Kruger and the Blyde River Canyon

One of the reasons initially for renting a car in South Africa was to allow us to drive around Kruger National Park independently. Up until this point we'd always had to go on safaris through tour operators, but in Kruger (and South Africa generally) the roads are excellent and even in the park itself all the roads and tracks are really well signposted. So in fact most people rent a car and 'do' Kruger themselves.

But on the way towards Kruger is the Blyde River canyon that has a number of spectacular sights to see, trails to hike, (many) waterfalls to ponder and some lovely picturesque towns to visit. Between just Kruger and Blyde canyon we must have spent nearly two weeks pottering about really. Our first hostel stop in Nelspruit was full, so we just moved up closer to Kruger and stayed in a cool laid-back backpackers place in Hazyview. We stayed here a few days, checking out the local animal rehabilitation centre (where Sarah hand-fed a huge vulture), and a local snake park. After Kruger we remained in the Blyde River area and stayed three nights in a really nice house 10kms outside the pretty town of Graskop. This house was really brilliant and we had the whole thing to ourselves (it was the only accommodation option they had left, so I managed to haggle a good price). The owner had worked for years in the construction industry and had built the house himself - it showed in the attention to detail and the beautiful finish. When I get back to Graskop (someday) I'll definitely try and stay there again - it was also only a 10 minute walk to a lovely small river with a small waterfall (which was nice for a bit of Hanno-esque meditation), swimming area and great, unspoilt natural picnic spots.

Somewhere along the way around here (I can't remember exactly), we did a short cave tour. It was the first of now many cave systems we visited, but was quite interesting. We had our own guide, and the tour didn't take very long, but we did get to see the resident bats.

From here we also did a full day hike down into the canyon itself. This was actually a pretty tough hike, but was rewarded at the bottom of the canyon with a really spectacular series of mighty waterfalls. It was a great a place to stop for lunch and then further along at the end of the hike (an out-and-back hike as opposed to a loop) there was a nice spot for a swim. It was probably the most invigoratingly refreshing swim in a river I've ever had, as it had been a tough hike on a gloriously hot day.

In total we spent five days driving around Kruger, and still only managed to see about two-thirds of the park. We spent three of those nights at camps situated within the park (even though it was low-season it was still difficult to get a room), the other days just outside the park. The main camps are really excellent and the rooms are actually rondavels which are self-contained and really comfortable. We spent two nights at Olifants camp and one night at Pretoriuskop camp.

But even with all that time spent in Kruger we still never managed to see a leopard, the most elusive of the big five. Lots of people we met had seen one, some had seen a few, but many others hadn't seen any at all, so it's all the luck of the draw really. But we had plenty of up-close-and-personal encounters with elephants and rhino and loads of other amazing critters (including another chameleon just walking across the road) - but I'd need to go through all the photos to remember them all.

We did a night drive one of the evenings and although you generally don't get to see much on these trips I did manage to spot a bushbaby. It didn't have the mad huge eyes I expected though, and at first I thought it was just a squirrel but then it started leaping around the tree it was on and was unmistakably a bushbaby - another critter off the list so.

We also did a half-day cycle safari with a couple of guides. We were lucky to get this trip, as all their bikes had just come back that day from two weeks of servicing. The trip itself was a bit too short for my liking though - it was obviously designed for people who don't normally cycle much, so although it was on off-road tracks, the distance was only 12km in total and the tracks weren't difficult at all. But it still felt very different being in rhino/hippo/elephant/lion/etc country on a bicycle instead of being wrapped up in a car or in a sturdy jeep.

Overall I think I have to say that the best place we've been on safari (so far!) was actually the very first one, on day two of the whole trip in the Masai Mara in Kenya. I think it was the most beautiful and varied in terms of scenery, and also in terms of the shear number of game animals loitering about. It certainly had the greatest number of lions (by far), but then again maybe we were just lucky with our timing or whatever.

Anyway, after pretty much exhausting everything there was to see and do in both Kruger and the Blyde River Canyon we finally started moving South and headed across the border into Swaziland.