we want to see the sun rise so it is an early night again. Tuesday 27 july Early gamedrive today! At 6:00 a cup of coffee/tea with a rusk and at half past 6 we enter the park to spot the wildlife. Everybody was excited. We wanted to see something special. And we did, we saw 2 lions and 4 white rhinos right next to our van. And ofcourse there were all sort of antelopes and zebras. 
After two hours in the park we go back to Manyane Resort for breakfast. It is freezing cold in the restaurant, tomorrow we will close the doors.
But the breakfast was good and warming. So we packed up the van again, with enough water and cookies for the day.
We had a fantastic day spotting animals. Very special animals like rock dassies, steenbok and a group of hippo out of the water but the dead
elephant next to the waters edge was the hit of the day. Birds were picking inside his huge belly and the smell... it can't be described.
Suzan bought us a burger or sandwich for lunch in Pilanesberg center. Peter asked for giraffes and we did see enough of them. We did search for the lions at the end of the day, but didn't find them. Maybe tomorrow. Back to our chalet to enjoy the OBS, Castle and soda on our terrace. Dinner was good and with Audrey as our waiter we had a wonderful night. We did order to much and had to 6,50 Rand on top of our prepaid dinner. Luckily there was an ATM in camp. The only problem was the maximum amount (1000 Rand), so we all had to use our cards. We do need some money for the next days. We ended this perfect day with a drink in our chalet. Wednesday 28 july At 6 everybody gathers for coffee/tea in chalet 44. 
When the coffee is finished we jump in the car to find the animals. We are disappointed 'only' 4 rhinos this morning.
Back to the Manyane Resort for another great breakfast. Nice buffet, with different items from yesterday. Today our table is not in front of the open door, this makes a huge difference temperature wise. After breakfast they bring us a questionaire about service and things. We find it difficult to judge, one night we had great service, the other was lousy. So we end up with good, which could have been better if Audrey was there for two nights. Time to pack our bags, today we leave the park. We can't get enough of Pilanesberg and take a detour through the park hoping to see some more wildlife. We did see a lot of small stuff, like warthog, wildebeest, zebra and giraffe and so on. 
Just outside the park we see a donkey car, but the entire (straight) route of 400 km we only see large trucks.
It is a strange thing driving on SA highways. When you want to pass somebody, they will just move over to make space so
you can pass between them and the car coming the other way. After a short stop at a large truckstop with a Wimpy we go straight
on for another two hours. Then just 100 meters after a sign pointing straight ahead there is a sign which says Machadorp to the right (now).
Machadodorp was even smaller than we expected, there are many places where you can stay for the night, but that is it.
We stay in the Old Mill Hotel.
For 5 euro pp we order diner in the hotel. We get a great T-bone steak with baked potatoes and green peas, it was delicious. After dinner everybody
goes to their rooms to have a shower or just read a book. It is the end of the long day we needed to get to the nice places.
Thursday 29 july The english breakfast at the Old Mill Hotel cost just 4 euro pp, but it was absolutely delicious. After breakfast we went on to Graskop. 
It took us 3 hours driving through a lovely mountainous landscape. At Pelgrims Rest we made a stop to see the old golddiggers village.
In 1873 they struck gold here, in 1972 the last goldmine closed. Now it is not more than your average tourist town.
Many shops and a few restaurants. We chose one to have coffee (or beer) with applepie.Then we walk uphill to the old cemetery. The graves date back to height of the goldfever. One grave is positioned in another way than all the other graves. Here lies a man who was shot after he stole gold from of the golddiggers, The stone states: "robbers grave". Another grave tells us that he died in a gunfight with kaffirs (blacks). There were also graves of people who were born in Groningen, the Netherlands. On to Graskop. It is a bit disappointing in size. Very touristy place with lots of shops and accommodation. Many restaurants are only open during the day though. Maybe because it is winter, we don't know. We rented two 'logcabins'. First stop was the Spar to get bread and drinks. After a self made lunch we took some time to relax, read a book and play a game. Around 7 we go searching for a good restaurant. We end up in the LOCO, a restaurant in the old train station. Marko ordered a small beer. The waiter found that very funny, no one ever orders a small beer, unless it is a beginner. He even called it baby beer. The food was great en the atmosphere was good. Back in the logcabins we end the day with a drink. 
