Links updated and corrected

Hi everyone,

sorry for the inconvenience, but I eventually managed to correct all the links to the web albums. Right? Feel free to check! :)

The Complete Trip (Go... (1)

September 8th until 1... (127)

September 6th, Centurion (3)

September 4th and 5th... (52)

September 3rd, on the... (5)

September 1st&2nd, Au... (36)

August 31st, Kalahari... (6)

August 29th and 30th,... (20)

August 25th until 28t... (46)

August 19 and followi... (61)

August 16th until 18t... (18)

August 12th to 14th, ... (34)

August 11th and 14th ... (4)

South Africa - Niel &... (14)

Cheers!

Stefan

Google Earth: The Complete Trip

For those who are interested: here's the full trip (excluding the tracks inside the parks) as a Google Earth screenshot. Arathusa airfield to Skukuza airfield and then to O.R. Tambo International airport of course isn't a roadtrip. Don't know how to change that in MapSource yet.

Cheers!

Stefan

Sept. 11th: taking off.

That'll be my last posting from South Africa. At Jo'Burg O.R. Tambo airport now. How quickly the time has passed, eh?

Sabi Sands. Beautiful Sabi Sands. Stunning Sabi Sands. I flew out to Skukuza airfield at the Kruger Park with a little Cessna bush plane. On the co-pilot's seat. Then with a slightly bigger one to Jo'Burg. Very cool.

Anyway, time flies, more additions to the journal when I'm back in Germany. Have a look at the pictures in the meantime. I have uploaded lots and lots more.

Cheers!

Stefan

September 8th until 11th: Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve

Hey, another post before I go back home. No, wait! Home? That's here, no? ;)

So there I am in Sabi Sands. Getting here wasn't easy (my GPS led me right into a military airbase) but now i am in paradise. It's supposed to be the greatest place to see leopards. The highest density in whole Africa, no, the whole world. Which I can confirm now. During five game drives I have seen leopards seven times and these were at least 3 different individuals. One of which is the legendary Safari, a fifteen year old female who lost one eye while defending her cubs against a lion a couple of years ago. She has given birth to lots of the leopards roaming around the reserve and Kruger National Park, the fences to which are open. Her blind eye looks really nasty, but she seems to be doing fine and it apparently doesn't cause any trouble while hunting.

Besides we saw lions mating, lots of kudu, waterbuck, impala, warthogs, giraffes, genets, elephants and even rhinos. You name it! Very cool. And I love how the rangers treat all the animals with the most respect possible. One does recognize immediately because none of the animals are bothered by the game drive vehicles.

So the last two nights I stayed at the beautiful Arathusa Safari Lodge and drove out with Jason (ranger) and Roy (tracker). Today I was brought over to the Nkorho Bush Camp. Very cool place, too, but what's special about it is that they offer photography courses. André "Kalahari" showed me a few tricks before we went on the first game drive and I must say it was really cool! We saw Safari and one of her sons again as well as a couple of hundred buffalo. Quite a thrill to stand right in the middle of such a huge herd!

So tomorrow at 5am we'll get a wake up call and lets see what's to discover on that last game drive and wildlife experience of my holiday. But no, wait, it's followed by a breakfast and a bush walk. At 1:30pm I will fly out to JoBurg in a Cessna and at 7:15pm I'll take off to Frankfurt. Wow, this is a proof for the way time flies when you enjoy something.

Ok, I'll get some sleep now, lets hope the lions come to drink water out of the swimming pool like they did a couple of days ago. So cool! :)

Have a good night everyone! Ah...before I forget: PICTURES!

Cheers!

Stefan

September 5th until 7th: on the road to Centurion and Lajuma

Sept. 5th: Groundhog Day. I could keep the hiking-thought alive. Pretty cool trail, very impressive to actually walk for a change. :) Mostly plants along the way. Well, except for lots and lots of insects. And a Reedbuck. Thank god there were no snakes in what I would consider being their perfect habitat. Cause the trail guide mentions the puff adders and cape cobras that might just lie on some rock to heat up for the day. Pff. It felt a bit strange while walking through the long grass every once in a while. Ahem.

