Thursday 27 October – The Moroccan House, Pretoria

I usually write a sort of pre-trip entry before we leave the U.K., but this time I was overtaken by other events so now we are actually two days into the trip. Getting here wasn't too bad at all. We flew out of Norwich at 17.25 in the afternoon, which was a lot more comfortable than our usual 06.00 departure. In order to fit everything into the time schedule we made two stops, Schipol and Charles de Gaulle, but spent only just over an hour at each so it was quite comfortable. I think I wrote last year, when we flew in November very soon after the terrorist attacks in Paris, how happy I was to be flying KLM as the Dutch don't seem to upset many people, are more involved in peacekeeping than banner waving. It did pass briefly through my mind than we were flying Air France. Now than Schengen has disappeared Schipol was much quicker, no queuing or rushing for the fast lane. We had to show passports at both changes but there were no further security checks after Norwich and everywhere seems to have automated passport checking stations as well so it was all quite seamless. Charles de Gaulle was very disorganized, with no instructions or direction, staff quite grumpy and several rather annoyed passengers.

So here we are and it's so good to be back in Africa. We have soon slotted back in, remembering to be very polite and ask after people’s health and family, especially to the black South Africans. It's warm, a bone-warming warm 32C today and rising. We are off up north tomorrow, to Limpopo, and it's currently 38C there so that might be a bit too warm. Even here in Pretoria it looks and smell like Africa. The Jacarandas are everywhere, blue, blue, blue. Blue to the sky above and a carpet of blue to walk on. It has been hotter than usual here in the Spring, so hopefully we will see the Flamboyant trees in full colour, even though we are a couple of weeks earlier than usual. Even here, in the Pretoria suburbs, we heard the Ibis overhead on their dusk and dawn trip to roost.

We are staying in the most quirky of guesties for a couple of nights. A Moroccan Emporium, an outlet for selling Moroccan imports, but with some rooms attached. The owner is eccentric, he reminds us of Victor. We have a lovely room with a patio  beneath Jasmine and Mimosa trees, the tinkling of fountains. Amazingly for such a climate, there are no insects, not even at night. We were served an amazing meal on our balcony last night, and not a mossie in sight or hearing range. We had a starter of mezes which was a meal in itself, a selection of beautifully prepared and presented dishes, decorated with flowers. This was followed by a tagine, lamb for me and chicken for John. We have requested just the starter tonight. Breakfast this morning was fresh fruit, yoghurt and honey, and an absolutely delicious shakshuka, with orange juice with cinnamon and honey, and lovely musky coffee.

We have been shopping today and customised the car. We were a bit apprehensive when we saw what we had rented, it's a Honda Mobilio. We haven't seen anything like it in the U.K. It's a six seater, 3 rows of 2 seats with a small boot. John has folded down the middle row of seats and it's working very well, with a large area we can put all the camping equipment and food storage in the boot. So tomorrow we will set off for the Marakale National Park, somewhere we haven't been before. I hope there will be elephants. I missed the elephants when we were in South Africa last year, spending most of our time in the south and west. Of course I get excited when we see the big cats or rhino and hippopotamus, but for me it is the elephants that are magic.

Saturday 29th October – Marakale National Park

Today is our 50th wedding anniversary. That sounds like a very long time, forever. In fact it has passed in a flash. I remember an occasion when we were first married, meeting a couple celebrating their 10th anniversary and thinking what a very long time that was. It is our choice to be here, on our own, sitting in the shade outside our tent, in Africa on this day. We are not party animals and it seems appropriate for us to be here together, enjoying each others company and doing something we both enjoy.

We left Pretoria and The Moroccan House yesterday morning and had a comfortable 3 hour drive to the Park. The Moroccan House was an excellent place to stay and it will definitely be our destination of choice if we stop over in Pretoria again. As it is a weekend and this Park is easily accessible from Johannesburg we took the precaution of booking ahead. The site is far from full, but several people came in after us yesterday. Luckily as were here around lunchtime we were able to select a pitch with some shade, close to the perimeter. This Park is arranged differently to others we have stayed in, it is divided into two parts with security fencing between then. The part where the campsite is located does not contain any ‘dangerous’ animals, which means that the campsite is not fenced. There is a row of low concrete bollards and a few notices on the trees, saying ‘Danger. No visitors beyond this point’. It would seem that as the animals can't read there is nothing to stop them coming through. We took a short drive in the Park this morning and we saw antelope, zebra and giraffe, as well as monkeys and baboons. In our experience monkeys and baboons have managed to get through every security fence, usually by swinging through the trees. The only other visitors we have had so far are a family of Ostriches, two adults and a young one, who seem to wander between the tents most of the time.

We stayed in the ‘safe’ part of the Park this morning and it is mostly dry scrub, lots of Acacia trees. It is 35C, a dry rasping heat, and sun is terrifyingly strong. As we went to bed last night there were several flashes of lightning across the sky, so we shut down the windows in the tent fly. It was very hot despite a strong wind and the anticipated storm didn't materialise, so tonight we will leave everything open, rain will soon wake us up. There aren't as many birds as I had hoped to see in this part of the Park, but yesterday evening we saw a giant lizard, about a metre long, just outside the perimeter. We learnt this morning from a Park Ranger that it is a ?Lechuan, and they are not often seen. He thinks there are a pair here and they sometimes come to drink from a small puddle which forms at the base of the water tank, not far from our tent. We will definitely watch out for it again but I don't know how often these desert lizards need to drink.

So a very relaxed day today. We have spent the afternoon looking at our maps and books, throwing around a few ideas about our onward travel. We want to make Mapungubwe National Park our next destination. It's another Park we have not visited before, it is further north in the place where the borders of Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa meet, and at the confluence of two great rivers, the Limpopo and the Sashi. Of most interest to us is the fact that The Hill of Jackals is in the Park. It is an Iron Age archaeological site and believed to be the site of the first kingdom in Africa. It is however a long drive from here so we have  found a campsite about half way and checked that they have a pitch for Monday night. We always get a pay-as-you-go South African SIM when we are here and pre-load it with data transfer. Fortunately, and unusually, we have got phone reception in this Park so we have been able to take advantage of it and do some on-line browsing. South Africa is at the moment experiencing above average temperatures, as well as a drought. The predicted temperature for Mapungubwe is 38C, and northern Kruger which we think will be our next stop could be just as high. If it becomes really unbearable we may head for the coast or high ground. Bushmens Nec in the foothills of The Drakensberg, where we experienced 48 hours of 10C day and night, and perpetual fog, 5 years ago, all is forgiven. We might be back.

Tonight we will braai a nice piece of steak, with some sweet potatoes in the fire, and a salad of tomatoes, onions, garlic, pepper, cucumber and avocado. We also have nice bottle of wine to share on this special occasion. It's been a good 50th wedding anniversary.

Tuesday 01 November   Mapungubwe National Park

We had an enjoyable second day in Marakale NP. We explored all the roads and tracks accessible without a 4 X 4. To reach the other half of the Park we had to take a tunnel under a dirt road. Although the Park is stocked with lots of ‘Big Five’ game we only saw a very dozy male lion relaxing in the shade of a tree. He had obviously eaten recently as we saw a herd of Impala grazing close-by, who totally ignored him. Although lions have the reputation for being very aggressive, in fact under normal circumstances they are very lazy, only hunting and killing when they are hungry, which is often just once a week. The rest of the time they are happy just lazing around. The campsite emptied on the Sunday so it was a very quiet evening. I was thrilled to see the big lizard again and to discover than the water tower seemed to provide home to hoards of wild bees. We had heard the buzzing early in the morning but didn’t know where it was coming from. I sneaked around the other side of it, outside the perimeter bollards in order to get a better look at the lizard. I was immediately aware of a cacophony of buzzing and withdrew immediately. Fortunately I was not stung. The water tower overflowed for most of the afternoon and formed a magnet for lots of birds, as well as the lizard, as they took advantage of the small pool the water temporarily formed. A herd of Vervet monkeys arrived and enterprisingly climbed up the tower to hang over the edge and drink the water as it spouted out.

Yesterday we travelled a back road to follow the South African/Botswanian border travelling north. We stopped off in Ephalale to restock with food and alcohol and a few other essentials, somewhere we seem to have lost a knife and fork, so eating on Sunday night was slow as we shared utensils. Ephalale is a remote place in the northwest of South Africa, but the centre of a big farming community. Whites were heavily represented and Afrikaans was the only language we heard. There was a large Dutch Reform Church and so many outlets for the sale of farm machinery and equipment. There was also a superb shopping Mall catering for all the nicer things which the basic African outlets don’t offer. We were able to restock with everything we wanted, as well as the things we needed. Last night we slept at The Big Fig, a private complex of chalets and a campsite behind a garage and take-out, very close to the Botswana border. It sounds a bit like a truck stop, but it was a very superior truck stop. The lawn was beautifully irrigated and we pitched on grass, in the shade of large spreading trees. The irrigation sprinklers attracted all sorts of beautiful birds, after the dry dust of Marakale was very welcome. The close by border post closes at 22.00 until 06.00 so there was not any night time traffic noise. The campsite was also shielded from the road by a line of bungalows. We decided to eat from the cafe so we had fairly typical but acceptable take out meal of omelette and salad with chips. There was also a well stocked shop and we were able to leave this morning with a nice T-bone steak and some boerwerst.