Friday 30 julyToday is a day filled with views and waterfalls. But it was a rainy night and the clouds are still here, it is a bit hazy too. After 6 days with eggs for breakfast we have to make our own breakfast today. And believe it or not, but after all the complaining, everybody has eggs, boiled or fried. At 10:00 we leave Graskop. After a few kilometers the view was less than 20 meters, the clouds were hanging low in the mountains. So we decide to drive by Gods Window and hope for a better view in the afternoon on our way back. After 20 kilometers the sun was breaking through the clouds. And we enjoyed the sight of the Berlin waterfall. It only cost 20 Rand (about 2 euro), to park and there was no extra admission fee. Very cheap site for 7 people. The waterfall was not the best we had ever seen, but it was worth stopping. The road we follow goes up and down and passes great natural areas. After a great lookout, where they are shooting a commercial for the new KIA sportage, we arrive at the lookout for the three rondavels. The peaks look like traditional african houses, the same we slept in at Heia. It is unbelievable to see  nature makes things we humans can't understand.
Next stop is Bourke's Luck Potholes. Here we see what water does to rocks. The Blyde and the Treur River carved a beautiful site into the mountains here. On our way back we stop at Gods Window, but there is still no good view. Back in Graskop we go for pancakes. At least they are open now. After lunch we pass an internet cafe on our way to the Spar. The girls are unstoppable. Just have a look who is on line... Because there is not much choice and we had a great dinner last night we go to the Loco for dinner. The waiter remembers us clearly and is able to order drinks without asking, 2 wine, 2 beer, 1 baby beer and 2 soda. It is rather busy in the restaurant tonight, probably because it is weekend. Saturday 31 july We slept in this morning and enjoyed a good home made breakfast. Then we packed our bags and brought the keys back to the reception. It is still hazy and cloudy. Nevertheless we trake a short detour to see if there is any view from Gods Window. 
It was slightly better than the day before, but not good enough. But we have to go, we have a reservation at
Africa on Foot.
It is a three hour drive, but there is enough to see along the way. Taxi vans are honking their horns and while speeding by. They have a good
day because it is saturday and many people want to visit the towns to do some shopping.
We pass houses made of old wooden planks and houses made of bricks, some live in nothing more than a tent, other shave a stone villa.
After passing the gate of the Klassserie Gamepark we had a long wobbly sand road in front of us. But driving through the park we did see some animals: 
warthogs, hornbills (birds), kudu and other antelopes.The Africa on Foot camp is located in the middle of nowhere. There are some cabins around a central tent. We have a choice of the cabins, some have an outdoor shower, some indoor. While having a drink in the bar the guide tells a story about a lion passing through camp this morning. Soon it is time for the afternoon snack. Followed by our first game drive. Jan takes us in a large open jeep, we are with 9 guests in total. There are blankets on the chairs because it will get cold when the sun goes down. The drive was not very good, animal wise. We did see giraffe and lots of antelopes. Special were the small owl and the dwarf mongoose. Our guide Jan stopped the motor so we could hear if the lions were still in the neighborhood. But it was quiet, nothing to hear except the snoring of one of the other guests. Back in camp we warmed ourselves near the campfire. After a good dinner we gathered around the fire for a drink and at 21:00 it was time to get to bed. What did we hear? Hyena, lion? Trying to sleep.... 