Anyway...at 3pm I took off from Royal Natal National Park sweaty as I was. Only shortly after I found myself seriously talking to myself for the first time during my trip. My GPS had suggested a really weird route and I suddenly was in some area around Harrysmith neither a tourist nor a local would really want to see himself in. Some young guys went to jump in front of my vehicle to get a lift. Or whatever. Well, I just kept going and they hardly managed to get out of the way. Not my fault. :-S. Anyway...with sweaty palms and blood rushing in my ears I reached the N3 and then was on my way to JoBurg. Finally. I don't know who put up the N3 road signs but they must've had a sense of humour. JoBurg: 288km. Then JoBurg 297km. Then JoBurg 278km. Another road sign: "Welcome to the Gauteng province. Enjoy your stay!" Ironically it had three bulletholes in it. :-|

But anyway. I arrived in Centurion at7:20. More than enough to hit the Godfather on time. If only we hadn't chatted as if the last visit would have been ages ago. ;) Well, we made it to the steak house at 9 and had a great evening there. It's so nice to be around Nicolette and Niel and I feel as much home as possible when I'm there.

Sept. 6th: After another great breakfast and with Niel's support I managed to fix the tent one of the poles of which broke in the Kalahari. I would have hated to return Ian's tent in a damaged condition. I also managed to finally fix the Avis issue, cause I will rent a different car to get to Sabi Sand tomorrow. That's a huge load off my back now. Made a few enquiries for accomodation in the Waterberg area but Nicolette convinced me to stay for one more night since it would have been a waste of money. Both don't mind even though it's their 5th wedding anniversary. Well...cool! ;) We went to Ludwig (Nicolette's boss) birthday party instead and I met a bunch of new and nice people. We had some delicious braai meat (what else?) and Ludwig and I had quite a chat about cameras and photography. We had a good time over there and finished the evening with watching some really cool stuff on YouTube (especially the three "Simon's Cat" clips are hilarious).

Today we also took it quite easy and I will take off to Lajuma at noon. (More) pictures and pictures.

Kind regards to everyone!

Stefan


P.S.: I would really love to get your opinion about some of the pictures I took so far. Well, those which are online. I've taken roughly 3700 now.

P.P.S.: Hardly any cell signal in Lajuma and no clue how it is in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve so I might only be able to post once I'm back in Germany...

September 4th: Golden Gate and Royal Natal NP

Ok. Lets call this the hesitation day (I'll explain later). I woke up in my beautiful hotel room (right, hotel room!) in the Golden Gate National Park way too early this morning because a rather big group of teenagers had decided to start their day rumbling down the hallways at approx. 7am. Great. I would have been up an hour earlier if only someone had dropped a few predators in the park. But nobody did, unfortunately. Since the mountains are patient and don't run away I decided to sleep in. Good plan, bad execution. But anyway...

The landscape, however, was not exactly as I had expected. No. It was much more than that. It was was jaw-dropping!!! Sure, I've seen Marakele NP, I've seen the mountain ranges in the Karoo and those on my way to Bloemfontein, but this cannot be described nor represented with only a picture. Wow! No predators, hardly any bucks but still wow!! Or maybe wow because I had to get my thoughts off the animals and my eyes onto the landscape.

This is the northernmost end of the Drakensberg mountains which nestle up against the eastern border of Lesotho and it gave me a rough idea of what was about to come. Well...maybe...or...I had no idea. Because that's when the hesitation began to set in. I just wasn't sure whether I should drive all the way down to Giant's Castle NP in the center of the Drakensberg mountains. 250km to see birds (especially bearded vultures) and bucks (especially oribi and elands)? And all this for only two nights down there? Hmm. I stopped several times to look at the maps and trade it off against driving up north right away and staying in a game reserve that has more animals to offer. But after I had passed the Sterkfontein dam and Nicolette had given me a few descriptions of what she knows about the area I finally gave in. Which was a wise decision. Giant's Castle NP was now the declared stage for that day but I was to be disappointed soon.

First of all it would have been a 4 hours drive from where I was at the time and I wouldn't have arrived early enough to get the keys for just about any type of accomodation. And they only had a chalet for 500+ Rand to offer which would have been too much anyway. So I decided to stick around the area I was in and check a few B&Bs. While searching for some braai meat I passed by a "farmstall" where they make homemade hamburgers. Guess who couldn't say no? Yes, the "fastfood junkie". So the actual cheeseburger was great and I then went to a backpackers to ask for a good place to see clawless otters. The guy just didn't care about my seriously articulated enquiry, he rather wanted to offer me some accomodation in his four walls. Desperately. Since the whole establishment more or less gave me that "from dusk till dawn" feeling I decided to decline politely and hit the road again.