We were slightly aghast when a very large truck drew in next to us at The Big Fig last night. It was a powerful beast. However the occupants, Pieter and (I think) Ronata turned out to be a delightful couple who are dairy farmers from the Tsistikamma area. They invited us for a drink and we took a bottle of wine and spent the evening sitting outside their truck, drinking and talking. It is the wonderful thing about traveling this way, the opportunity to meet other people, talk with them and learn from their experiences. It sounded as if they are BIG farmers, with two or three dairy farms in S.A. and another one in Swaziland, run by their son. They describe themselves as ‘Boers’, two hundred years of Dutch/African ancestry, working the land, creating a food source from a hostile environment, putting everything they have back into their country, optimistic about it’s future. We enjoyed the evening with them and I am sad that I didn’t get an email address, although I think that with the information I have I might be able to contact them.

Mapapungwe is a fairly new and transfrontier Park. It is an area currently encompassing land in South Africa and Botswana. It is hoped that it may extend into Zimbabwe as it surrounds the confluence of two main rivers. The Limpopo marks the border between South Africa and Botswana, and also South Africa and Zimbabwe. The Shashi marks the border between Botswana and Zimbabwe, so it is an the point where the three countries meet. The layout of the Park was a bit of a surprise. We checked in at the main gate to learn that in order to get to the campsite we have to retrace our route on the main and re-enter from another gate. A journey which we have now found to be 40 kms. There are some private farms within the area which the Park covers, and there is no access through them. The campsite is rather nice, although there isn’t a lot of shade. As at Marakale the trees are still bare. There were only two other tents when we arrived and we have pitched quite close to one of them as the only shade is beneath a very large tree with leaves. They are pitched one side of it so we have pitched the other. The ablutions are limited and if the site was full, once again they would hardly be adequate. The other couple here have told us that the monkeys can be very naughty.

Wednesday 02 November – Mapapungwe NP

The monkeys can be very naughty indeed! When we got back to the tent this afternoon they had been under the fly, into the front of the tent. The bucket with washing up in it had been tipped over and the contents spread about. Things had been taken out of the cold bag and the Anthisan tube bitten into. They had wee-ed and poo-ed on the picnic mat and wee-ed up the side od the tent. Their dirty paw prints were everywhere. The worst damage was that a hole had been ripped in the bedroom unit. I think we got back and disturbed them just in time, as they hadn’t actually managed to get inside it. I mended it by sewing, which was difficult as the fabric had been chewed, and then John sealed it with the tent repair kit. It was not a pleasant job clearing up, but it could have been an awful lot worse.

They were very aggressive last night and we were careful not to leave any food unattended. The young couple from Cape Town, Gavin and Kiera,  we had spoken to at the Museum arrived with a safari truck and a top tent. We spoke to them a short while ago, after the braai, and Kiera said that while they were cooking a monkey had swooped down out of a tree and taken potatoes out of the fire. She had never known that to happen before. They are doing a big trip which sounds quite similar to the one we did six years ago.

We drove all the way back to the main gate this morning and were lucky to get there by 07.00 in time to pick up a guided tour of the archaeological site. It is not possible to visit the site independently without a qualified guide. This is partly for your own protection, the site is in the middle of the bush. Our guide was armed with a rifle, but he said he had never had to use it. Another reason is that the site is sacred to the people whose ancestors used to live there, and to ensure that visitors conduct themselves appropriately and with respect. A metal shelter draws back to uncover part of the original excavation, which shows how successive occupants of the site burnt the remains of the previous one and built over it. There were also fragments of pottery, bones and tools visible in the profile. The concept of the site is similar to others which we have seen in Zimbabwe. The society is divided into two factions, the King, his family and entourage, and the ‘commoners’. The royal class live exclusively on the top of the very high hill, chosen for its vantage point over the surrounding countryside. The common people live around the base of the hill, providing all the resources and services required to support the royal class. This would include collecting water from the nearest source, about two kms away, and transporting it, and all other requirements up the steep climb to the top of the hill. The skeletons and remains which were uncovered in the original excavation and taken away for examination, have been returned from the museum and re-interred in a grave at the top.

When we returned to the main gate with our guide the skies were very heavy and overcast and the event of rain seemed likely. We decided to postpone our visit to the museum and take a drive around the Park first. As we drove round the skies cleared and it became yet another scorching hot day. Like Marakele there is scarcely any vegetation, dry, blackened trees bare earth. We didn’t see much game and the landscape was stark and featureless. The Museum is housed in a rather fine building. It consists of a series of stone built vaults on two levels, leading one from another. I thought that from the exterior resembled a collection of rondavels. It was well laid out and informative with some very nice specimens. We were having an ice-cream in the small cafe when we met Gavin and Kiera. After we had driven the 40 kms back to our part of the Park we made a detour to visit the game hide. The other occupant of the campsite, a lone Frenchman who John had spoken to the previous evening, was at the hide. He returned to his tent late last evening and left this morning even before us. I wonder if he spends all day at the hide. It is situated next to a pumped water hole. He told us we had just missed some elephants coming to drink. We saw a giraffe and several birds. Then we returned to the tent just in time, as described at the beginning of this entry!

Friday 04 November – Punda Maria, Kruger National Park

It was an easy run here yesterday. We were up fairly early, the sky was heavy and overcast. During the night thunder rumbled around in the distance and there were some large flashes of lightning, but no rain. There were a few drops as we drove south and in some places it looked as if there had been rain recently. We stopped in Polokwane for shopping at a Picknpay, and stocked up for 3 or four nights. Punda Maria campsite hasn’t improved since the last time we were here, three years ago. The location is superb, in the north of the Park, and the campsite is wonderfully placed next to a waterhole which is supplied by a pump. The site is large with few trees and little shade. At the moment the continued drought means that the trees have few leaves so really there is no shade at all. It is hot, probably over 40C. The ablutions block has 2 toilets, 1 shower and 1 bath. Fortunately for us the campsite is not very busy at the moment, but I should imagine there could be some considerable queues-for- the-loos when it is. The only standpipes are at the washup lapas so it’s a long way for water.

We have picked a pitch between some trees, bare with no leaves, overlooking the perimeter fence next to the waterhole. We have forfeited an electric connection as the power points are indiscriminately distributed and our cable isn’t long enough to connect to the closest one. Our cable is 20 metres long. Last night the activity around the water hole was excellent, with many animals coming in to drink and wash. The drought in the whole of Southern Africa is terrible, I think this is the third successive year of failing rains. We drove here yesterday passing vast areas of black soil , bare of any vegetation, a few scrub bushes desperately trying to put out some leaves, but in the most part just gnarled and twisted skeletons. Inside the Kruger Park is no better, it is impossible to believe that there is enough grazing to support so many herbivores. The lack of other available water sources does mean that the animals are congregating around the artificially maintained ones.

Yesterday, in the late afternoon, the water hole was dominated by the elephants. There is a raised hide/viewing area at the campsite perimeter. We watched as one after another the elephants appeared from the bush. There seemed to be a very large dominant bull, and several younger bulls, lots of cows and a gaggle of calves of different ages. They drank and washed and sprayed. There was some jostling and what sounded like ill-tempered trumpeting. There was also quite a strong and pungent smell. A fellow spectator, equipped with impressive photography equipment and obviously a serious game watcher, told us that the bulls are in ‘must’ and exuding strong smells as well as being very aggressive. I assume that ‘must’ means fertile and I must look this one up as I was under the impression that it was the female of the species who emitted pheromones when she came into season, thus stimulating the males, who were permanently fertile. It could be that the females are in season at the moment and the males are just responding, jostling for who gets first pick.

Today we drove further north to the Pafuri area. Unfortunately we weren’t able to go to the archaeological site of Thulamela, probably the main reason we have returned to Punda Maria. When we were here three years ago it was immediately after the devastating floods caused by the confluence of the Limpopo and Luvuhu rivers overflowing it’s banks. The site was in the flood damage area and was closed to the public. Having been to the Mapapungwe site and the museum there we were keen to follow the train to Thulameli. We enquired at reception at Punda Maria but were told that, like Mapapungwe, you could only visit with a trained guide and none were available. The very pleasant man in reception said he would try to find a guide for us, but was not successful. We did enjoy the trip up to the northern border though. It was great to be beside the ‘great grey-green greasy Limpopo’ again. We drove alongside its banks, looking across to Zimbabwe, and saw Crocodiles and hippos and many lovely birds. This time there was no sign of the devastation of three years ago. The vegetation has all returned, the up-rooted trees have either decayed or been removed and fresh seedlings taken their place. After the dry, dreary landscape of the rest of the Park it was a joy to be in such a green and vibrant place.

There was quite a nasty incident first thing this morning. We heard lots of shouting and some gunshots very close by. Then a rather large bull elephant came running across the campsite, heading towards the little copse of trees where we are pitched, chased by several security guards. They were shouting and firing guns into the air. I went to jump into the car and called to John to do the same, but we were between quite dense trees. He detoured to the side and clawed and fought his way through the electric perimeter fence, the guards still shouting and firing guns. Eventually he got through and ran off into the bush. We heard later that he just ambled through the open gate. In retrospect we had both heard a loud bell just before the shouting started and thought it was a car alarm going off. The garage attendant at the filling station next to the gate must have a panic button in case s/he sees anything like that. I think it was rather badly handled, on the assumption that the elephant was not aggressive when he wandered through the gate by mistake, probably on his way to the water hole. I have to appreciate that it is the job of the guards to protect the visitors to the Park, but I wonder if there was really such a need for so much gunfire. Again assuming that he was not aggressive when he wandered in, the elephant was certainly terrified by the time he left.