Sunday 1 augustAt 03:30 there is some noise outside. Not much later we hear it again. Later at breakfast Jan told us honeybadgers were looking for food in the kitchen. At 05:45 a knock on the door, wake up call. After a cup of coffee or tea with a rusk we go on our first game walk. Jan tells everything about the tracks we see. He also explained things about the vegetation. Far, far away we hear the roar of the lions. But they stayed far away. Jan is bird enthousiast and he spots lots of bird species just by their sound. Back at the camp it is time to freshen up before breakfast. After breakfast there is time to relax by the pool, reading a book, or try to spot wildlife from the treehouse. Lunch is at 14:30. After lunch we go for a gamedrive again. 
We spot many small animals before we hear a call over the radio, they spotted buffalo. Jan races to the spot they were seen last and then the searching
starts. They are far from the road in the bush. To get a better sighting we drive into the rough. Great experience. After the sundowner we did spot some nocturnal animals this time. An african wildcat and a genet. After a drink at the campfire there is food, again. The honeybadgers seem to smell it and come to see if there are spoils. Jan calls us to see how they chase 5 of them out of the kitchen. The other two guests, a mother and son from Turkey, didn't see an elephant and tomorrow it is their last safari. As we are also keen to see something more we suggest a drive tomorrow morning instead of a walk. Everybody agrees and Jan says we will even leave somewhat earlier to get the most out of it. Monday 2 august At 05:30 there is a knock on the door. We dress quickly and go to have some coffee and tea with a rusk. Before 06:00 we are in the jeep enjoying the 
beautiful nature. There is some excitement on the radio, a special sighting is reported. But we can't understand what animal, because the guides use an
african language for animal names. Jan leaves the elephant tracks we were folowing, so it must be very special. He is excited too and is refusing to
tell us what animals we are looking for. We know it is not elephant, not lion and not leopard, because these names we would have recognized.
We search with 9 pairs of eyes and then suddenly we see them, two cheetah brothers. We follow them for a while untill they are crossing the road and disappear in the bush at the other side. Time to go back to the elephant tracks. We do find an elephant, but it is not the huge one which tracks we followed. Our last sighting is something special too, a Cori Bustard, the largest flying bird of Africa. At 09:00 we are back in camp. After breakfast it is time to pack our bags. We have a long drive through the park before we get to the exit, but we see nothing special. On our route to Nelspruit we do some shopping in a large mall in Hazyview. Tonight we will have to cook for ourselves. Around 4 we arrive at Poort City, a house in a nature reserve. The area is great, but the house is not very special. Not much furniture, not even a dining table. No problem, it is only for one night. Tuesday 3 august The sun is shining when we wake up, so we decide to have breakfast outside. And then we are on our way to Swaziland. We drive through the Krokodil River Canyon, a lovely nature area. A quiet road, through a beautiful landscape. When we arrive at a checkpoint the guard is curious why we are not on his 'in list'. That is correct because we entered yesterday afternoon at the other side of the reserve.  Next stop is the Swaziland border. The first checkpoint is no problem, after 100 meters in no ones land we encounter a Swazi custom officer so busy with her phone, she can't speak with us and tells us by handsignals what she wants us to do. But in the end we all have a stamp in our passports. The next officer wants 80 Rand Road tax because we drive a 'commercial' van. The "Gatekeeper" waits untill we hand over the slip and then he slowly opens the gate, a little bit. He is not amused when our van doesn't fit under it and he has to raise it higher.  But despite all this non polite officers we manage to enter a new country anyway. Through a great mountainous landscape we reach a glass factory. A very nice stop! They make the most lovely products from recycled glass. Almost everyone of us buys a glass or something else with an elephant on it. After a light lunch we drive on to the Buhleni Farm. The gate is opened and we get permission to drive on to reception. That sounds easy, but it is not. Some signs are missing, but after two extra laps around the farm we find the house of the owner. Not really a reception, but after paying we get the keys of cabin 8 and 9. Across the road is a Pick & Pay (including "bottle store"), where we do our groceries for the night. Tonight we go for pasta with a salad and ofcourse some wine and beer. Wednesday 4 august Despite the fact that the sun is shining it is ice cold inside our chalet. Time to put the heater on. It helps a little bit, but a warm cup of tea works better. Just before 8 we go to the chalet next door, to have breakfast. Strangely enough the temperature outside is much higher than inside the cabin. We are busy eating the last toasted bread when the cleaning ladies enter.  Enthousiastic they start to do the dishes. We think it is
