Our first two days before the Safari were spent in Johannesburg. Apart from the barbed/razor/electric fencing on all the houses, the city could be any average Australian city. The suburb we were in (Hyde Park) was very safe and we found a delicious bakery and a Mall down the road where I got the most amazing brownie.
We spent a day visiting the Apartheid museum - which was very eye opening. It is hard to believe it started in 1948 and went till 1994 (during both our lifetimes!).
We had three team members looking after us on tour: Peter our guide, Gift the cook and Dumi the driver. They were all locals from Zimbabwe and were a fantastic team who always kept us safe and happy. We were also very lucky with our tour group - everyone seemed to get along and help each other out.
Our GroupOur first stop was Kruger where we were spoiled because we didn't have to put up our own tents and there were cots to sleep on. We spent a day driving around the park and saw so many different animals... Just incredible. Key memories were of a waterhole where we saw essentially all the animals at once. Also, we had to stop on the road to wait for about 20 elephants to cross on their way down to the river for an afternoon swim. Then, as we were heading out of the park we saw a mother Hyena suckling two cubs just on the side of the road.
Elephants heading for a swimWe then headed up through Graskop (famous for pancakes but we didn't have any) to Blyde River Canyon. The canyon is the third largest in the world and we stopped at three viewing spots along the way.
Our final stop in South Africa was in Musina - the hottest town. It was about 36 deg C the day we got in. Consequently, we decided to make use of the hot spring swimming pools (the spring at the source was 65 deg C). It was refreshing... when we got out.
Thus concluded the SA section of the tour.
l
R
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and Judy
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