The monkeys are aggressive here as well. We have been careful to keep car doors shut and to guard all food during preparation. We were warned to watch out for the monkeys by a group pitched near us. Tonight while they were cooking a monkey gathered up all their sweet corn as they were about to put it on the braai and ran off with it. Yesterday a weaver bird perched on an open door and pecked at a tomato. I thought it better not to eat it so I put it on the dash of the car until I could dispose of it. The front window was open a tiny crack, but a young monkey managed to get an arm in. I saw him and shouted, the crack wasn’t big enough for him to get his clenched fist with the tomato out, so he dropped it and ran off. Last night some very, very small animal managed to get into the car through the tiniest crack in the window. We don’t know what it could have been, the crack was too small for a monkey, and nothing had been trashed or poo-ed on. If we hadn’t noticed that three small bananas had been eaten, and oats from the cereal tub had been scattered, we would not have known anything had been in. Whatever the creature was it must have dropped down through the window crack, but had trouble getting back out. It had tried to take another banana with it, but couldn’t get it out and had left some of it squashed and smeared over John’s sweat top which was next to the window.

Tomorrow we will exit Kruger. We have decided that rather than drive north to south through the entire Park, which is going to be a desolate experience through blackened, deserted bush, we will exit through the Punda Maria gate and drive down to Blyde River Canyon, where we stayed three years ago after leaving Zimbabwe. There is a very commercial campsite there, part of the Forever chain of tourist resorts, where there will be green and shade and good facilities, as well as a relief from the very high temperatures. We will discuss our onward travel plans from there, whether to re-enter Kruger in the south before going into Swaziland.

Monday 07 November – Lower Sabie, Kruger NP

Sitting in the tent, a river flowing past, very wet underfoot. We both woke up at 04.30 this morning and decided to do a Game Drive, something we have never done before. So we got straight into the car, it was only just starting to get light. We followed the road by the Sabie River, where the the sightings map in reception showed that lots of game had been seen yesterday. As it gradually got light we realised that the sky was completely overcast, heavy, threatening clouds. We drove slowly but at first saw only Impala and baboons. Then we saw a couple of stationary cars ahead of us. As we approached someone called out of a window that there was a leopard in the tree. We drew a little closer and could see him easily with a naked eye. He was lying across a fork in the tree gnawing away at his breakfast. It was obviously a fresh kill, rather than a cached meal, as the blood was very red. We have never seen a leopard so close before, and certainly not one eating like that.

A bit further on we came across a large Game Truck, with a lot of excitement. We drew up alongside them and a very handsome hyena was rolling about on the ground, making what sounded like squeals of pleasure, maybe having a good early morning scratch. As we drove on a few spots of rain started to appear on the windscreen, and we had been driving for over an hour, so we decided to turn back. A few kilometres further on a single car ahead of us swerved in the road. As we got closer we saw 4 Painted Dogs trotting along. They weren’t in a hurry, a quick walking pace. Together we followed them for more than a kilometre, as they continued on their way along the vehicle track, making no effort to run away or go into the bush. They were really beautiful. The only Painted Dog I have ever seen before was in Tanzania, a long time ago. That one was a rather sad looking mangy animal. These four looked like young, healthy dogs, maybe a hunting group of young males. Occasionally they stopped and had some mock fighting play, rolling around on top of each other. They seemed totally oblivious to the fact that two cars were following them, albeit at a very gentle pace and a discrete distance. Finally they divided and loped off into the bush on either side of the track.

So a very satisfactory early morning drive. John saw something else which we had not seen before, as it was at the edge of the road on his side of the car, and he just spotted it as he went past. We haven’t identified it yet, but he described it as being like a very small rabbit with large, upright, almost hare-like ears. Back at the tent, as we made coffee and got breakfast the drops of rain became a bit harder, so we shut down the tent. Then it really started. John was trapped in the lapa with the washing up, and I was in the tent. I had stayed to reorganise the front sitting area in case the rain persisted and we had to sit inside for a while. I didn’t as much reorganise as take rapid action to roll back the groundsheet, allowing the coursing water to flow under it, rather than into the tent. There has been no rain here for so long that the ground is rock hard, with no absorbency. Also as the strength of the rain increase, it would have caused flooding anyway. So far the bedroom unit seems to be surviving, although, as we are pitched on a slight slope, water is running under one side of it and out the other. It has been going on for well over an hour now, although the torrential rain has been replaced by a steady flow. We are sitting in a very small area in the front of the tent, on top of a rather wet picnic mat, with the ground sheet rolled back all around us. There is some sign that the ground underneath the flysheet is starting to absorb the puddles.

So, just a brief word about Blyde River Canyon and the Forever Resort, as I won’t be doing much today at the moment. We were packed up and away from Punda Maria by 07.00 and at Blyde River by lunchtime, including a shopping stop. The route became familiar as we got closer to the mountains. The Drakensberg here is truly amazing, towering mountains, spectacular rock formation is many colours. After the dry, blackened landscape of Punda Maria, and indeed the whole northern area of Limpopo, the sight of green fields and trees in full leaf was very welcome. Blyde River Forever Resort Campsite is not somewhere I would choose to stay except as an overnight stop or a treat in green surroundings with shade. It seemed a bit more like a prison as we were given sticky armbands to wear so that we could be identified at all times. However the Campsite itself is very nice, when we stayed here three years ago we took a chalet. I think there had been a lot of rain! The campsite is not big, maybe 30 pitches either side of an access road, almost all in the shade of giant spreading trees, including sweet-smelling Mimosa. And there was grass! The ablutions block had twice the number of toilets and showers as at Punda Maria, which is probably four times as big. The facilities do need a bit more care and attention though, mostly a staffing issue. The braai at our pitch hadn’t been cleaned from the previous occupant, one of the electric sockets didn’t work, but when we reported it a man did come very quickly to repair it. John did some washing and said that the outdoor laundry sinks needed a good scrub, one was so dirty he couldn’t use it. However we did enjoy a very pleasant evening and a cooler night.

As we left Blyde River yesterday morning we realised it was Sunday and we weren’t sure about opening hours for supermarkets. I have an idea that some of the more traditional ones only open for a few hours in the morning and we both thought that liquor can’t be sold at all on Sundays. We were in Graskop about 08.00 and the Shoprite there was open so be bought some meat and a bit more fruit and veg. and after a slow drive once we had re-entered Kruger, arrived at Lower Sabie around 12.30. It is very busy here compared to Punda Maria, with what appears to be quite a lot of older people, and quite reasonably so as the facilities are so much better. There is also a well stocked shop and a Mug and Bean cafe and restaurant. It was heaving with people yesterday, but I suspect that many of them were day visitors. As we drove here Game Trucks were in convoys and several coaches were at the car park. It is probably an organised day-trip including lunch in the restaurant and a Game Drive. By last night we could only see a few vacant camping pitches, so we did well to arrive early yesterday and secure one without a reservation.

Wednesday 09 November – Malolotja Nature Reserve, Swaziland

We left Lower Sabie yesterday morning with a reasonably dry tent after the heavy rain, but it was very dirty on the underside of the bedroom unit and the groundsheet where rainwater had coursed through. Luckily we were pitched on sand, mud would have been a real problem.

The drive from Lower Sabie to Berg-en-Dal gave us the usual game sightings, quite a few Rhino, but nothing as exciting as the Painted Dogs of the previous day. The Berg-en-Dal campsite is very different to The Lower Sabie, and for us very superior. There are no marked out pitches as at Lower Sabie, so you don’t get your own discrete space, but it was much more spacious and far less crowded. We pitched alongside the perimeter fence, thinking we might see some game, but we only saw a few Kudu and Impala, and the ever present Vervet Monkey.

The ground was very damp everywhere, and we could see that some other people who had been there on Monday night had trenched around their tents. When we had put the tent up John borrowed a spade and trenched around ours as a precautionary measure. During the afternoon I became increasingly convinced that the suspicion I had over the previous couple of days was developing into a urinary infection. I had made a conscious effort to drink more water during the day, but that didn’t prevent a very uncomfortable night.

I was concerned that our next stop was to be in Swaziland, so decided to go back to the main Kruger Camp, Skukuza, which is more like a village, accommodating over 1,000 people, where there are medical facilities. So we packed up the tent and went there instead of leaving immediately through the Malelane Gate. With almost no wait I saw a very nice doctor, explained my symptoms, he did a wee test, confirmed my diagnosis, and within 10 minutes I had the appropriate antibiotics. It is a private clinic and the cost was £40, which is quite acceptable. We spoke to a couple of medical students camped out in the waiting room, who were doing a survey to assess the awareness of people to the prevention of Malarial infection. We completed their survey form and chatted a bit. One of them told us that Trump had won the American election, he had it on his phone. We didn’t believe him, we said that there were several spoof sites around. Then the doctor I had just seen came into the waiting room and confirmed that it was true. We were both dismayed and devastated and talked about nothing else during our journey to the Malelane Gate and into Swaziland, although this is not the appropriate place to record those conversations.