very strange, it is a thing we could easily do ourselves. But they seem to find it very normal.This morning we planned a visit to the Mantengi Cultural Village. Soon after we enter the kraal a Swazi girl greets us. Her name is very difficult to pronounce for us, but she tells us it translate to Treasure, so that is what we may call her. She explains everything very clearly. The meaning of the huts, and all the utensils we see. But she also tells us about the rituals used for a wedding. A Swazi man normally has two wifes, but if he is rich he can have more. (He has to pay 17 cows per wife) The men are the boss (at least that is what they think). They lay down many rules like women shouldn't eat brains (or they get to smart), and also no tongue because they could possibly talk more after eating that. The dance show is nice to see. Ofcourse the audience has to participate, Marjolein and Suzan are doing a great job. After visiting the village we walk on to the waterfall in the nature park. A beautiful sight and we are lucky to see some bush bucks on our way. Monkey are also everywhere in this area. Lunch at Linda's Coffeeshop, in the mall. The remainder of the day is for relaxing. Looking back at the pictures we took the last week. Marko and Suzan go for a walk on the farm. They came back telling a story of escaped donkeys. It is not entirely clear what their role in all this is. Tonight we go for dinner at Quartermains in the mall. The food was good, but it was a pitty we were surrounded by tv screens. Thursday 5 august Again we wake up in Swaziland. And again it is cold inside, and a little less outside. After breakfast we pack our bags and go on our way to the Abu madi Game Ranch. But first we have to leave Swaziland. Going out of the country is not that difficult, we get a stamp in our passport and then we go the South African customs. The problem is that not everybody has two stamps in their passport from the day we entered the country by plane. The confusion is complete and the man in charge is called. But after seeing all the 5 passports with a date, the other two get their stamp too. The next problem is we are in front of the wrong gate. We had to take the right one, and not the left?? Welcome to South Africa again. In Mkuze we have a burger lunch at Wimpies. And we also have to solve our drinking problem. After some asking we find a bottlestore. 
Then we leave the asphalt and turn left to Zululand Rhino Reserve. This reserve is a coalition of some privat ranches.
We are staying at Abu Madi.The lodge is better than we hoped for. It is located on a hill with a great view. And the inside is so lovely decorated. Around 16:00 we decide to make a short drive into the bush. Just 5 minutes later we see 3 rhinos. They are more shy than the ones we saw in Pilanesberg. And they run away when they notice our white van. We drive back to the waterhole and hope they come back, but they don't. We do see impala, kudu, waterbuck and nyala. The sun starts to set and we make some great pictures of it. Time to go back to the lodge before it is to dark. Just before the lodge we decide to turn right, it was a good choice. We make close eyecontact with a big buffalo. 
We first drive on and after we passed them we turn around to see how many there are. There are 6 buffalo only a meter from the road.
After the video and pics are taken it is really time to get back to the lodge. Within two hours we already saw 2 of the big 5.
Time to celebrate with a drink. In the meantime our cook is busy in the kitchen. It is again a great dinner, as we are used to in Africa. Around 8 we see another animal. A porcupine comes to the lodge for the scraps. Friday 6 august 
Early in the morning we are watching the birds around the lodge. Sizene brings us coffee and asks if we want to have breakfast outside.
It is great weather and we like the view, so yes. Today we want to see a lot on the Game Ranch, so we get in the car as soon as we finished breakfast.
