Joberg to home

Morning walk around Constitutional Hill, the site of an old fort and the Apartheid era men's and women's prisons. Then time to go home.

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Wednesday 5/07/2017 - Johannesburg

We had another day on the hop on hop off bus so we could do the Soweto extension. We started on the green route which took us the the leafy Northern suburbs passing all the old money Rand lord estates. We re did the red, city tour and headed to the Gold reef casino which is the cross over point for the "Sowetoo" tour. Our guide, Mbali (He was not sure why his parents gave him a girls name) gave us all African names as we drove to our first stop which was the football stadium built for the 2010 World Cup.

Next stop was the welcome to Soweto sign and an explanation of the 3 different levels of accommodation in Soweto.

This next picture is one of an original matchbox house that the government provided back in the 1950's. A 2 bedroom, lounge and kitchen Place.

Next was the Orlando towers which was the site of the old power station for Johannesburg. It was closed when Mandela came to power as the electricity produced here was not provided to the residents of Soweto, they only had to put up with the pollution from it.

Lowest level of accommodation with no electricity, sanitation or running water.

Hector Peterson memorial, second child shot in the 1976 student uprising.

Neilson Mandela's house on the only street in the world where 2 Nobel peace prize winners have lived. Archbishop Desmond Tutu lived just down the road but not at the same time as Mandela lived there.

Cute little mousebird in a loquat tree outside Mandelas house.

This next picture is of an area in Kliptown where the housing has not changed since the time when segregation started.

We had another full day and relaxed in our room with a beer and a cider before having our last local meal of chicken, pap (maize meal) and chakalaka in the hotel restaurant.

Tuesday 4/07/2017 - Johannesburg

We had a great nights sleep in a comfortable and warm bed, so happy to be here instead of the dodgy backpackers we were originally booked in to. We had a lovely breakfast of bacon eggs and tomato which was included in the room rate. After breakfast we set off to catch the first hop on hop off bus of the day from the stop around the corner.

We listened to the audio commentary as we passed by the sites of the city. We hopped off at the mining district stop which is an outdoor museum containing relics from the long gone mining days. 

We continued through the city past the Carlton centre, Africa's only skyscraper and its 50th floor top of Africa viewing platform and the James Hall transport museum to hop off at the Gold reef Casino to use the facilities. The audio commentary pointed out the fact that where else in the world would you see a casio and theme park next to a museum about atrocities committed in the past as next stop just across the road is the Apartheid museum.

We spent a few hours wandering through the museum. Our tickets randomly chose which entrance we were to use. David had a Blankes/whites ticket and Catriona had a Nie-blankes/non-whites ticket so we split up to enter through different turnstiles. Luckily we were reunited not too far into the museum.

Next stop on the tour was the SAB world of beer where we did a tour that included 2 free drinks, a tasting and the tasting glass. 

While we were having our last drink, a castle milk stout, clouds started to form and we were treated to a lightening display and a magnificent sunset. We managed to board the last bus back to our Braamfontein stop and walked back to our hotel. A jam packed day in Joburg.

Monday 3/07/2017 - Kruger to Johannesburg

We packed up the tent for the last time and departed at 7am after breakfast. We sat with Leroy in the front of the truck for the drive back to Johannesburg. We enjoyed the spectacular scenery on this part of the drive. At the three rondavels we took a photo to compare it to when we had been there around 2 months ago. On the way back in to Johannesburg we passed many coal mines and power plants which we didn't see on our way out as it had been too early and dark. As we got closer to Johannesburg the traffic got heavier and it started to rain. This created a complete circle of our adventure as it was raining when we left and when we returned. 

We said our farewells to the guide and driver and set off to the backpacker lodge we had pre booked through booking.com. When we entered the grounds the lady at reception said they were all booked out with tour groups and had no room for us. We were devastated and didn't know what to do next, it was dark and we didn't even have a phone to call anywhere else. Catriona decided to ask if we could use their phone to call the hotel where we had a booking for the next 2 nights. Luckily they let us and we were able to get an extra nights accommodation there. They also helped us to organise transport to our hotel after we had problems using the uber app on the iPad. It all worked out for the best as the hotel was much better than the dodgy backpackers and it saved us having to transfer the next day.

Saturday and Sunday 1-2/7/2017 Kruger National Park

We set off from Blouberg on our way to Kruger and passed what we were expecting to be the Tropic of Capricorn but from the sign we found to be the Tropic of Capricon.

We made it to Kruger after a long drive arriving around 2pm. We drove through the park till 5:30pm. This Northern section of the park was very different from the Southern area we visited it was full of mopane trees and long dry grass. We saw a few baboons, and a pair of male impala sparing which we had not seen before. We also saw a few elephants, buffalo and a few antelopes. It was the first time we saw young male impalas locking horns but apart from that there was not much to see.

We made it to the campground which was outside the park and set up our tent. Only two tents were set up, Us and a Scottish couple who were the only ones who camped the whole time. We had a couple of hours to relax before we headed off to dinner at The big four grill and pub. We both had a huge pork knuckle for dinner and could not eat it all. We gave some away and took the rest in a doggy bag. 