Friday 11 November – Mbuluzi Nature Reserve, Swaziland

Getting through the border controls and into Swaziland wasn’t too bad. We arrived immediately after a big tourist bus which meant that there was quite a queue. We were already later than planned due to the trip back to Skukuza Medical Centre and the wait at the border put another half an hour on the journey time. We had intended to stay at the Maguga Dam Lodge Campsite and that was where we headed once into Swaziland. We were a bit alarmed when we approached the entry gate to see a large sign declaring, ‘No alcohol allowed on these premises’. We had stopped to stock up after leaving Kruger and had a pretty large supply of booze on board. We drew up to Reception, passing some nice rondavels, and I asked about a campsite. I also asked about the alcohol notice as there was another one at reception. I told the young woman that we had A bottle of wine in the car. She asked if we intended to drink it and where. I said that IF we decided to drink it we would do so at our tent. She thought for a while and said that would probably be OK, but please don’t say that she had said so. We asked if we could look at the campsite as there was quite a steep drop looking over the Dam and we weren’t sure about the suitability for our tent.

We followed her directions away from the Lodge itself and John teased the car down a steeply sloping track where most of the surface had been washed away. He negotiated large protruding rocks and deep potholes. The campsite was quite nice when we got there, laid out on terraces, but John very wisely said that he was not happy about the access track, if there was any more rain we would never get our car back up it. We fleetingly considered taking one of the rondavels but as well as the alcohol prohibition we noticed that there weren’t any braai stands so they weren’t intended for self catering. We decided to go on to Malolotja Nature Reserve, where we had stayed in 2010 during our first big two month Southern Africa trip.

We remembered the site well, a cluster of rocks, with individual raised camping pitches. We put the tent on the same one which we had chosen six years ago, as many of the raised areas were very small and we would have difficulty placing our tent. I was disappointed to see that the ablutions block, which had been run down and grubby six years ago had not been touched and had deteriorated even further. When we were there six years ago we had a big thunderstorm and a lot of rain. As we put the tent up in a hurry the clouds thickened and the drops began. John lit the braai and finished cooking in a waterproof. I was feeling very sad and poorly and couldn’t eat anything so I was tucked up in my sleeping bag by 18.30. John read for an hour or so and them joined me. Soon the flashes of lightning and crashes of thunder were all around us, and rain thundered down on the tent. It went on and on, as the storm circled above us, round and round. Remembering the weather from six years ago we had made sure that the groundsheet was tucked up so that rain overflow, or rather underflow, would pass beneath it.

I had a much better night than the one before and woke in the morning feeling much better as the antibiotics soon kicked in. We also woke to first watery and then bright warm sunshine. We struck the tent immediately and pulled the ground sheet and the underside of the bedroom unit into the sun to dry while we ate breakfast. Unfortunately we had miscalculated coffee, thinking we had another bag. We didn’t, so no coffee, which determined that we would have to find a shop which would sell ground coffee before our next stop. Past experience has shown that ‘white preferred’ supermarkets sell ground coffee compared to some others which only have instant coffee and almost exclusively Nescafe. So, even though it was a long way round, we dropped south to Mbabane where there is a PicknPay, and stocked up on a few other things as well.

We then continued on our planned route to the north west of Swaziland to where our Rough Guide says there are three Nature Reserves close to each other, one of them being the Hlane Game Reserve, which used to be the Royal Hunting Area. We had picked out the Mlawula Nature Reserve as sounding nice so we decided to try for that one. However the SatNav didn’t recognise it and we had problems following the directions given in the Rough Guide. We almost reached the Mozambique border so decided to turn back to the Mbuluzi Reserve which we had seen signposted from the road.

It is a lovely, very quiet place. The gentleman at Reception yesterday afternoon was very obliging. He warned us that it was a ‘bush’ camp, and there was no electricity. He told us that some of the pitches at Hlane had an electricity supply. If we had known that we would probably have gone there first, as the Rough Guide indicated that none of the Reserves had electricity connections. He said that because there wasn’t electricity hot water was only by solar panel or a donkey boiler. He suggested that we take a look at the campsite and if we like it just to pitch up, and go back to Reception at any time and do the necessary paperwork. We followed his map well into the Reserve and came to a large open area, with trees. There are three ‘bomas’, protected by a bamboo fence, each with it’s own tap, braai and firepit. The only other people here were a couple with a caravan pitched at one of the bomas. We spoke to them for quite a time, sharing travels and experiences. The site had a good feel to it so we decided to stay.

We put the tent up in one of the other bomas and then, following the advice of the couple here, we took a trail to a viewpoint looking out over a deep river valley. It was spectacular, the water was low, not so much a river as a series of connected pools. We had been told that it is crocodile infested, but a couple were there fishing. The mountain range is the Lubombo which forms the border between Swaziland and Mozambique. As the tracks in the Reserve are not graded and after recent rain a bit on the rocky side, we decided not to stress the car further. We drove back to Reception and paid for two nights camping, and then went back to the campsite.

As the afternoon progressed the skies became heavier. We had an early braai and a hot shower from the solar panels and settled down around the firepit with a bottle of wine. We went to bed about 20.00 and were woken soon after 02.00 by increasingly heavy rain and a clap or two of thunder. It rained steadily for the rest of the night, with an occasional heavier burst. We got up about 06.00, when there was a lull in the rain to give us enough time to get the gas stove, coffee and cereal into the tent. There was another period of rain followed by another lull with time to wash up and rearrange the tent. The showers finally drifted away and now, by lunchtime, the conditions are exactly the same as they were when we arrived yesterday.

We have spent some time this morning planning our next move, back into South Africa. We expect the weather pattern here will be the same tomorrow. When we spoke to the other couple yesterday they said that it had rained the previous night and then been fine yesterday morning. We will be prepared when we go to bed tonight and will take coffee and cereal into the tent and then we can have breakfast and pack up inside, and strike the tent as soon as the rain stops and we are reasonably dry.

South Africa, in fact most of Southern Africa, has been experiencing a severe drought for three years. It has been evident not just in the Parks, but in all the countryside we have driven through. We heard that in Kruger they have had to cull some of the animals as they couldn’t just be left to starve to death. It was inhumane and distressing to the visitors. Thirst hasn’t been a problem as the Park managers can pump deep water and keep the water holes supplied, but they cannot irrigate the land. These means that there is not sufficient vegetation to feed the grazing animals. We have been amazed that there is enough to feed the number we have seen.

The people here in Swaziland as well as in South Africa have told us that this small amount of rain is wonderful, but that it is nowhere enough. It needs to rain permanently for the next month and even longer. We had intended to go south and east anyway, and we are hoping that once we are a bit further away from this northern strip maybe there won’t be quite so much rain. So tomorrow we are headed for the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park in KwaZulu-Natal, and then on to the Indian Ocean coast. As for the rain, we will see.

The tent is standing up well, but we know that it is it’s last year. We did try to buy a replacement tent in Pretoria when we first arrived as a back-up, but this model has been discontinued and we couldn’t see a suitable replacement without doing a lot more research. Every day and night we can get through under these conditions is a bonus and we hope maybe it will get us through the next 11 days. If not we may have to take chalet type accommodation for the rest of the trip.

Monday 14 November – Oribi Gorge, South Africa

We arrived here yesterday afternoon and are pitched at the KZN Wildlife campsite. There is only space for five pitches, last night we were the only ones here.

We left Mbuluzi Reserve early Saturday morning, feeling extremely lucky that even though there had been rain in the night we woke up to a dry morning with watery sunshine. So once again we were able to make up a reasonably dry tent. The border post at Noela was fast and efficient and we were soon back into S.A. We headed straight for the HluHluwe-Imfolozi Park as planned. We were surprised to find the Entrance Gate area so busy, and had difficulty in finding out how to get into the Park. We were unable to find any sign posting to Reception or Information. Finally we learnt that we had to park our car elsewhere and then walk to an office by the entry gate to register. As we were waiting in the queue I read some of the literature displayed on the walls and under Accommodation I couldn’t see any mention of camping. When we reached the head of the queue that was confirmed, there was no provision for camping, only chalets and bungalows. The information in our Rough Guide was not correct.

We thought briefly about taking a chalet for the night but were put off by the hordes of people, although many of them were probably day visitors. It was still early so we decided to go on to St.Lucia, which was to be our next stop. We found the Sugarloaf Campsite but had difficulty gaining entry as we hadn’t pre-booked with KZN Wildlife. As the office was closed it was also difficult for us to do that. We couldn’t pay the young man at the gate for a tent pitch as we didn’t have the correct money and he didn’t have any change. Usually you pay for the pitch at the office and are given a gate pass to enable you to get onto the site. We finally settled that we would give him R400, the cost of the pitch was R330, and he would give us an IOU for R70 which we could take to the office in the morning, when it would be open again.

Once inside the site looked quite nice, until we started looking for a suitable pitch. It was obvious that there had been a lot of rain. The pitches around the perimeter were still waterlogged, there was standing water in lots of places, and the deep wheel ruts showed how many people had had problems getting out. We spoke to a young man who told us that it had rained heavily overnight the previous night and in the morning. Although it was bright and sunny, he told us that more heavy rain was forecast. We decided that it was a bit silly to try and camp. We returned to the entry gate and told the young man we had changed our minds. He was really confused when we just took our R400 back and gave him the IOU.