Soon we see the vultures circling in the sky. What has happened there? We find the remains of a dead animal on top of a hill. Birds of prey and scavengers are eating it, or are waiting for their turn. After we took some pictures we drove on to a waterhole with a hide. But the animals did smell us and turn back before they are in reach of our camera. So we leave for the bushlodge. There are no guests in the bushlodge and we may sit here for a while to watch what is passing by the waterhole here. We were not that lucky today, we only saw warthogs. It is 1 in the afternoon and we decide to drive to Mkuze for lunch at Wimpy.  After a burger we hurry back to the bush. Driving around we saw a rhino with a very small young, but otherwise nothing special.
We decide to go the spot where we saw the birds of prey this morning. There was some change, the ribs were far from the head and the legs.
We got out of the car to see it up close.
There seemed to be more than one dead animal. Just as we want to go the owner comes by. He tells us this is the spot he leaves the dead animals for the
birds. Some animals die of natural causes, some have to be shot. Before dark we are back at the lodge. After a drink on the terrace Sizene calls us for dinner. Around eight the porcupines came back again. Martha gave us some food to feed the female porcupine. It was a good opportunaty to see the animal up close. Saturday 7 august After breakfast we say goodbye to Martha, Mike and Sizene, our cook. We follow the advice Martha gave us and take the route through Hluhluwe to St. Lucia. But first we have drive a long distance along the N2, a bit boring, straight road. Suddenly a red duiker jumps out of the bush and crosses the road just in front of us. Tom hits the brakes just in time and everybody is awake for the next kilometers. 
Soon after we enter Hluhluwe we see the first game, an impala and soon after some giraffes. And far away are some rhinos.
There has been a large bush fire recently, everything is blackened, a sad sight. We have lunch at Hilltop. Luckily we can sit inside, it started
to rain. After lunch we drive through a lot greener part of the park. Not long after that we see a group of elephants with a nursery.
They were crossing the road on their way to the river. Just before we are leaving the park we see some cars on another road. We can't see why they are stopping,
so we decide to have a look. It turns out to be a secretary bird. Another hour drive and we are in St. Lucia. a real coastal tourist town. We booked two apartments at Kings Palace. But when we arrive there it is raining and the gate is closed. And we can't find a bell or something like that. Tom calls the number on the gable and 5 minutes later someone comes to open the gate. Just around the corner is a Spar where we buy some groceries for breakfast tomorrow. Tonight Suzan, Marko and Marjolein are buying us dinner. But it turns out it is difficult to find a free table in most restaurants. We end up at Quarterdeck seafood and grill. We are not very satisfied by the service and the food, so we have to find another restaurant tomorrow. Sunday 8 august At 8 we start to make breakfast. In the mean time Gonnie is collecting information on tours in St.Lucia from reception. We decide to do the 
Crocodile & Hippo tour today and tomorrow the nightdrive. As we have to pay the nightdrive in cash we have to go to the ATM first.
The weather is good so we walk a bit further through town. We see souvenir markets, craft shops and have a look at the launching dock for the tours.
And then back to the apartment again.At 13:00 our ship leaves for the hippo and croc tour. It is great sunny weather and we enjoy the boatride, with a cooling breeze. We see many bird species, a few big fisheagles in the trees and a goliath heron along the waters edge. But the main objective of this tour is the 3 groups of Hippo. Two of the pods have a very young hippo with them. It is very cute to see. The crocs we saw were basking in the sun on the river banks. The scenery is also great with the mangrove trees along the coast. Tonight we make a pasta in ours apartment. And after dinner we are amazed by what we did see here in South Africa during the first weeks. We have some great pictures and a movie to show for it. Monday 9 august And again we have eggs and toast for breakfast. Today we going for a drive in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. The entrance fee is very low in our eyes, only € 21,00 for 7 people and a car. This park is very different from the other parks we have visited Everything is a lot greener. 