It was a very early start packing our tents away in the dark and only rusks and tea/coffee for breakfast. We had a full day safari drive through Kruger. As we entered the park we stopped to view a herd of buffalo. One of them had a baby which was suckling.

We also passed elephants and giraffe and stopped to take a photo of Southern ground-hornbill taking flight from a tree.

Just before brunch there was a group of zebras we passed one which made a great photo of a zebra crossing.

We had brunch at the Oliphant camp then set off again in search of cats. We were lucky to spot a leopard sitting in the shade of a tree blending in with the leaves. It got up and walked for a few hundred meters before we lost it behind a tree in the distance. This sighting was much closer than our previous one and everyone on the truck was excited, including us as they are rare to see in the wild.

A little further on we saw wildebeest and a kori bustard which is the heaviest flying bird and does not fly often. 

Amazingly we saw another leopard walking through the long grass. Our guide said this was unusual as it was deep in lion country.

We were very satisfied with our sittings for the day as we rolled into our last campsite for the trip. We commemorated the moment with a photo of David putting up the tent for the last time before we headed off to the bar for a drink while the rest of the group did an evening game drive.

     

Friday 30/06/2017 - Moremi Gorge to Blouberg

We woke in the dark at 5am, packed the tent and had a quick breakfast. A double cab bucky (ute or truck depending on where your from) came to pick us up and we had to sit on a mattress in the back for the 3 km journey to the start of the walk. We had to wait around for a while as the bucky had to make 2 trips due to the size of our group.

We followed the guide along the trail crossing the stream a number of times, using our walking poles to help us keep balance on the slippery rocks. Our group passed a noisy troup of baboons and 2 waterfalls and pools on the way to the third and final large waterfall. We spent a while there enjoying the view up the gorge and managed to see a few cape vultures soaring overhead and land high up the gorge in a cave.

We made it back to camp by 8:30am and set off for the crossing back into South Africa. The boarder crossing was smooth again and they didn't even ask for our yellow fever certificates which we had been stressing about the whole trip as we had left them at home. Chris had managed to find and scan them and email us a copy.

We passed many small villages on our way to Blouberg where all the kids waved and jumped up and down with excitement as we passed. It was a rough drive to our campsite and once we made it we set up our tents before setting off on another walk to a pool.

After our walk we set off or the local shebeen (tavern) where we were given the opportunity to tast the locally made beer. We both declined and just bought a drink from inside where the bar was covered in bars. We also watched the local dance group and a few from our group danced with them.

We were at the shebeen until it got dark then headed off to a local persons house where we had a lovely dinner of both local and international food.

Thursday 29/06/2017 - Bulawayo to Moremi Gorge

An early start at 5am as we had to get going by 6am, unfortunately some in this group are a little slow so. We didn't get going till around 6.15am. It was only a few km's into the journey when we were stopped at a police check point. They were not going to let us proceed without us paying a fine. They asked for all of Leroy papers regarding the truck. After some time had passed they said the truck's insurance was out of date referring to an invoice with the date of Dec 2016. Both the driver and our leader explained it was the date of the invoice not the expiry of the insurance which is valid till End of July 2017. The crooked cops would not listen and were wasting our time. We had to pay $20 USD to get past them. This put us 20 more minutes behind schedule. As we drove to the boarder crossing to Botswana we were stopped then passed through a few more police check points when Leroy told the police we had already been fined. It was a slow boarder crossing but we had no issues. We were happy to be out of Zimbabwe, it's a shame to say this as we have had some incredible experiences. We had lunch at Francistown then kept driving to our destination - Moremi campsite arriving around 4.20pm. The day just didn't go right for us as we ended up arriving too late for the walk into Moremi Gorge. We instead pitched tents and all helped with dinner. We enjoyed a relaxing time around the camp fire. First cloudy night since Kruger N.P which was back on 14/05/2017.

Wednesday 28/06/2017 - Matobos National Park

Today we went on an all day game drive in 4x4 vehicles. Below is a picture of the donkey, it is a wood fired water heater and last night we had a lovely hot shower.

First stop of the day was to walk to where the white rhinos were. The anti poaching team made up of police and park rangers informed the local guide where they were. When we got out of the vehicles a typical old bus that runs around in Zimbabwe passed by. Reminded us of Cuba.

We had to walk in single file and be quiet as we approached them down wind. We got to about 10 metres away from them. It was great to be so close and they were not bothered that we were there.

We stopped at the gates to Gordon Park which is where scouting started. It is camp number 2. The scout group here only has about 10 members and our guide had once been a member.

We continued on through the park seeing all the strange rock formations which have formed as a result of millions of years of erosion.

After lunch we were taken to see the San bushmen paintings and when we stepped out of the truck our guide found this leopard paw print on the road.

The paintings are well preserved as they are in a cave protected from the elements. They depict the life and food sources available at the time they were drawn. Some sections have been painted over and over again. We were also shown the hidden paintings that only show up when a shadow is cast over them.