We went back to the centre of St Lucia where most of the accommodation is and on the third attempt managed to get a self-catering flat for the night. It was a place called St Lucia Wilds. All the cottages had been taken but we stayed in the flat attached to the owners house. It was nothing special, but clean and adequate, and a big bonus was that we were close enough to patch into their WiFi. We made a braai and ate our usual meal of sweet potatoes, meat and salad, sitting outside by their small swimming pool. The rain started just as we were finishing. Soon it was torrential, thunder and lightening, hammering down. We were so pleased we weren’t in the tent at an already waterlogged campsite. Deprived of news when such momentous events were unfolding, we spent the evening with our tablets catching up with developments. I expected to be uncomfortable sleeping indoors but actually the flat was well ventilated and cool. It was still raining when we woke up in the morning, but there was a sufficient pause to enable us to pack the car in the dry and leave.

So here we are, up-to-date. It was cold last night, I slept in two layers of thermal clothing and I suspect I will be doing the same thing tonight. We went into a nearby coastal resort called Shelley to shop today, well mostly to restock with booze. It was scary. We knew that this coastal strip was completely built up with holiday accommodation. As we were leaving St Lucia Wilds on Sunday morning we spoke to an elderly couple, about our age, who were also just leaving. They told us that they lived in a retirement complex close to Margate, which is about where we are. We went to this shopping mall in Shelley and everyone was old. It was sort of like the Stepford Wives. A complete population of old people. I think the permanent resident population is retired people, and in the summer there is an influx of holidaymakers. The shopping mall was like something I have never seen before. It was enormous, bigger than all of Norwich’s city centre shopping area. At 09.00 on a Monday there were few people there, a sprinkling of elderly people, often on their own, eating breakfast at one of the many cafes. As we were leaving the Mall car park I saw something which struck me as unusual, a young black man tipping an elderly white woman. When we arrived at the Mall I noticed an elderly white woman working as a parking attendant. I have heard that as the economy here has experienced a downturn pensions have been cut to such an extent that many older people are impoverished. So presumably the woman needs to take any work she can get in order to eke out an existence.

This is the nicest of the KZN Wildlife campsites we have stayed at, maybe because it is so small and a bit off the beaten track. The staff are all excellent, they seem to live in a selection of buildings scattered around the campsite, including one which looks like a container. The men’s and women’s ablutions both have a toilet, a shower and a fully equipped bathroom with full size bath, toilet and wash basin, and soap and clean hand towel. The site is immaculately clean and tidy and it is lovely not to need to worry about aggressive monkeys. We spoke to the manager and he is a very thoughtful and intelligent man.

We took a drive this morning around the Reserve. The road wound between steep banks with lush vegetation to take us to the bottom of the Gorge where a river flowed, thick and orange with silt. We also walked one of the many hiking trails laid out, we took an easy one, a circular walk from the campsite. KZN have produced a very informative little booklet, detailing the history of the Gorge and the Park, and also telling you what to watch out for during each of the planned hikes. Our walk took us across meadows to a viewpoint looking across the canyon. Unfortunately the visibility was not good, low clouds and dim light. We did realise how beautiful it must look on a nice day. We then descended down quite a steep slope and the track wound itself through rain forest. We saw one of the families of baboons which lives there.

Some other campers have arrived this evening. A German couple, probably in their 50s with one of the newer design safari hi-lux. The top goes up to give a sleeping area rather than having a fold out top box. The sleeping area looks a lot smaller though, and because nothing protrudes out from the side of the truck they don’t seem to have a canopy for shade. It’s worth considering if we ever decide to hire one of those type of vehicles again in the summer. We chatted. We talked about Brexit, of course, and the U.S. election results, what else. We shared information and reminiscences about our travels. It was a nice evening.

Wednesday 16 November -  Mtunzini – uMlalazi Nature Reserve

There has been a lot of rain here. There was light rain when we left the Oribi Gorge yesterday morning, but mostly just drizzle. Yet again we managed to strike the tent and pack it up in the dry. The underside of the bedroom unit and the groundsheet were very wet though. W didn’t drive through any rain on the way here yesterday, but when we arrived parts of the campsite was flooded and there was no-one here, we are the only campers. Unfortunately the smaller satellite site where we pitched 6 years ago in amongst the trees was wet and muddy. There wasn’t a single spot we could have put a tent. So we came back to the main larger campsite and found a grassy pitch which has drained well. There were very big puddles of water everywhere, mostly in the vehicle access tracks.

The sky stayed heavy and overcast yesterday evening but there wasn’t anymore rain. We cooked on the braai and then had a nice fire, using up some wood we bought a few days ago, which John said is very green and rubbish to cook on. I slept really well last night. It was very comfortable, not as hot as at the beginning of this trip and not as cold as it has been since the rain started. Monday night at Oribi Gorge I slept in leggings and two thermal tops and I was still cold. It wasn’t that high either, only about 600 metres. This campsite is very nice, with lots of big shady trees and the pitches are massive. I should imagine that it can get pretty horrendous when it’s full, as likely in the school holidays. There are only 3 female toilets and 2 showers. Given a choice we would prefer the other, smaller campsite, tucked away in the woods, but with only us here at the moment it’s fine.

We woke up to bright sunshine this morning, and a brisk wind. Already, by midday, most of the puddles have halved in size and where the sun has been on the grass it is drying out nicely. Underneath the trees, in the shade is still wet and muddy. We had to put the tent up in an unshaded spot yesterday so now it is in full sun and we are sitting beneath one of the big trees. An advantage of a tent, there are many, over a caravan or bakkie is that if it gets hot during the day, then that heat dissipates as soon as the sun goes. If it is hot then we aren’t in the tent during the day and it soon cools down to sleep in.

We had some anxiety about the tent and the car this morning. Three zebra, looking a bit like a family group of two parents a full grown foal, were grazing around the campsite. There was also bit of what seemed to be like play between two of the zebra, one of the larger ones and the smaller one. They ambled over towards us and grazed around the car and tent. I noticed that two of them, one big and one smaller wee-ed several times, then a lot of bum sniffing and rubbing went on. They stood together in a group for some time and the two males both had their penis dangling. Then a sort of fight started, as they butted each other, and pushed and shoved. All the time getting closer to our tent and car. It didn’t seem quite so family friendly anymore. Then they all ran off, one male chasing the other. I wrote earlier, from Punda Maria, that I was told that the bull elephants wee a lot when they are trying to entice a female. The behaviour of the zebra was similar. A guess might be that the female is coming into oestrus and the now fully mature male foal is challenging his father for supremacy. I wonder how I can test that theory out.

We took the car down to the end of the beach road this morning and then walked along the shore and the dunes. There was a strong wind so quite a bit of surf and a few people fishing. We climbed up the dunes and walked along the ridge. On the landward side the dunes shelved sharply down to a luxuriant forest of trees, mixed with scrub and undergrowth. We took a path through a gap in the dunes and picked up a trail leading to the river mouth. We followed it through the bush until we came in sight of the river but decided not to continue to the end of the trail. We remembered from our last visit that it is a long way, further than we wanted to walk today as the temperature was steadily rising despite the wind.

We picked up the car and went to the other area we remembered where we took the walk through the Mangrove Swamps, which we did in 2010. The water was lower than I recalled, the boardwalk seemed higher above the surface. We saw the Fiddler crabs diving into their holes, as had done then. The whole area of sand beneath the Mangroves is pitted with holes. Male Fiddler crabs live in them and wave their distinctive red claws in order to attract a mate. As soon as they sense danger approaching they dive back inside, it’s an incredible scene.

We stopped and shopped at the Mtunzini Spar on the way back to the campsite. It is larger and more comprehensive than I remember, but on our previous visit, our first travels in South Africa, I had little experience of what was available. We were pleased to see that the tent was fine, no zebra damage. So it is just after lunch and we are sitting and relaxing under the shade of a big tree. Relaxing is really not very accurate though. For the past hour we have been chasing monkeys away from the tent and car, mainly the tent. The car has all the windows firmly shut, we have learnt lessons from past experiences. If we had not been here I am worried that we could easily have had some damage to the tent. We never leave anything edible either in the outer area or zipped into the bedroom unit. These monkeys knew what they were about, they dodged under the fly. One escaped our notice and came through the back of the tent under the fly and we heard a bang as he turned over the buckets and knocked the kettle over. There was nothing edible there, everything is in the car, so it was not smell attracting them. If we had not been here we could well have had a repeat of the damage at Mapapungwe when a hole was ripped in bedroom unit.

Vervet monkeys have been a real problem this year. On previous trips to South Africa we have had isolated problems with monkeys trying to steal food, but nothing to this extent. In the north, before the rain, we were told that it is because they are so hungry. That can’t be the case here, everywhere is lush and green, more than can possibly be the result of the recent rain. There are notices at all the campsites warning you to keep everything locked up, not to leave any food anyway that the monkeys can get hold of, not to feed them under any circumstances. Every single South African campsite was have stayed at has had a problem, you need to be constantly vigilant, never leaving any food item unattended. The two incidents, at Mapapungwe and now here at    were not food related and there was, and could have been again, damage to property. Camping is difficult, they can gnaw and rip any fabric, especially our flimsy nylon tent. We heard that they have bitten their into caravans with canvas extension, where the roof goes up. One couple told us that they had to abort their holiday and go straight home. They had a canvas top and the monkeys had broken in when they weren’t there. They had ripped, and smashed, and torn and then, as is their habit, poo-ed and wee-d over everything. They have now got a fully metal caravan, no canvas extension. There has been a problem at all but one of the National Park sites, Oribi Gorge was the exception. Interestingly there was not a problem in Swaziland and we do not recall these problems on our trip last year.

