09h00

An uneventful trip, arrived at Malelane Gate at about 14h00.

 Having booked in we headed for the camp and missed the turnoff and only realised it when we got to Berg-en-Dal where we battled to turn the train around but eventually managed.

 We met up with a cantankerous old Buffolo who did not want to give way.  He obviously does not know that he has to give way for caravans.  It is rather difficult reversing the caravan whilst being charged by an Buffolo.

 Eventually we got to camp and quickly set up with just the Raleigh tent and decided that this is the way to do it.  We went down to the river and met a couple from Fourways enjoying a glass of wine and had a good chuckle about the traffic in our suburb. 

08h00

 We went for a short drive during which we saw about 40 Cape Vulture feasting on the remains of a Zebra.

On the second day we drove to Lower Sabie and were fortunate to see 4 of the 5 – missing out on Leopard.

07h00

 23^rd July 2007

Our list of new birds has grown considerably. 

Skukuza however, is a commercial camp and not much atmosphere and we were looking forward to our stay at Maroela Camp. 

Maroela is rather rustic but our site was against the fence overlooking a dry river bed.  We were able to see quite a bit of game moving through the river bed and even two Hyenas patrolling the fence in search for scraps.  The birds also discovered the bird seed in front of our site and the next thing the whole aviary was there. 

After a little ziz we went out for an afternoon drive and on the way back saw a few Cheetahs resting on a bank. 

We were reluctant to leave Maroela as the camp had a very nice atmosphere.

We went into Letaba and were met by the most miserable receptionist we have ever come across.  Asking for additional nights we were refused and told to come back the next morning.  However, later the same day we visited her and we were able to get an additional two nights. 

On our drive that afternoon we met up with Jumbo who had a big headache and decided not to let us pass.  We did not want to challenge him with the Pajero and rather headed backward hastily, warning another visitor not to go down the road, which he did and shortly after that we saw him come heading back. 

Our morning drive the next day we came across a very large herd of Elephants and we were caught between them as they were on either side of the road and we just had to sit and wait.  In the evening whilst having supper we heard a rustle in the trees above us, grabbed the spotlight and found that it was a Bosnag- aap.  A first for us as he looks similar to a Bushbaby but very much bigger. We met an Oom who was a do-it-himself and was so proud to show us a removable bakkie tent come caravan.  (‘n Oom so na aan Reuben se hart).

On the one Causeway we saw a Bateleur Eagle and a Malachite Kingfisher sitting at the edge of the water – one drinking water whilst the other was looking for food.  They allowed us to watch them for quite a while.

Arriving back at camp we saw a lot of aloes in the garden with a lot of Sunbirds eating the nectar from the flowers.  We also saw a Red Billed African Hoopoo.  The birds were really special.

30^th July

We left the park through the Phalaborwa gate at about 11h00 and decided to stay over at a Forever resort just outside the gate. 

We had supper at the Buffalo Restaurant with a friend of ours, Angie whilst hubby Piet is working out of town but could al least catch up on the family gossip.We could not leave the resort without commenting that this was definitely the best resort we have ever been to.

31^st July

Whilst we were in the Kruger Park, we heard about the fires destroying plantations in Sabie and quite a few people including fire fighters loosing their lives in the blaze, but did not realise how bad it would be until we drove into Sabie to spend 2 nights at the very popular Merry Pebbles Resort. 

The smoke was like a heavy early morning mist blocking out the sunlight completely.

Our bodies got used to the lovely temperatures in the Kruger Park (33deg on Friday) and we could not believe that we were sitting at Merry Pebbles at 18h00 with the heater on in the caravan and a big fire outside.  What a rude awakening.  The temperature outside must be about 10deg or even less. In the morning we saw that the gauge in the car read 1 deg.

We went and saw many of the falls and scenes around the area and it reminded Reuben of a trip once before with brother  Ivan and Val, Roepsie & Morette, Brother John and George, and little Rita and Scamp the foxie dog. Our early morning patrol of Mallard ducks came looking for food.

On Thursday 2 August we reluctantly packed to head back home. We set the GPS to find home and so she took us back on the exact route that we would have chosen only diff was she estimated 13.30 and we got home at 14 45 due to the uphill trek.

We are now cleaning up for the next one which is in two weeks time when we take Reuben's sister Ena with us to see the flowers in the cape.

We will be updating you on that soon, as we now first clean up, pay some bills have a rest and then its off on the 19^th Aug.

Cheers for now..