There are also other animal species here. We see reedbucks and the samango monkey. But also animals we have seen before like rhinos.There was way too much wind at the beach and the sun was hiding behind the clouds today. So we hurried back into the car and tried to see more game. Because we booked a nightdrive for this night we have an early dinner. We chose St. Pizza were they served a great pizza. Marko got his beer in a large special World Cup edition glass. He asked the waitress if he could buy it. But she responds that it is easier to put in our bag if nobody is looking...... The food was good and absolutely more than enough. At 20:00 Kian arrived at the apartment building. He was in a closed car instead of an open jeep, because of the weather. After he told us all about the area we started our trip. Before we entered the wetland park Kian asked us what animals we wanted to see. He was very surprised when we asked for bushpig. 
And, we almost forgot, but we have to see a leopard to complete our Big 5.... After Kian picked a chameleon from a tree, so we could see it close up,
the first animal we saw was a bushpig. With this kind of luck we will probably see the leopard too, Kian said laughing. But after a porcupine,
there came a leopard walking along the road. It sat down in the grass just a few meters from the truck. Next to this great sightings we also saw
a genet, bushbaby, buffelo, hippos on land, and lots of reedbuck.Back in the apartment we have a drink and talk about the great things we saw today. Tuesday 10 august We ate everything we had on stock for breakfast. And Marko threw away the little bit that was left. This is the last morning we had to fix our own breakfast. Around 08:30 everything is packed and we are ready to leave for Dundee. We make a short stop to have a look at a sugarcane field. The sugarcane is higher than the van, it will not take long before they harvest this field. The hills in KwaZulu Natal are lovely, rolling hills, with a variety of covering. From the coast inland there is forestry, sugarcane fields and later grassland. The grasslands are mostly burning, or burnt recently. After 5 hours driving we are 381 km from the coast in Dundee at the Lapha B&B. 
We rented four rooms. But it great sunny weather, so we start on a gardenchair in the green garden of the Lapha.
Suzan takes our order for a snack, but the cook doesn't understand her system and think we want 11 hamburgers, but the four strokes behind the toasted
sandwich makes he is in doubt. 1111 sandwiches is perhaps a bit much for 7 people. But the misunderstanding is quickly solved and the snacks are served
in the garden.When we ask at reception they are not very clear about restaurants in town so Gonnie, Willeke and Tom drive to the towns center to see for ourselves. After a walk we end up at the tourist office, where they only could recommend three restaurants. So not much choice. We decide to have a go at Spurs tonight. The rest of the afternoon we enjoy the sun in the garden. After the sun went down we have a nice shower and go inside. Have a drink near the fireplace, and play a game of pool. We have to take the car to the restaurant. We start at a large table, but it is in a cold draft and we decide to move to two smaller tables. Back in the B&B we throw the last wood on the fire before we go to sleep. 
Wednesday 11 augustWhen we wake up the sun is shining and it is looking like it is going to be a nice day today. But when are having breakfast the first clouds arrive in Dundee. Breakfast is good and plenty, a cook is serving eggs to your likings. After breakfast we are going to visit the Battlefields. We start at the battle of the Bloedriver, a battle between Boers and Zulu in 1838. The first 20 km are on asphalt, but then we turn into a dirtroad. Another 20 km, uneven surfaced road. All shaken up we arrive at the museum. First we visit the museum on the Boer side, next to the Bloedrivier monument. Here we see a movie in Afrikaans (language of the Boers) about the battle. The story is about a group of Boer Voortrekkers is trying to find out what happened to Piet Retief and his men. (Retief went to King Dingane with a treaty and didn't return.) The group encounter a Zulu impi army. But despite they are out numbered they defeat the Zulu, the river is colored red with the blood of 3000 Zulu. 
When they arrive at the Kings village they find it burned down and not far from there the remains of Retief, who had the signed treaty in his pocket.