We have now planned the end of the trip, one week's time. We will have another night here tonight. Then tomorrow we will move a bit further north, back to the St Lucia Wetlands area for two nights. We had planned to spend two nights at the KZN site at Cape Vidal, but they have policy of charging a minimum cost per night for four people. Their prices are expensive anyway, and we would have paid about £40 a night for the two of us. It isn’t a money issue for us, we just reject the exploitation. Maybe there is justification in high peak holiday season, but we are in low season until the end of November. We wrote a mail cancelling our reservation and explaining the reason. We also talked about it with the very capable manager at Oribi Gorge, who told us that he was going to a meeting in St Lucia this week, and that charging policy was on the agenda. He said it was ridiculous as they were operating at half capacity in the low season and losing income.

Cape Vidal is at the coast, next to the beach, just like Mtunzini. So we have enjoyed that experience here, and without all the crowds and commercialisation. Instead we have booked a private site on the western shores of the inland sea, which sounds very nice and costs about £14 a night. That will be the end of our camping for this trip. We have booked a chalet at the Chelmsford Nature Reserve for Saturday night. We want to be back in Pretoria on Sunday and it is a two day trip of three to four hours driving each day from the St Lucia area. There is a dearth of camping on route, we can’t find anything. We stayed in a chalet at Chelmsford NR in 2010, on that occasion in order to escape torrential rain. I hope the weather is a bit kinder to it this time. I remember low cloud, fog, drizzle, but the chalet was nice. It reminded me of Denver Sluice and the Lincolnshire Fens on a bad day.

Then on Sunday back to Pretoria and two nights at The Moroccan House for luxury and indulgence. This evening we will select a meze meal from their menu, all the lovely dishes Richard produced before, and maybe a few extra. As well as the food and the comfort it is an excellent venue at the end of the trip. We know that there is a gate from the room’s patio leading onto the car park so we can sort out our luggage and rearrange the car. One of the men working there will clean it for us. I am also happy that we will finish the trip there as we will leave Richard all the stuff we can’t take back on the plain, the items we buy each time on a trip. They will be of no use to him but he should be able to sell them and he will have a little extra money to support his two sons.

I have just checked back to my first entry from Pretoria and the Moroccan House and realised that although I mentioned the wonderful food, I didn’t mention Richard. He is the chef and he is from Malawi. He has worked there for nine years, he has studied and read extensively about Moroccan and north African food. He can’t get a work permit for his wife, but he has brought his two sons aged 11 and 4 to live with him in South Africa, so that they can have an education. The older one goes to school and he pays for the little one to go to a pre-school. He sees education as the only hope for their future. Richard’s food is to die for. I haven’t seen or tasted anything like it anywhere or in any eating establishment in the U.K. I can’t think Ottolenghi could do better. Each individual dish is exquisite, the presentation and attention to detail fantastic. He is also a very nice man.

Thursday 17 November – Sand Forest, False Bay, iSiminalgiso Wetlands

We left Mtunzini this morning, after an early awakening as the three zebra crowded round the tent soon after dawn. This time the fighting seemed even more serious, with back legs flying, and lots of head butting. I was really nervous as, although they would not mean any harm to us directly or pose a threat, we could easily get caught in the crossfire. They are large animals, and we must not forget that for all their tolerance of humans they are still wild animals. A kick from a back leg could rip through our flimsy tent, and if one of them rolled over damage could be caused not only to the tent, but also to us.  It seems incongruous, having been in close proximity to elephants, crocodiles, hippos, baboons and buffalo, I felt more danger from the fighting zebra.

We decided to make a detour to Richards Bay, shown on the map as a largish seaside town, in order to do our shopping there. Richards Bay turned out to be much larger than we had assumed, as we approached the signposts were to East, West and Central areas of the place. We had to make a joice so we followed the directions to Richards Bay Central. The scenery from the car became more and more industrialised and we soon realised that this part of Richards Bay is a coal mining area with indications that iron smelting is going on as well. Our Sat Nav took us into a township bus station, much to the amusement of the people there, I guess that didn’t get many white people pulling in. We decided not to explore another suburb of Richards Bay but just retrace our footsteps back to  Hluwuwe and shop at the Spar there.

Stocked up with provisions we continued to Sand Forest Park, on the western side of the iSimanalgiso Wetlands, on the shores of False Bay. Our SatNav was accurate this time and brought us straight here. After seeing how crowded Sugar Loaf campsite at St Lucia had been we phoned ahead and booked a pitch, but we needn’t have bothered as we are the only people here, either camping or in any of the other accommodation. The owners have a very big problem due to the prolonged drought. They rely upon piped water as here in the estuary they cannot tap into the water table with a bore hole, and they have been up to two weeks without any water. They have enormous rainwater tanks, but as there has been minimal rain they have been unable to refill them. When they have access to piped water they fill them, but then have to ration the amount they use as they don’t know when it will be cut off again. So it is difficult for them to accept guests who will expect a swimming pool and endless showers. As campers we agreed to have water pumped up for half an hour in the evening.

The camping pitches are very nice, there are only four. Each one is set back in it’s own enclosure beneath trees, looking out over a meadow where many types of deer graze. At the moment there seems to be a plentiful supply of grass, but the owner pointed all the dead trees out to me. The small amount of rainfall, to think that I had considered it to be a lot, means that the grasses have come back, but there has been insufficient for the trees to survive. He pointed out to me places where some of the more resilient trees had put out new shoots from their roots although the rest of the tree was dead. He hasn’t cut down the dead trees as birds are nesting in them. It is obvious that the couple who own this lovely place are really struggling. It reminds me of the people we met in Zimbabwe, determined to hang on in the country of their birth, coping with conditions we would not tolerate. There are probably people in Gt Britain who are just surviving, maybe for other reasons than political discrimination or drought, and in my privileged life I just don’t know how desperate their plight is. It is incongruous that I have to come so far to meet people living on the edge.

We had a bit of a problem putting the tent up, yet another nail in it’s coffin. We decided to pitch at the back of the area, well under the trees and out of the glare of the setting sun. As we dragged the tent over some tree roots it snagged and tore a hole in the mesh of the bedroom unit. We sewed and glued it, but the fabric is really quite rotten. It has had four years in some hot and humid conditions, we can’t expect anymore. Bizarrely I don’t mind the new damage, I would be so tempted to take it back and try to repair it, but I know it is well past that. We took a drive into the False Bay National Park. It was dismal and sad. The lake is 8% of it’s capacity for this time of the year, the only birds we saw were some flamingoes. There is some replenishment from a few streams, but the water has become so stale with excess of minerals that fewer and fewer creatures and plants can tolerate it. We have put the fly on over the tent as the air is heavy and threatening.

Friday 18 November – Petra’s Country Cottages, Vryheid

It was a good move, putting the fly over the tent yesterday evening, as we were finishing our braai the thunder got louder and the flashes of lightening got closer. There was a big, big storm. The lightning strikes were bigger and closer than anything I recall. The storm went on for so long without any rain. Finally we got into our sleeping bags and still it was circling above and around us. Another aspect of the aging tent is that the fly has stretched so it pegged out far from the tent, quite good for keeping it dry. I expected there to be torrential rain, but in fact we learnt from the site owners in the morning that there was only 6 mls, nothing. They need 60 cms.

Heading west this morning we had a lovely cross country drive through beautiful scenery. John had spent quite a time with his various online maps and identified a good dirt road which would cut off two other sides of a triangle than if we had taken the surfaced roads. I must say that I was slightly nervous as we turned off the main road onto a dirt track, not just about the state of the roads, but also about the reliability of the SatNav. On previous occasions, I particularly remember trying to get to The Bontebok National Park in South Africa last year, when the dirt roads have not been as good as we had anticipated. On that occasion we ended up hopelessly lost, in the middle of a field. This road turned out to be extremely good, with fewer potholes than many of the surfaced roads. It wound it’s way through rolling countryside, up and down to a height of 1263 metres. We passed through several villages, children in school uniform walking in groups beside the road. They all waved and called out to us, and we waved back, winding down the windows to acknowledge their greetings. At the lower levels we saw cultivated land either side of the road, growing cereal crops rather than the inevitable sugar cane. At higher levels it was ranching, sturdy looking herds of beef cattle. Signs beside the road told us that some of the ranches were private game parks, presumably aimed at shooting game rather than preserving it.

