We started early again as we had a packed day en route to Kruger National Park where we would be doing the first of a few Safari Game Drives. We piled into a new Quantum with Arthur and made our way out of Johannesburg. It was a two hour drive before we made our first pit stop at a gas station. Maybe I’m just used to North American Gas stations, but this was one of the fanciest gas stations I’d ever been at. It had the regular bays for cars, but also had multiple restaurants, a convenience store and a viewing platform overlooking the game reserve behind it. Even the men’s washroom urinals had a huge glass wall that allowed you to look at animals while you….went.
Back on the road we made our way to our first stop, the Three Rondavels. This is considered one of the largest canyons in the world. There were two main viewpoints and the views were pretty breathtaking. It always amazes me how awesome a world we live in and really how creative the creator really is. Whenever I see these great displays of nature I always have to take a moment to breath it in and simply appreciate it. We spent under an hour here but it was enough time to snap some amazing pics (Gallery to follow)
Next up with Bourke’s Luck Potholes. Its the result of two rivers joining together and “swirling” around to create some very unique rock formations. As the water levels dropped the colors and smoothness of the rock face really show well. I really enjoyed hopping around on the rocks and checking out the area.
We headed to lunch afterwards at a place called Harrie’s pancakes. With the Dutch influence in South Africa it was like a stuffed Dutch pancake restaurant. I ordered a savoury pancake stuffed with sticky pork and peaches. It reminded me of a saucy Chinese BBQ pork with the sweetness of peaches. It was really good and it certainly hit the spot!
Our final stop before reaching the Kruger was at a viewpoint called God’s window. The “myth” behind the name was that after God had finished creation he sat in this area and “looked over the world and saw that it was good”. It is an elevated position overlooking the entire valley and is an amazing view. It was a bit hazy but the vastness of what you can see is pretty incredible. On top of this, if you can get to one of the viewpoints on your own, there are moments (when birds aren’t chirping or bees aren’t buzzing) when it is completely silent and peaceful. I really enjoyed the brief moment of solitude. We’d been going for a few days now, and to take a small breath to just enjoy the pace was amazing!
Onward towards our final destination for the day: Nkambeni Safari lodge by the Numbi Gate in Kruger National Park. We were told that this would be tented camping and prepared for it, but what we got were semi permanent wood structures with tent tops. It was pretty luxurious as far as tenting goes, though (as I’ve found with most of my accommodation in Africa thus far) Wifi was non existent save for a 20 minute voucher we would get for our entire stay. There was a main lodge with a bar, lounge, reception and a main eating area (all meals were served in the main lodge) Muscles and I would share a room and we got settled and unpacked. We had a buffet dinner and went to bed pretty early as it was dark, and we had an early morning game drive that would leave at 6. Really looking forward to tomorrow when we’ll be crossing one of our “musts” from the list we originally had for Africa.
Galleries (Click on the Thumbnail for a larger version)
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