Which is why I finally "ended up" in one of the nothern Drakensberg nature reserves, the Royal Natal National Park. And what a beauty this park is!! I, however, still haven't understood why some national parks out there would administered by the government's organisation SANParks and others would be owned by privately run organisations. Anyway. It's beautiful here and very quiet. Suspiciously quiet. No jackals, barking geckos, teenagers, birds, no nothing. Wait! The "from dusk till dawn" feeling starts creeping up my neck. ;) I guess with all the braaiswors, gem squat, butternut, baked potatoes and pineapple in my stomach I would serve as a good meal. Funny thought initially, not so funny when I further get into it. Ahem.

Anyway...after some nice chatting with friends (strange how that is possible even in the remotest places) I am now likely to call it quits for today. I plan to go on a hiking trail tomorrow, maybe I manage to keep the thought alive until then. Have a look at the pictures but be aware that they only reflect a fraction of what I have actually seen today.

Cheers, thanks for reading and have a good night!

Stefan

September 3rd: on the road again. Golden Gate is calling...

So I finally managed to take off. I was quite indecisive as to where I should head since Golden Gate mostly has scenic mountains and bucks to offer. Hardly a chance to see big cats. But I went eventually. Evan had recommended not to take the fast route but rather the one that's going along the border of Lesotho. Well, that was a very good advice!! What a great landscape once more! The problem is that it is especially difficult to actually conserve each overwhelming visual impression in a single picture. I guess I will have to make a couple of 360's tomorrow, maybe that helps creating some sort of a similar feeling. Besides that the people were really creative in giving the cities over here proper names. I just hope it weren't any weird missionaries. ;)

I only arrived at the park 3 hours ago so it was already pitchblack outside. Lets see what tomorrow brings and if I decide to either stay until friday or take off to have a look at the Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve nearby JoBurg. Or maybe... :) Well, did anyone say there are no cats in the Golden Gate NP? Wrong according to the Lonely Planet's 'Watching Wildlife in Southern Africa'. It raises hackles (at least mine when I read it), but they have the guts to print the following as a watching tip: "At Golden Gate Highlands NP, the eastern loop road encompasses the home range of a female african wildcat." Oh my! I wonder whether she's happy with her unexpected celebrity status. If she even exists.

Well, decide for yourself and have a good nite!

Stefan

Pictures.

September 1st and 2nd: Augrabies Falls and Bloemfontein

So I finally got to see the falls. The "Place of Big Noise" is what Augrabies stands for. It's a tiny little park compared to the others I have seen so far but very impressive it is indeed!! There might be times when a lot more water from the Orange River comes rumbling down the falls, but this was quite a panorama! Very nice canyons and a beautiful mountain panorama. I didn't get to see a lot of animals, but that's simply not what you look for when you come to that amazing place. Thanks to the SANParks wildcard I didn't have to pay the conservation fee and I had four great hours in the park.

So I headed back to my guesthouse to pick up my laundry they went to take care of in the morning and then headed for Bloemfontein, a 700km drive from the West to the mid-East of South Africa. And what a great ride it was! Very scenic with lots and lots of vineyards surrounded by beautiful orange-red mountains. I reached Kimberley, the diamond capital (remember the "big hole" story?), at approx. 18:40 and with another 160km to drive in the dark I rushed to pick up some diesel quickly. Besides the family from Bloemfontein that had offered me a place to stay when we met in the Kalahari was to prepare dinner for everyone. So thanks to the GPS I arrived at 20:40 and I can tell you...I was happy to be there because I was tired and they gave me a really warm welcome. How cool is that??! You chat with someone you meet in a national park and talk about the pictures you have taken that day and after just a few minutes they offer you a place to stay. Just like that! I guess you would not make that kind of an experience in Germany, right? At least not too often. And they are incredibly cool people. Which is why we chatted all day and since I couldn't make up my mind over the next stage of my trip I have simply been offered to stay another night. Did I mention that South Africans are cool? A big HI to Niel and Nicolette at this point! ;)

Besides I was quite happy to be able to take a nice hot shower and then slip into a bed with electric blankets! No-no-no...don't you think of those thingies that only old people would use to warm their bums at night. No. It's very cold over here at the moment and since the isolation of the houses isn't that good these blankets provide some incredible luxury. Well, at least my perspective has changed quite a bit since last night. :) And believe me...I will switch it on AGAIN! :p

Before I forget...you might already know that I'm kinda happy when I am offered the opportunity to take pictures of (wild) animals. Which I also did today. Don't get mislead, not all South Africans have cats. But the ones I know do. And dogs. Well, see for yourself.