At Vryheid we joined the main road again and by-passing the town we followed the SatNav to the Klipfontein Dam where, according to our Southern  Africa Atlas of National Parks and Reserves, there is a camp site. The access road to the Dam was very bad, there had obviously been quite a lot of heavy rain recently, perhaps this was where the rain fell during last night’s storm. It all looked a bit suspicious as we reached the entry gate to the Park around the Dam where we were expecting to find the campsite. All we could see were some derelict and deserted buildings and the gate itself didn’t really exist. There was a hut attached to the fence where the gate should have been, and a elderly and rather grubby white man came out to greet us, smelly quite strongly of alcohol. He spoke with a distinct Irish accent. He told us that he is a free-spirit, a world traveller. He is in South Africa visiting his brother who has lived here for some time and is not very well at the moment. I wondered what his brother’s problem might be, but didn’t ask. He told us that the camp site no longer existed, the water had dried up as a result of the drought and local youths had vandalised the site. There are no longer any toilets and he courteously deferred to me and said that it wouldn’t be fitting for a lady to have to do her business in the bushes. Actually there didn’t seem to be many bushes, not that that would make a difference. He regaled us with stories of his life and one or two ‘Irish’ jokes. He apologised for using the word ‘breasts’ in front of a lady.

He told us that the Municipal site in town had also closed down. The continued drought meant that there was no water, the toilets wouldn’t flush and the standpipes were dry. He advised us to try a nearby farm which had facilities for camping. We followed his directions and retraced our route back down the rutted and waterlogged road, taking a different forke. We drove up in front of some sprawling buildings behind a high wall. Through a gate we could see some nice flower gardens, but there was no indication of how we might get through the gate. I was about to phone the number on a sign outside when the gate slid open. We drove in and left our car, there weren’t any signs indicating a campsite or a reception building. and everywhere was more than waterlogged, the heavy red soil resembled a bog. It must be clay, in other places the red soil we have experienced has been mainly sand and drains very well. We saw a young white girl, probably about ten years old, in school uniform and we greeted her and asked where we could talk to someone about camping with our tent. She called and a pleasant friendly woman came to see us. We followed her round the buildings picking our way through the mud, and she indicated some spaces beneath some trees where we could put a tent, however they were all very wet and also close to a building where some children were playing. Glances between us confirmed that we both had many reservations, everywhere looked a bit grubby and run-down, rather like the Irishman who had recommended it. We were very unsure about whether we would be able to put a tent up there and when we asked about the toilet facilities we decided that we definitely couldn’t. The nearest toilet was through some buildings, across a courtyard into another house. The woman told us that she would leave the doors unlocked for us at night, but we decided that we would not be comfortable there. We thanked her but said that we had a very flimsy tent and we would look for somewhere else.

We left the farm and drove a short way down the road to discuss our options, as it was well into the afternoon. We agreed that we weren’t going to be able to put a tent up here, even if we could find a campsite so we needed to look for accommodation. Last night I had looked at Trip Advisor for anything in the area and saw a place called Petra’s Country Cottages, which sounded very nice. I had made a note of the phone number so gave it a try. A very pleasant woman answered and said that although she herself wasn’t actually there at the moment she knew there was definitely a cottage available. So here we are and it could not possibly be a greater contrast to the previous farm. The cottages are on a working dairy farm on higher ground. No sign of the soggy bog here, rather lush fields of pasture, chickens and ducks roaming freely on the lawn outside the row of cottages. There is even a couple of peacocks strutting around. We were shown a neat little ensuite room with a kitchenette, probably a bit of a stretch to call it a cottage, but more than adequate for us.  We had a small patio outside and also the extensive lawn. The kitchenette is a bit cramped and even though everything you could need to cook was there it would be very awkward. However as we used the braai it was fine. It is so cold. We ate outside but have now drawn into our room, where we have a sofa and a table.

Saturday 19 November – Petra’s Country Cottages, Vryheid

We had a very decadent evening last night. We made the braai and ate outside, but it became increasingly colder.  So we came inside intending to have a game of crib but John played around with the TV controls and came up with a BBC channel. So we got into bed and watched an episode of Casualty, New Tricks and Father Brown while we drank bottle of wine.

With all the animals I expected an early start this morning but I only heard the Ibis at 04.30 and soon went back to sleep again. I am very glad we were in the cottage last night, the weather does seem a bit odd. We are just over 1,200 metres but we are in northern South Africa in mid November. It was too cold to eat breakfast outside this morning. If we were camping, we would of course have coped by putting more clothes on. However it is very cosy in the cottage with the wind howling outside and just an occasional glimpse of a watery sun through heavy grey clouds. It is only a two hour drive from here to Chelmsford Dam, where we are booked in tonight, so we are taking advantage of the cottage for awhile this morning as we don’t want to arrive there too early. We won’t be camping any more, when we leave here we have a bungalow booked at Chelmsford Dam and then a room at the Moroccan House in Pretoria. The Sand Forest Park was a good place to finish our camping trip, even if it was also the death of our much loved tent. We laid it out on the lawn and removed anything which we could re-use, some of the straps and loops, before ditching it.

I didn’t expect the result of the three year drought to be so disastrous here in the central highland farming area. I was very stupid and naive when I thought that the small amount of rain which has fallen in the couple of storms we have experienced meant the end of the drought. It is absolutely nothing compared to what is desperately needed. Godfrey, the owner at Sand Forest Park told us that there has only been enough rain to wet the surface sufficiently for the grasses to come back. Nothing has penetrated to the depth needed for the trees to benefit. He pointed out large trees in his forest which have died. In some cases new shoots are appearing from the roots, but he is reluctant to cut the dead wood out yet as many of the trees have bird nests in them. False Bay, like St Lucia, lies within the iSimangliso Wetlands, where groundwater is brackish so is very low lying and relies on fresh water piped in, or rainfall. In the last few months Sand Forest has had their piped water supply cut off for two weeks at a time on more than one occasion, and with minimal rainfall the rainwater tanks are empty. When the piped water supply is on enormous tanks are filled to try and store as much as possible. Here at Vryheid it is possible to put down boreholes, but we were still asked to be careful with the amount of water we used.

Sunday 20 November – The Moroccan House, Pretoria

Yesterday morning we left Vryheid and continued on to Chelmsford Nature Reserve. The Dam looked very low to us but we were are told that it has rained there all of last week, so the level is slightly higher. It was an interesting drive there from Vryheid, contrasting sharply with the undulating scenery we had driven through the day before. This area is also completely farming but it looked like dairy and grains, compared to the ranches of the previous area.

The chalet we had was much as the one which I remembered it from six years ago. They are clustered in four blocks of two semi-detached around the dam, and ours was the mirror image of one which we had in 2010. They are simply constructed but more than adequate. The kitchen is very well equipped, full oven, fridge-freezer, microwave, even a toaster. It was bright and sunny when we arrived but storm clouds were gathering on the horizon so we quickly unpacked the car completely into the chalet and swept out the interior. We managed a beer outside as the skies became heavier and the thunder and lightening started. The wind came, and we know that this usually precedes a storm, so we withdrew inside and sorted out our belongings. It didn’t take long to pack the two bags for travel, and small carry-on bags for us for the last couple of days.

The chalet had a flat screen TV with loads of sport channels, and John had soon found out that one of the channels would be screening the England v Fiji rugby match from Twickenham at 16.30. He attempted to get the braai going at 16.00 but as it was fixed a short distance away from the chalet it was impossible in the wind. We had worked out that our neighbours were a family of Indian descent and had not been very happy as they had been playing loud music from their car radio, which I thought was just not on in a Nature Reserve. The father and the son were down by the dam with fishing rods. In fact everyone apart from us in the six occupied chalets seemed to be there to fish in the dam. We booked Chelmsford ahead because it was a Saturday night and we remembered that lots of people tend to go to Reserves and Parks for the weekend. It is fortunate that we did, we didn’t realise from our last visit that it is such a popular fishing resort.

The man from the rather Indian annoying family, I had been inwardly glowering at them because of the loud music, came over and asked if we would like to borrow his portable braai which he had brought with him, then we could pull it in close to the chalet and cook under the shelter of the overhanging roof. We accepted his offer and cooked our meal, which we ate inside watching the first half of the Rugby match. I haven’t sat down and watched a rugby match for many years, I am always too busy and John usually goes to the pub to watch it. I really enjoyed it and was impressed with how good the play was from both sides irrespective of the vast difference in the scores. Maybe I’ll watch another game when we are back home.

When the game was over the rain eased up and we took the braai back to the family and thanked them and stopped for a chat. He is a police chief in Newcastle and likes to bring his two kids out for the weekend and the Nature Reserve is close by and accessible and he likes to fish with his son. They were very, very nice people, sad that we were at the end of our trip and we wouldn’t have an opportunity to visit them in Newcastle and have a meal with them at their house. Our conversation was curtailed by more thunder and lightening and rain, so John and I returned to our chalet and a few hands of Crib before bed.

We packed up and re-loaded the car this morning and then went to say goodbye to the Indian family. As I approached their chalet the smells were delicious. He was cooking curry. For breakfast. We were invited to join them, but regretfully we explained that we had already eaten and we had a long drive back to Pretoria. The cleaning lady came to the chalet as we were leaving. We left the tent and the picnic mat stacked outside the door so we hope that if there is anything there which is useable to her and her family she will make good use of it. The poles might come in useful, the fly is a good sheet of water resistant nylon and the bedroom unit is a zipped up mosquito net. People who have very little are skilled at adapting whatever is available.

