Saturday 20/05/2017 - St Lucia to Zululand

A bit of a late start packing up but still managed to get going just after 7.30am. We had to take the photo of a couple of signs near to our campgrounds - crocodiles/sharks/hippos and no swimming and the St Lucia ski boat club. Would probably need to beach start and not fall off if possible?

We made up good time as we drove down the N2 highway heading to Durban. Stopped of at a Shell service station for a 15 minute loo break, we all jumped back into the elephant ready to go but again the truck wasn't going anywhere.

For over 2 hours we waited while Sandile and Gibson were figuring out what was wrong. We played UNO to pass the time. We had to be at our home stay for lunch but unfortunately time was passing this activity by so we all had to eat at Steers Diner - like a Hungry Jack's. A call was put through to intrepid head office and they organised a recovery vehicle to pick us up to take us to our home stay in Zululand. Sandile stayed behind with the broken down truck waiting for the mechanic. We all crammed into a van and then spent around a further 2 hours looking for Zululand as our guide and taxi driver took a few wrong turns and got a bit lost.

We did eventually make our destination and we went on a sped up tour which consisted of a village walk, visit to isangoma (traditional healer).

Then we enjoyed traditional Zulu dancing, at the end of their performance we tried to dance with them.

We were also entertained by a self taught musician who writes his own songs with a jazz influence.

Our intrepid truck made it to Zululand while we were on tour and as we were about to board it to go to our home stay family for the night, again it refused to start. We couldn't believe it. Maxwell our local guide flagged down a local taxi that was passing by and once again we all crammed into a van to get us to our next destination.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner with our host family and we shared stories with them. Their kids sang and danced for us and again we were asked to do a quick dance with them.

Our accommodation for the night was basic but comfortable. We were lucky to get a double bed, the others in the group just got a mattress on the floor in other rooms.

A long tiring day but in the end we were very happy to be in Zululand experiencing an afternoon/night of their culture.

Friday 19/05/2017 - Kosi Bay to St Lucia

Enjoyed breakfast of cereal, toast and hot drink in the camp kitchen then we set off down the bumpy sandy road to our next destination. On the journey we passed by many eucalyptus, sugar and pineapple plantations. Also passed many small villages which had the traditional rondavel houses. We were all a little sleepy today as we sped down the highway - it was nice and warm in the truck. 

Made it to St Lucia just before noon which is where we had lunch. We had fish of the day with salad and chips. At 12.30pm we face timed Chris and Bernie as it was 8.30pm back home. It was great that we could talk to them as we had been out of communication/range over the last week as we have been in Kruger NP and Swaziland.

We set our tents up at the nearby campground after lunch then set off on an estuary river cruise in the afternoon. We boarded the boat with and esky full of drinks for the 2 hour cruise as we knew it would be thirsty work.

As we departed a large crocodile swam by.

Out in the main channel we saw many hippos bobbing up and down in the water beside the mangroves. The boat stayed 30 mths away as we drove by. The water was brown and muddy and quite high as there has been a lot of rain over the past couple of days in this area but today we had perfect weather to view the area and wildlife.

The boat pulled into a spot where there were dozens of hippos - we saw some mothers and their babies. At times we saw how huge they were when the stood up to move. It was amazing to be so close to these animals and we took heaps of phot from the main deck.

On the journey home we all went up to the top deck which afforded us great views of the surrounding countryside. We enjoyed the cruise mingling over a couple of drinks as the sun set in the distance.

We finished the day going out to dinner at the same restaurant we had lunch at. This time David had their specialty dish being BBQ chicken and Cat had king prawns and calamari. 

Another great day travelling with this group.

Thursday 18/05/2017 - Kosi Bay

We had another good nights sleep and as we were staying the day we all decided to have a sleep in and not have breakfast till 8am.
After another delicious breakfast and doing some washing we walked down to the bay passing some inquisitive monkeys along the way.

We also had a fantastic view to the coast and passed some fish traps of the local Tsonga people.

We made it to the beach and David took the obligatory photo of Catriona standing in the Ocean, this time the Indian Ocean.

Kosi bay is a world heritage site and the water was crystal clear and was lovely to have a paddle in the lagoon behind the beach as the surf was quite rough with a strong undertow.

We were picked up at 12pm and headed back to the lodge for lunch and relaxed around the pool and bar for the afternoon.

After dinner we all had fun playing UNO, a simple card game where the winner is the one who gets rid of all their cards first. We finished off the night sitting around the fire which is called the bush TV. When you throw another log on the fire you are changing channels.

Wednesday 17/05/2017 - Hlane royal N.P. Swaziland to Kosi Bay SouthAfrica

We were able to have a sleep in this morning as the rest of the group set off on an early morning game drive. We helped to prepare breakfast while the others were out. They had trouble starting the truck again but this time it didn't take as long to get it going. The truck is on it's second last trip having done over a million kilometres.

On our way to the boarder we passed many traditional dwellings and we managed to take a photo from the moving truck.

The boarder crossing was again quick and went smoothly. Back in South Africa we headed for Kosi Bay. We passed a bunch of white backed vultures feeding on the carcass of a cow that must have been hit by a car. They are ugly looking things.

We had a slow but scenic drive up over the Lebombo mountains that separate Swaziland, Mozambique and South Africa and stopped at the top for a photo overlooking the dam.

