The plane flight was long but sort of dozed, arrived early morning went to the Rose bank markets and bought lots of wonderful presents in fact, should have done all my shopping there, as had good and reasonable goods, but because it was day one, you are not sure what you will see elsewhere. That afternoon we started our,5.400km journey by driving 3 hours to a friends in the Free State for an overnight stay. Had an early start the next morning for our 800km drive to Hogs back which was extremely interesting, driving along the border of Lesotho, a sort of wild west look, no trees, lots of flat topped mountains, 80 we had a lot to keep us occupied. Arrived via a 43km bumpy dirt road around 6,00pm at Hogssback Mountains, a community of about 400 people, one general store and a petrol pump, pine forests and dirt roads. Seems like lots of retirees, arts and crafts folk live there so there were lovely drives/walks, mountain climbing (we made it up one) A very enjoyable 3 days. Were supposed to stay in a hotel room but because it was not busy, they put it in our own chalet which was great; each had our own room and bathroom and a sort of Perspex covered living room kitchen. The fist morning I went to pull up the canvas blind over the window and roof of the Perspex, a monkey was sitting on our roof and we were eyeballing each other, it was magic as we were so close. There was a colony of monkeys there; and good food on the premises so was a lovely, relaxing time.
We then drove via Grahamstown, (a university town) lovely old town with interesting museums and had a great visit to one, where you went up the tower and had a view of the whole city, very windy though. The wind came with us to Addo Elephant Reserve which spoiled our night safari drive, as most animals took shelter from the very heavy winds. Were up with the birds next morning to drive around on our own, and managed to see some elephants up close and zebras, but not in the multitudes that others have experienced. We found 2 elephants playing in the water hole, out the front of the restaurant which was fun. Was hard to tear ourselves away, and left much later than we should have (3.00), I then took us back in the wrong direction and took a while to find our way around a short cut, so were driving a very picturesque route in the dark though had a lovely sunset to amuse us. Had a delightful brick chalet at Sedgefield, on the Garden Route (between Knysna & George) for the week, again our own room & bathroom each, it was really just a place to rest our heads, as often back late at night. The Garden Route is just the most superb scenery ( a lot like Oz) but don't have the wonderful, spectacular mountain ranges, which are breathtaking.
One day we did a drive up one mountain pass and down the other, we were in awe the whole time. There were many highlights, one day in particular stands out, was a perfect summer day, we went whale and dolphin watching with a marine scientist , in a small fiber-glass runabout, so were able to get up close and personal and learn a lot at the same time was magic, we had 3 different pods of whales, all sky-hopping and breaching and in the end, think we had about 50 dolphins swimming along with us as we followed the beach, and as we gunned through the big waves, it was magic to look back and see the dolphins dart through fresh air, wonderful.
From there took a superb drive through Nature's Valley and onto Storms River, too late for another boat ride, but was the most spectacular National Park, with mountains rising straight out of the rough sea, breath-taking, and thrilled to see an otter swim out. Another great sunset and full moon as we had a fish & chip dinner, beach side at a pub. Another great day (though weather was not kind, we had a mixed bag weather wise for the week) was a boat trip to Featherbed Nature Reserve, where a truck with trailer train, met us and hauled us up the hill to the top of the cliff, to overlook Knysna Heads, which were also spectacular (rough entrances where many shipwrecks have occurred) and then had a 2.2km downhill walk down to the water’s edge, with great views en-route, followed by a delicious fish buffet lunch.
That afternoon we caught the steam train from Knysna to George following the coast, via Wilderness and other very beautiful scenery. We did well on the food front as well. Had 2 superb evenings out, one at a seafood buffet restaurant, ate to our hearts content (and more) and the next night was the most delightful and delicious meal at a holiday resort, called Hog Hollow only seated 12 (though there were 9 of us) around a wooden table, log fire burning behind me, antiques galore, and fed this wonderful meal, set menu and the chef came out of the kitchen to tell us what we would be eating, a broccoli timbale, grapefruit sorbet, lobster thermidor on bed of cous-cous and vegetables, plus salad, and the best was their lemon glazed tart which was divine! As you can read, we were very reluctant to leave there as was indeed a fabulous week.
We had one and half long days driving to get back to Johannesburg, so Gail could go to a wedding. We had hoped to be a the delightful Cape Dutch town of Graaff-Reinet, but morning tea but did not there till lunch we had a picnic with us and were advised not to use the parks as some unsavory characters gathered there. Parked in a suburban street, under a tree and opened the car boot and stood & ate our lunch there! We got so many odd looks from passersby, eventually a well dressed Afrikaans woman comes along and asks us in Afrikaans why on earth were we eating in the street why did we not at least eat in her driveway. Gail responds in her best Afrikaans that we do not know who she is nor where she lives. At this stage she switched to English, invited us home for a cup of tea, which we accepted with pleasure and took her home. When we arrive her husband was parked in front of the TV and watching the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games! How lucky was I? Arrived in time to see Tina Arena sing "The Flame" and followed by Cathy Freeman lighting the Cauldron! I was thrilled and felt the Gods were smiling on me.
We left Graaff-Reinet much later than we should have, we then drove through snow, stopped to take photos, and then were gunning along this long straight road to get to our farm house bed & breakfast in the day! While Gail was at the wedding, a friend Jo, came around for morning tea, then I went to lunch with other friends, great to catch up, and we drove onto Pretoria where I had lived with them all those years ago. Up at 5.30am next morning to drive to the Eastern Transvaal to Sabi Sabi Game Reserve for two wonderful nights. Unfortunately, it rained the whole time we were there, out on game drives in Landrovers, both morning and night and saw the animals so close, I could almost reach out and touch them, pure magic for my lousy eye sight. I was enthralled. Were so close to an elephant pulling down a tree, had to move as the tree would have fallen on us! Saw herds of elephant, Cape Buffalo, a pride of 5 male lions, very lucky to see a pack of wild dogs (which neither of us had seen before) was lovely, as they also had cubs. Saw lmpala of course and were tracking a leopard, and were so close, when it crossed into another game reserve where we could not follow. We heard later, from the people that stayed on, they found the leopard that night and watched a kill, sorry we missed that. Oh yes, also saw some rhino up close as well as other animals. Our accommodation was superb, as was the food and we had such fun with the other 4 folk on our safari. Our tracker was superb he seemed to hear and see things from miles away. Really was back to nature and I loved every minute of it, to be so close to everything was such a bonus for me.
Unfortunately, it rained all the way back to Joburg so missed the stunning scenery en route, as the mist and the rain were down to road level. Had half an hour to shower and dress, as friends were coming for a quick meal and went off to a fantastic show, at Gold Reef City called "African Footprinf' a vibrant & exciting song and dance spectacular, where gum boot & tap dancers were on stage together, not to mention the drums and the singing, I was clapping along. It was indeed a fitting finale for my fabulous 3 weeks in South Africa.
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