Have a good night everyone!

Cheers and sweet dreams!

Stefan

Pictures are to be found here.

On the road to Augrabies Falls

So today I slept in. Until 7:30. Hehe. I took it quite easy, cleaned my cameras and had a few rusks for breakfast before I left the bushcamp and chatted with Prof. Anne Rasa for a while. I took a few pictures of the main building and the very cool Land Cruiser until I headed to Upington at 12. 2 hours later I was on site and stocked up at the Pick'n Pay. Most people looked at me as if I was some sort of an alien. Must've been because I looked like Mr. Crocodile Dundee himself with dirty shoes and clothes. Or the redneck farmer's boy who comes to town once a year. Anyway...nice to be able eat some fruits and vegetables again!!!

I took off to Augrabies right after but couldn't make it to the gate before 5 which is why I went to the "Quiver Tree Guest House" quite early. Three crazy dogs went to greet me at the entrance and they carefully watched every move and every piece of luggage I unloaded from the car. Later tonite I went to give that lady who runs the place my laundry and when I went back to my room the fourth dog, which had been in a kennel before gave me a not too tender bite to the thigh. Strange place. The lady had told me that he doesn't like "blacks". I wonder if they trained the dog and whether this also applies to bad smelling tourists. :) Well, I hope not to be too politically incorrect here. ;)

But it didn't ruin the braai for me, which this time consisted of beef filet, butternut, the obligatory baked potatoe and a pumpkin-like fruit the name of which I cannot remember at the moment. And I have to admit that after all this writing I am seriously tired. Better sleep now...if the bush baby on the tree above lets me cause it's dropping stupp on the roof. Damn bugger! :) Well, the alarm is set to 6am. I hope I'll make it...!

Have a good nite everyone! Cheers and sweet dreams!

Pictures!

August 29th and 30th, Nossob and exit through Twee Rivieren

Did I ever mention that it was kind of quiet in the park, even around Nossob? Well, it must've been, because I took pictures of the ground squirrels in camp again. Some of which are, however, really cool! Since I (we) didn't see much, we called it quits rather early on the 29th and took off again late in the afternoon. All I found along the way were leopard tracks and droppings. Saw a cool secretary bird at Kwang waterhole though. They are soo cool and they look as if some Muppets puppeteer is hidden in the tree above. Plus they have great black trousers on. And they sip water very gentleman-like. Shortly after I spotted one of the juvenile bateleur eagles at the Cubitje Quap waterhole. And a lanner falcon diving down on a few doves.

So we had a goodbye-braai on the 29th and I took off at 7 on the 30th in order to have lots of time for the way down to Twee Rivieren. Well, i couldn't leave camp that early because I bumped into several people I had met during the days in the park and we chatted quite a while. That even happened three times while I was on the main road, but it's actually cool to meet and talk to so many of the other visitors. And as if someone up there had been graceful with me saw three cheetah cubs crossing the road while I was just a few k's south of the Marie se draai loop. They were then calling for their mother which shortly after came rushing down the riverbank. Both sides kept on calling but they either didn't see each other or it simply was some sort of a strategy because quite a few cars had piled up at the time and they looked quite agitated. I was really pissed off because some of the other visitors would be extremely rude and park their car right in front of me chasing the cubs away which is why I eventually took off after the mother went up the riverbank again.

A few shots of a yellow mongoose at the Dikbaardskolk picnic spot and off I went to the 16,7km Leeuwdril 4x4 trail. Another breathtaking landscape. Unbelievable. Well, I had to leave the park eventually and then took off to spend one night at Prof. Anne Rasa's Kalahari Trail Bushcamp. Another really cold night in the dunes but the sheer beauty of the Kalahari makes up for it a hundred times...