The monument is very large, it is an actual size lager with bronze wagons. It is nice to see. After we took pictures of it, we drove on to the other side of the river to the Zulu museum Ncome. Here they tell the story a little bit different. Piet Retief and his men were found snooping around the Kings kraal at night. This an offence punishable by death. So King Dingane ordered them to be killed. The treaty could never be signed by Dingane, because Dingane was not able to read or write. Furthermore the document was in English, not in isiZulu or Dutch (the language of the Boers, this language developed over the years into Afrikaans). So the Zulu had every right to attack the Boer lager at the Ncome river. The truth is probably something in between both stories. The Zulu museum is not very large, but there is a lot to see about Zulu life. On our way back, just before we enter Dundee, we stop at the city museum (Talana). We have lunch at the restaurant and enjoy the museum. There are exhibitions about Cole mining, but also about Zulu beadwork and San rock art. The temperature didn't rise that much today, so we drive back to the Lapha where we enjoy ourselves in the lounge. Playing pool or reading a book. Today we chose a Mexican restaurant for dinner. We are the only guests, so there is not very much ambiance. The food is cheap and very good, but we will chose a different restaurant tomorrow. Back to the Lapha B&B, enjoy the fire place for a while, with a glass of wine and some beer. Thursday 12 august 
Our day started again with a good breakfast at the Lapha. The owner asks us what we are going to do today. We tell him we want to go to Isandlwana
and Rorke's Drift. He is very enthousiastic about it. He tells about a CD he has, we are welcome to listen to it, it takes about an hour. We start
listening but after 15 minutes we know it is enough, without pictures (which we did expect) the story in english is too difficult for many of us.
So we decide just to go and see it.At Isandlwana a massacre took place in the english-Zulu war around 100 years ago. 1500 English soldiers were attacked by a Zulu army of 20.000 to 25.000 impis. And despite the good training of the english, their riffles and their cannons, the Zulu armed with only spears killed nearly everyone of them. The few that got away ran to the army hospital (Rorke's Drift)kilometers away, across the river. They were followed by a detail of 4000 Zulu warriors. The english in the hospital (many of them wounded) stood their ground and the Zulu left, back to their Kingdom. This battle was rewarded with many Victoria crosses for bravery by the english Queen. A few days later the Zulu King granted the english free passage to bury their death at Isandlwana. Today it is still a very impressive sight, all the graves marked with white stones. Back at the lodge we enjoyed the sun in the garden for a while. When the sun dissappeared behind the buildings we went inside to the fireplace. This night we went to Spurs again, great food for a good price. Friday 13 august We have started our way back to the airport today. A short stop at a monument for a battle during the Boer-English war at Elandslaagte. And after that we take a nice route along mountains and a huge lake. Lunch is with a great view and outside in the sun. Marjolein asks for a sandwich with only brie on top of it. The waitress is not really understanding why someone would ask to skip all the other items, it is all in the price: 
tomato, olives and more. But Marjolein gets the sandwich she wants anyway.Today we don't make a great time while travelling. When the police are doing routine checks they stop us because they think we are a taxivan. To see the surprise on his face when he discovers the van is filled with white foreign tourists was great. Tom has to show his drivers licence. The pink card is even more surprising. All the officers come to have a look. Then they discover we are from Holland, runner up in the World Cup soccer, last month. Several guys start talking to us, how are we doing? What do we think of being second? But then we are free to continue our trip. Just to be stopped not much further on. Where do you come from? Holland. No, today? And where are you going to? The officer writes down we are coming from Dundee (where is that?) and we are travelling to Harrismith. It seems OK and we are free to continue once again. Our last night in South Africa we spend in Lalanathi guesthouse. We have four nice cottages with tatched roof. Being our final night in this great country we celebrate it with a visit to the bar, before dinner. It is a great buffet dinner, with a starter and a dessert. Marko orders seven amarula to drink with the coffee and this night is also over. 
Saturday 14 august It is the last day and we still have to travel a lot to get back to the airport. We take the route through the Golden Gate Park. A beautifull park in the Drakensbergen. We did not see the famous vultures living here from closeup though. After the park it was a long straight boring road to Johannesburg. We travelled 3500 km and did see a lot of great stuff, but now it is really over. We fly back home via Munich. See the route we took below. 
See a 10 minute movie below. 
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