The first part of the journey from Chelmsford to join the main trunk road back to Johannesburg and Pretoria was very interesting. We climbed even higher than the 1,200 metre plateau, on a switchback of a road, curving, climbing and dropping between 1,300 and 1,800 metres, at one time reaching a peak of 1,860 metres. It was mainly dairy country, but we saw fields drilled with maize, maybe about 30 cms high. I remembered that in early December last year, when we drove through the nearby Free State the maize still had not been planted. The land had been ploughed all ready but because there hadn’t been any rain it had not been drilled. Hopefully in the Free State as well as in Mpumalanga there has been sufficient rain to get a crop in on time this year. The second part of the journey was really boring, almost featureless landscape disappearing into the distance, just stretches of pasture land.

So here we are, back where we started, at The Moroccan House in Pretoria. Nearly a month ago we were sitting here on the patio outside our room and it was almost unbearably hot. We didn’t know then that it would be getting even hotter, to our 43C maximum. Tonight it is cool, I may have to put a warm top on soon. I can hear thunder in the distance.

Monday 21 November – The Moroccan House, Pretoria

I did hear thunder, and lightening, and strong winds. There was quite a storm again last night, and it was cold. We pulled the table back on the patio and played a couple of games of Crib, but I was pleased to get into bed under a warm duvet. I suppose it’s called weather and it isn’t any different here to in the U.K. A month ago it was unbearably hot here, now it’s cool. Richard made us an excellent meal last night, an amazing selection of mezes. I was still stuffed by the time we went to bed and didn’t sleep very well on account of it. I don’t know if it is exacerbated as a result of aging, but I seem even less able to cope with heavy meals in the evening than I used to be. It is a problem for me in the U.K. if we eat out or with friends, I seem to need at least four hours after eating before I can comfortably think about sleeping.

Tuesday 22 November – The Moroccan House, Pretoria

Nearly time to go. We are all packed up, bags in the car. We are just enjoying a peaceful sit down in the Riad at the Moroccan House, fountains tinkling in the background and music playing. We are so pleased that we decided to come back at the end of the trip and have another couple of nights here. Yesterday we took the Gautrain into Johannesburg. The Gautrain is really excellent and the service first rate. We took the car to the Park and Ride at Hatfield, the beginning of the line. It all looks very new and sparkling clean which I am not surprised at considering the list of rules. There is an on-the-spot fine of R700, about £35, if you are seen with any food or drinks, and that includes disposable liquid containers. Smoking is forbidden, of course, and so is chewing gum, which I think is an excellent idea. There are security guards everywhere so those rules are stringently observed.

We went as far as Rosebank, which is just one stop short of J’burg Park, where the train terminates. There is a side branch which goes directly into Oliver Tambo Airport. Rosebank was recommended as one of the places we could go and people watch. We went directly into a large modern Mall. We wandered around, noticing how affluent everywhere and everyone was. We didn’t see a single shut down or boarded up shop. It was mostly clothes and shoes, and some home furnishings. There was also a large outdoor precinct devoted to cafes and restaurants, as well as many more inside. We sat down outside and had an orange juice and watched. This is a different South Africa to anything we have seen before. We have been to Cape Town a couple of times, but I don’t remember it as being anything like this. This is the South African elite and wealthy, shopping, eating, socialising. The majority of the groups were of mixed ancestry, black and white and many shades in between. There were also more people whose ancestors had originated in the Indian sub-continent than we have seen before, as well as a sprinkling of Chinese.

We got back on the train and retraced our footsteps to the next station on the return journey, Sandton. We initially had a bit of a problem here, as the train station didn’t open out directly into a Mall as it had at Rosebank, and there was building work going on all around. We wandered down a busy street towards what looked like a large building construction and into a square. We went up some steps into what looked like a Mall entrance. However once inside it seemed to be all offices and what looked like a very expensive hotel. We went on and round and up and down and finally found ourselves in a shopping mall, but in great contrast to the one at Rosebank. Sandton oozed affluence, older style lighting and walk ways, very colonial, very heavy. There was probably a difference in the clientele as well, many more sharply dressed businessmen, many more women in expensive clothes. We sat down and had an ice cream which was a work of art. Three balls, chocolate, vanilla and pistachio on a large glass plate atop a chocolate coated biscuit and decorated with chocolate shavings and decorations. It came to £7.00 for the two.

It was about 16.00 when we made our way back to the train station and we obviously coincided with the end of the working day for many people as the train was packed and we had to stand most of the way. We encountered a problem when we tried to go out through the barrier as our cards were invalid. The Gautrain works like the Oyster Card system in London, except that it is the only way to pay. You purchase a Gold Card and then load it with money at one of the machines, and you can’t get onto the platforms without one. At the beginning of the trip we put enough money on it to get to Rosebank, but because we got off at Sandton and back on again we didn’t have enough money loaded to cover that as well. So we made the red light flash and we had to go to a kiosk and get another R5 each put on, and John also paid for the car park, which is R20 for the day if you have a Gold Card, otherwise it is R100. The security guards are all very helpful, when we explained that we were unfamiliar with the system one wanted to help us immediately, far from the disinterested approach you usually get at U.K. rail stations.

When we had arrived in the morning and driven into the multi-storey car park we couldn’t find an empty space on the ground floor, or on Floor 2. We got a bit lost on Floor 2 and couldn’t find the ramp up to Floor 3. A security guard saw our plight and found us a space on Floor 2 by removing a bollard. We didn’t know it then but Floor 2 leads out directly into the train station so spaces there for busy businessmen are obviously of premium value. We realised later that the security men put bollards into some of the spaces to reserve them for regular users and will be tipped appropriately. We had a tip waiting when we finally got out of the station. It wasn’t much, just R10, not even a £, there are R17 to the £ at the moment, but it was obviously enough as he almost swept the floor in front of the car as he escorted us out of the car park and worked the barrier for us.

December - Norwich

Our flight wasn’t until midnight so we had a whole day to lose. In retrospect this is not a good choice to make. It took me a couple of days to get over the return flight. We packed up our room at The Moroccan House by 10.00 in the morning and the staff stored our luggage for us. We returned at 18.00 to have a lovely supper which Richard had prepared especially for us. We ate in The Riad, the beautiful covered courtyard, amid tinkling fountains, and low background music. It was a perfect end to a fine holiday. However psychologically I began my journey hope at 10.00 that morning, so even before the plane took off at 00.00 the following day I had already been travelling for 14 hours. Then after the overnight flight we had a six hour stop-over at Schipol for the flight into Norwich, where we arrived at 19.00 the following evening. I’m getting too old for this, assuming that we do a similar flight again I think I would prefer going to a London airport for the sake of a direct flight. The advantage of arriving directly into Norwich was outweighed by the disadvantage of the length of time the journey took.

Having got over the gripe about the journey home, I just have to say a few words about our last day. We went to The Cradle of Humankind. We didn’t really know what to expect, we knew that it is the location where the oldest known fossils have been found but little else about what is actually there. The area covers 47,000 hectares and is said to be Africa’s most important paleontological site. We went first to the Sterkfontein Caves where we joined a small group of people on a trip deep, deep into the earth. I was a bit concerned about how well I would cope with this when we were questioned about claustrophobia and mobility before we were accepted on the tour. In fact it was not too bad at all, we did have to crawl through a couple of narrow tunnels and there was a dodgy moment when all the lights went out, but for the most part it was fine. There were some impressive rock formations but it was mostly about the history of the site and the fact that we saw the exact place where the fossilised remains of ‘Little Foot’ were discovered. Little Foot is the name given to the fossilised skeleton of a young boy which was found in 1995. The bones are thought to be those of a walking hominoid from 3.3 million years ago, making them the oldest specimens found. It was quite evocative, standing there at the exact spot struggling with the impossible period of time. Many other fossilised skeletons have been found in the area, all of them dating back to a similar period, thus coining the name The Cradle of Humankind.

We went on to the museum at Maropeng, a short car ride away from the archaeological site. This was a Museum unlike any other we have ever been to. Even the actual building was an experience, most of it underground, so it resembled a large burial mound. It was completely interactive, the most exciting part being a trip in a coracle along an underground stream where we experienced all the stages of development the earth has gone through since its original inception. We were in the dark for most of the time, just the two of us in this coracle which was whirled and buffeted by the waves. We experienced thunderstorms and lava flows, ice ages and eruptions. It was absolutely amazing, although I would hesitate to take a small or anxious child on the trip. The whole museum was packed with interactive displays and so much information. We spent about five hours there and didn’t cover or absorb half of it. You could go back time and time again.

We have , of course, enjoyed our trip but it has been distressing to see the effect the continued drought has had on the landscape, the animals and the people who live in South Africa. Two years ago we were told that rain was desperately needed, but we didn’t really see the effects of the drought. Last year after yet another year of limited rainfall it was painfully obvious. Vegetation was sparse, trees were sad and starting to look stunted. We saw fields ploughed and ready to drill but lying bare and empty as the farmers waited for the rains to begin. This year we saw vast areas of blackened earth devoid of any vegetation, dead trees toppled over, and hungry animals desperate for food. We heard that in Kruger National Park the situation is so dire that it has been necessary to cull low grazers such as the antelope in order to prevent them from dying of starvation. Water can be pumped from boreholes to provide drinking water but it is not possible to irrigate in order for grasses to survive.

The people are also suffering as many do not have access to piped water and rely on rivers and reservoirs, all of which are as low as 10% of their usual capacity. These conditions affect the poorest sector of the society, small subsidence farmers with one or two animals. Without rainfall they can’t grow crops and there is no grazing for the animals. Our thoughts are with all of Southern Africa and we hope that conditions improve in the following year.