For as long as I can remember, I have dreamed of going to Africa. When Rob and I were deciding whether or not to move to Australia, I actually listed ‘closer to Africa’ on our list of positives. As It turns out it isn’t closer at all! Maps can be deceiving!
I can’t even begin to calculate how many hours Rob put into planning this trip. Neither of us wanted to do one of those long-term tours where you’re stuck following someone else’s itinerary and travelling with the same group of people for weeks, so Rob planned every part of the trip, figuring out the best way to get from place to place – five countries in all.
Planning also included organising all of our vaccines leading up to the trip – 3 rounds of vaccines timed at specific intervals with one more to go in a few months now that we’re back. It was all worth it though!
At last, the day of the trip arrived.
We flew Emirates for the first time…amazing! The seats and leg room are much more spacious than other airlines and they give you real silverware at meals. And the bathrooms were so big you didn’t have to try to squish between the door and toilet to close the door. Amazing how the little things make such a difference on long flights. Even better, the flight wasn’t full so Rob and I each got our own row for the flight from Brisbane to Dubai. Flying into Dubai was interesting. I found it fascinating to fly over the deserts and locations we often see on newscasts about the middle east.
After a 4-hour layover, we started our final leg of the journey to Johannesburg. When we landed in Johannesburg, we had our passports stamped but walked right through the border control scans…all of the agents were too busy watching the semi-final rugby match to scan passengers and luggage. A short train ride later, and we were at our hotel. After a quick shower, we wandered out to the patio bar to enjoy the night time skyline and a much needed drink. Almost as soon as we sat down, fireworks started. We’re guessing they were to celebrate South Africa’s rugby win that day. They went on forever! Of course neither of us brought our phones, but it was a nice way to relax after a long two days of flying.
We had one day to catch up in Johannesburg before starting our first safari adventure. We wandered over to a mall nearby to check out Nelson Mandela square. In the centre of the square is a massive statue of Nelson Mandela, the first public statue of Mandela in the country. We then spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool before starting our whirlwind trip.
The next morning, we were up and out bright and early to begin our drive to the Tremisana Game Lodge in the Balule region of Greater Kruger National Park, our home for the next five days. The drive was about 5.5 hours. On the way, we stopped to pick up another group of guests. Believe it or not, they were also from Australia and the one guy has a brother who lives here in Yeppoon. Such a small world!
The landscape on our drive from Johannesburg to Tremisana lodge was very much like Central Queensland. So many of the trees and flowers were the same as what we have here. And the ground and bushland was all so dry. Sadly, South Africa is also in a massive drought right now and they are desperately awaiting rain.
When we arrived at the lodge, we had just enough time to drop our bags before heading out on first safari, a sunset one. Unfortunately, it was cloudy that day so we didn’t get to take in a sunset, but within 20 minutes, we came across three elephants. I honestly hadn’t expected to see animals so quickly and so easily! I was absolutely in awe of these gorgeous animals. Over the next hour, we were also blessed enough to see a number of different animals ….
As night fall set in, our driver pulled up on this little spot in the bush where the lodge had set up lanterns and were busy cooking us dinner over an open fire. Such a pretty sight and a wonderful way to start our experience. While we were eating, we noticed a few friends hoping for some scraps…three hyenas spent the entire evening on the edge of the bush.
The next day, we got up bright and early to do a 4-hour sunrise bush walk with one of guides. He was so knowledgeable and shared lots of information about the local plants and resources and how they were used as medicine. Although the aim of the walk was to educate us on the local bush and customs rather than see the local wildlife, there were still plenty of animals around us.
Day 3 of our safari was a full day trip to Kruger National Park, which was about 90 minutes away from where we were staying. We had an amazing driver named Fortune who shared new information every time we saw an animal. It was like being part of a live wildlife show! Kruger National Park is located in the north-east of South Africa and is nearly 20 000km2in size and has all of the Big Five animals (lions, cheetahs, leapords, elephants, rhinos) in South Africa. The amazing thing about Kruger is how many animals there are, and all so easy to see. It felt so surreal to see all of these animals.
The next morning we headed out to the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in the Limpopo province of South Africa (not too far from where we were staying). Moholoholo works hard to save injured and poisoned animals from the local area and nurse them back to health so they can go back into the wild. Some of the animals are unable to be released back into the wild so these animals become ‘ambassadors’ for the centre which allows the staff to educate tourists, but also local children and farmers. Moholoholo is actually the home of Stoffle the Honey Badger. I remember seeing videos of this little guy escaping his enclosure no matter what the rangers did to keep him in. When we were there, he was sound asleep so he didn’t look naughty at all.
Sadly, poaching is a very real threat. Often times, poachers are spotted because rangers see the vultures overhead. Poachers will actually poison a large animal such as a water buffalo, wait for the vultures to eat the meat and die, and then go in to kill the rhinos or elephants. Farmers also set many traps to keep animals such as leopards away from their animals. And the use of animals in witchcraft is still very present.
That same evening, we went for our last game park drive in South Africa at a local reserve called Tshukudu. What an experience! We had another excellent and knowledgeable driver, a local South African named Richard. Shortly after starting our drive, Richard drove up alongside a family of lions eating a giraffe. I couldn’t believe how close we were! When we pulled up, the two cubs were eating. He explained that the male lion always eats first, then the female, and finally the cubs. While we were watching, the female decided to get up to move in for a little more, and the male put a paw on her head to push her aside and then laid across the neck of the giraffe to prevent her from doing so.
Just when I thought we couldn’t see anything more authentic, Richard pulled over in a bushy area and said there were two cheetahs just beyond the trees eating a kudu and that since we couldn’t get to that area with the jeep, he was going to walk us in…wait, what?!!
After leaving the cheetahs, we were fortunate enough to see a rhino and her baby. Most of the parks in South Africa de-horn their rhinos as a conservation measure to try to deter poachers (alongside heavy security), so you’ll notice this mama has no horn. Richard explained to us that horns are a little like finger nails and grow back overtime so dehorning needs to re-occur every few years. Apparently, dehorning doesn’t appear to alter the behaviour of the rhinos though there have been reports of less deaths between male rhinos who would typically use their horns in fights to defend their territories.
As we turned the corner from seeing the rhinos, we came across these hippos beginning their nighttime feeding. Hippos spend most of the day low in the water, resting and staying cool. As the sun begins to set, they emerge from the water to eat grass. We were so lucky to be able see them out of the water (Unfortunately, the pics were all blurry because of the low light). Although most people think of lions as being the most dangerous, hippos are actually the most aggressive animal in the world and are responsible for many human deaths.
And just as we were leaving Tshukudu, the skies cleared and blessed us with this gorgeous sunset.
The next day, we began our journey back to Johannesburg to begin Week 2 of our adventure. On our way through, we stopped at Blyde River Canyon. Even with the clouds and haze, it was gorgeous, I can only imagine how breathtaking it is when the sun is shining.
During the drive, we listened to the final World Cup rugby game between South Africa and England. We arrived in this tiny little town for lunch, just in time to watch the last few minutes live. The number of cars and people in this small town was incredible. It was exciting to be there while the locals cheered on their national team. Sorry, maybe next time Tommy J!
After a full day of driving, we finally arrived at our hotel for a solid shower and a good night’s rest. Next stop..Zimbabwe.
—TO BE CONTINUED—