We stopped and did shopping before heading out to Utshwayelo lodge and camp where we stayed for 2 nights at Kosi Bay.

We are starting to get competitive at who can get their tent up the fastest.

Tuesday 16/05/2017 - Kruger to Swaziland

Early pack up for another long journey. We all climbed into the elephant ready to go but unfortunately the truck wanted to stay. After an hours work Gibson and Sandile had the truck running and we were off on our last game drive through Kruger. They said it was probably dirty petrol.

Leaving the camp site felt like being in Jurassic park as we were behind huge electrified fences. Once on the road we spotted more of the same animals we had seen the day before. We stopped to look at a herd of impala, one male and the rest female. Sandile stopped the engine and when we were ready to set off again it wouldn't start. They had to get out of the truck to fix it this time they had it going again in half an hour. Just as we were leaving Kruger we spotted some huge crocs sunning themselves on an island in the river.
The rest of the day was spent in the elephant travelling to Hlane royal national park in Swaziland. We had no trouble crossing the border at Jeppe's reef. As we drove through Swaziland many people waved to us, which was really nice. Passing a school lots of kids ran around jumping up and down and waved to us. We must be a bit of a novelty as we drive by.

We stopped at a small shopping village, it was interesting walking in the supermarket seeing their local products on the shelves. David played it safe and purchased 2 cinnamon scrolls for lunch.

We arrived at the campground early afternoon and did a guided walk through the general section of the park. The park is separated into different areas for the protection of the rhinos as poaching is still a huge problem and also there are armed guards that patrol the area.

During our walk the local guide explained to us all about the trees and plants the animals eat. We followed along animal tracks, we saw small burrows, crickets, grasshopper's and lots of birds up close.
Back at the campsite we enjoyed a Sabere premium lager beer and a Safari cider reclining on deck chairs looking at 2 hippos in lake as the sun was going down.

Finished the day seeing a local cultural dance. Men and women in traditional costume dancing to the beat of 3 huge drums that echoed around the camp. At the end we all got up and joined in, it was great fun.
The campsite had no electricity and therefore was all but dark. This meant that we had excellent view of the Milky Way and other stars.

Monday 15/05/2017 Kruger National Park

We woke around 3am and it was lightly spitting. By 4am it was raining heavily. We got up at 5am and packed up our sleeping gear but left it all in the tent as we headed off for our early morning pre breakfast game drive. 

Lucky for us the rain stopped as we headed off in search of wildlife. We managed to see a Giraffe which was very exciting. We also saw more impala and many birds. On the way back for breakfast we managed to see a huge Elephant.

Back at camp we had a lovely breakfast of cereal, bacon, eggs and baked beans. We did the dishes, packed up our tent and headed off for another game drive towards our new camp site at Berg-en-dal to camp. Along the way we managed to see 3 of the Ugly 5 being the Marabou Stork, a warthog and Blue wilderbeast. We also saw Hippos submerged in a river. It was cute to see their eyes and ears poking out of the water. We also were stopped on a bridge because it was covered in baboons. Other notable animals we managed to see were Nyala (smallest of the ), Buffalo, Rhino, Velvet monkeys and we were lucky to also see a leopard. The guides said it was very rare to see a leopard and they were very happy to see one as well.

We also saw many amazing birds. ( Pied kingfisher, African fish eagle, blacksmith plover, Cape glossy starling, lilac breasted roller, southern ground hornbills, long tailed shrikes, southern red-billed hornbills and helmeted guineafowl).

We made it to the camp in good time so set up our tents before heading off for the optional activity of a sunset game drive run by the National park.

We boarded the open air safari truck for a sunset safari. The truck had a gun rack on the dashboard but the park ranger kept the rifle in its case in the front seat with her. We felt safe as we drove into the park. We spotted more giraffe and impala. As night fell we had to use spot lights off the side of the vehicle to spot animals as they move under the darkness of night. It was amazing to see a couple of huge hippos out of the water. One went right beside our vehicle but quickly hide from us when it could.

We ended the day sitting around a camp fire chatting with the group, we were tired but very happy with what we had been able to see.

Sunday 14/05/2017 - Johannesburg to Kruger

Early start waking up at 4am. Boarded the overland truck affectionately called The Elephant at 4.50am.

We set out in the cold dark morning driving east through the suburbs along a main highway to our first stop 2hrs later at a service station. Here we purchased a coffee and hot chocolate to warm up.

It was foggy outside as we continued driving through the countryside and it got very cold just as the sun was coming up, at the same time we were climbing in altitude to the highveld.
Our first major stop was the Blyde River Canyon (3rd largest in the world). Lucky for us the fog had burned off and we had amazing views of the canyon in particular - the three  Rondavels.

Our next stop was Burke's Luck Potholes being cylindrical holes made over thousands of years by the Blyde and Treur rivers.

Last stop was viewing God's Window with unsurpassed views of the surrounding lands.

We arrived at Kruger National Park passing through Paul Kruger gate and we did an afternoon game drive to the Skukuza camp. We pushed down the windows on the truck so we could get the best views for spotting the animals. We were all very excited as we spotted impalas and hudus nearby. We got some great close up photos.

Set up our tents at our camp for the first time enjoyed a chicken stir fry and settled in for a lovely night chatting to our new friends, 1 from Australia, 2 from Canada and 3 from the States.

A huge first day on the road.