Pictures? Pictures! :)

August 25th until 28th: The 4x4 Eco Trail

The infamous 4x4 eco trail. After a short chat at Twee Rivieren main camp at 9 o'clock we drove up to the Kij Kij waterhole to leave the main road at approx. 11. We let the tire pressure down to 1,3 bar cause the 214km ahead of us would be sand and nothing but sand. Well, despite of the 4x4 I was sitting in the initial thought about all the dunes was a wee bit scary but we didn't spend much time there to go deeper into it. Every one in the 5 cars had a walkie talkie so that we were able to communicate while driving. The first few dunes were ok until I got stuck in one that would even be rated. Anyway...I found out that in my bakkie the front wheel hubs have to be locked manually to make the 4WD work. Well, after that was done it dug through the sand like a charm. I even managed to conquer "Big Sister", one of the two biggest and steepest dunes of the trail.

Not too many animals along the way, but Francois had told us before. But the landscape was simply breathtaking! Just like the thought to sleep nearby a waterhole having no fence around the tents and just a guide with a rifle. So as a preparation for the first night "out there" we pitched our tents at the Witgat campsite. The bush luxury was well represented by open-air showers (just a plastic container to fill with your own water, can you believe that 2,5 litres are sufficient for a full body shower? Well, I don't need shampoo and conditioner ;) and so-called longdrops. Which were quite a luxury, because that way you don't have to dig a hole and burn the toilet paper when you're done. Speaking of luxury...being the only real tourist (all the others are South-African citizens) I felt a bit weird that evening because the only stuff I had brought besides my camera and laptop were my backpack and the big plastic box with my kitchen tools and food. I had not even brought a chair. Well, not the others. Their 4WDs would be equipped with boxes and even more boxes containing everything you can imagine. From gas-stove to a full bush kitchen, solar shower, spotlight...you name it! But anyway...despite of the great start into the evening with our delicious braai it was frickin cold that night and it must have been below zero because the water on Francois vehicle was frozen the next morning. Besides one of the hundreds of scorpions had chosen the underside of my tent as his area to discover. Nice thought, ey? Thank god he wasn't inside the tent, because according to Francois the Kgalagadi dunes are home to Africa's most venomenous scorpion. Well, I wouldn't be able to figure out which one it was just because of the tracks it had left. And despite Francois' 80% hit rate for lions and hyenas roaming around the camp we didn't have any bigger predatory visitors. Too bad, especially because the others had told me quite a few stories of people being stuck in their tents because lions would be waiting outside playing around with the coal for the braii. Hehe. So we took off at 10 for the next 60-something kilometres. No challenging dunes this time, which might also have been the case because I knew how to handle most of them by now.

The second stop was at Rosyntjiebos camp, situated in an area that is nick named "The Serengeti" because it's like a pan surrounded by dunes. A lovely place and we could hear the hyenas and jackals singing at night. It wasn't as cold as the night before, but still chilly enough. :) No visitors during that night either. :(

Our third and last stop was at the Swartbas camp. This time Francois let us arrange the cars and tents around the campfire in a circle so that none of the predators would have a chance to sneak in unseen. I took a few pictures of the beautiful sunset before I was asked to come back into camp because it was too dangerous out there. I had a quick thought whether I would really be able to stand my ground in case lions or hyenas would offer me their company. I do believe that especially out in the dunes they are much more scared of humans than we are of them, but hey...that point has to be proven. :) All the preparations, however, were in vain because again no visitors. Which might have been a good thing because we had to prepare for the biggest challenge of the trail: "Big Brother", the father of all dunes. Francois calls it overrated, I can confirm. He said that none of his guests had made it up with just one attempt, but it was almost too easy. might have been because my tire pressure was down to 1 bar at the time. I guess I made the other 4WD enthusiasts grind their teeth a little, but hey...it also worked when I went up there once more. Anyway...the trip ended at 1pm on the 28th and we all agreed that it was one of the coolest things to do in the park. Besides the group was very nice and from the first day on it was possible to joke with everybody. South Africans are a cool bunch of people!

So after a short excursion to the Polentswa campsite we all went to Nossob where most of us had booked for the following 2 nights. Our evening there started with...guess what? A braai, of course! ;)

tbc...


Pictures of the 4x4 eco trail.