photo's from the Kruger

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I have now put my photo's on a disc, I don't know what order they will come out in, but you will be able to see a rhino, elephants and giraffes and whatever I think you will fancy! We had a fabulous stay in the Kruger and saw so much, but not one cat!! They must all have been hiding from us, because everybody else we spoke to had seen either lions, leopards or cheeta or all of them. Never mind, we saw lots in the serengeti. We are now just outside of Johannesburg Airport, and this is on our dash back through the middle to Cape Town.I want you to look at the size of the giraffe compared to the 4 wheel drive on the road next to him....he was huge, and we were just behind the other car. Hope you like pics xxxxxx

Durban and beyond

I forgot to tell you children that there was a wet 'n wild at Ushaka (where the aquarium was) and Granddad went down three slides!! I went around Duzi (just like Lazy) river in a rubber tyre twice.
We won't say any more about Durban, it was very disappointing.
From Durban we drove to the St Lucia Wetlands, very famous for it's eco system and the huge diversity of trees and wildlife. We went on an evening boat trip to see the Hippo"s and crocs. We also saw lots of lovely birds, particularly Kingfishers.
From St Lucia we drove into Swaziland. A separate country ruled by a King.It was incredibly beautiful. Very heavily wooded, largest man made forest in the world! And their biggest industry is timber. We stayed at the Foresters Arms, right in the middle of the forest.
When we went back across the border into S.A. we passed loads of sugar cane fields on one side and banana plantations on the other. Then we went through an industrial area, and there was a sugar factory and fruit canning plants. Just after the border crossing we drove into the Kruger Nat Park. We hadn't gone 100 yds before we saw elephant at the river. Then we didn't see much else for an hour or so, but when we went out in the afternoon we saw Rhino, elephants,lots of impala's one lonely giraffe and loads of beautiful birds. The Rhino were on the side of a tarmac road about 5 metres away.....and we were in our hire car. It was very exciting. Elephants kept crossing the road in front of us. It was magical.
March 10th
Second day in Kruger and we got up at 5.30 (it was still dark) and were on the road by 6, when the sun came up. Immediately outside the camp gate we saw our first elephant. About 10 minutes after that we saw a pack of wild dogs on the road. We have never seen these before. They were getting ready to hunt. After that we saw 2 water buffalo, and all of this is from the main road in our car. Sorry can't send you any more photo;s just yet, they are still in my camera. Lots of love Talk soon xxxxxx

I have just put some more photo's on, so I don't know where they will come out! The bird is a weaver bird and it is sat on top of a lotus seed head, there were about twenty of them flying around, it must be a favourite food. I did post a picture of the weaver birds nest, they build them dangling from branches of trees. The last one is the new football stadium in Durban, built especially for the World Cup......wait til you see the building work outside of our apartment...again for the World Cup.

The weather has not been brilliant in Durban, in fact tonight we could almost be blown away, it is sooooo windy. We have been walking quite a lot, because the temp is OK for that, just not beachy. Today we went to Ushaka, a very large water park and aquarium. The aquarium was really well done and very large, we also went to the dolphin show and it was just as good as Florida, (and not as hot!)

The photographs have all come out in different orders but I think they are self explanatory

Lots of love to you all P xxxxxx

Hope you enjoy the rest of the photo's....the first two are from our window on the 12th floor, of the building site....they start work at 6.30 each morning aand at 8 the building work starts on the 5th floor of our building where they are ripping out the swimming pools and restaurant. So all in all very restful!

Some more photo's & Durban

It was abruptly ended last night when my money ran out at the internet cafe! Sorry. For the children, I should tell you that Rouke's Drift was the scene of a very famous battle between the British and the Zulu's. Maybe your mum's & Dad's can tell you about the film Zulu. More V,C's (Victoria Cross) were awarded by Queen Victoria for this battle than any other in history!

The first photo is our Zulu guide whose great grandfather fought at the battle of Rouke's Drift, then there is a lovely big beetle for Theo. The next photo is the lodge at Iswandlana, then it is the actual drift at Rourke's Drift (it means a ford or crossing) and then do you recognise Grandads bag on this ladies head?? She just lifted it out of the car onto her head and then took it to our room.

Durban

Just to let you know......the previous photo's were of Cape Dassies,performing on the grass in front of our log cabin, our beautiful log cabin Tsikamma Nat Park and the waves in front of it!! The bridge was where bunjy jumping took place.........can you see a jumper, I tried to take one!

Well....our next stop was the battlefields and Iswandlwana Lodge. You have never seen anything so beautiful. The lodge is set into a hillside and is made of all sorts of organic materials, really gorgeous, with amazing views all across the valley. We went to Rourke's Drift first, and walked all around the site with a guide recounting the whole story, very moving and we all felt as if we had been there, we could hear the chanting and the Zulu's stamping their feet and banging their shields!
The food at thye lodge is wonderful....so we are eating far too much. Lovely people in our group.

Saturday

We did the battle tour of Iswandlana today, with the Zulu chief"s great grandson......He got the chanting even more scarey! Really wonderful experience, very moving.

Sunday

Driving to Durban today. It was actually a very nice 4 hour drive through the hills and then onto the N3 into Durban. We did a timeshare swap for a week and are really disappointed! The whole seafront and promenade are building sites for about one and a half klms...all supposedly for the world cup Talk later

Some photo's

FromTsikamma to Underberg

We were reluctant to leave the park because it was so beautiful.
We have now driven to Port Alfred. We stopped first at Jefferys Bay for Haydn. Apparently it has a most famous surf break (right hand??) but there was no surf running for us....sorry Haydn, but I did take some phot's anyway.
As we were driving past Port Elizabeth we noticed salt pans on the left of the road....(I expect you children to find out what salt pans are!!!), and about 200 yards farther on we saw a Cerebos salt factory. So Ella, Max & Angus, have a look in the supermarket and see if Cerebos salt says it comes from S. Africa!!
We stopped at Bluewater Bay to watch the kitesurfers...lovely.
We are staying at the Halyards Inn, on the Marina. It reminds me of Witta Circle girls.. it has canals branching off with lovely houses!!
We arrived the right night, cos Sat night is seafood buffet night!! Not quite as good as Rio , but acceptable. John had at least a doz oysters! All for 120 rand (about 10 pound)
Sunday 21st
A 480 kls drive today! We went to Bathurst first and bought ginger beer and rose geranium oil at a craft market.Then a long hot drive. Spectacular views, up and down mountains. Everything is so much greener than we expected. There are little communities way up mountainsides and miles from anywhere....the children walk miles and miles to school, and Mums have to walk miles for water and shopping. If the Dads have work they also have to walk. Little mini buses stop all over the place when flagged, but only on the mail roads!! We don't appreciate how lucky we are.
We arrived at Port St John at about 4.30 and jumped straight into the swimming pool. We are in a thatched rondavel on the banks of the river (very brown)
Mon 22nd
Had a lovely drive around on the other side of the river, but it was a dirt road and quite difficult, so we then went to another Nat Park and to what is called 3rd beach. It was very lovely, and we were just about to go in the water when a lady came out from under the trees (we were the only people on the beach) and asked us if we were going to swim. We said yes and she said NO. A great white shark had been spotted just off the beach that morning!!! We didn't swim. We went back to our swimming pool....no sharks there just geese!!
John had more oysters...this time in the swimming pool, how decadent is that!
Tuesday 23rd
Today we are off to Underberg (not Bunderberg!!) in the Drakensberg mountains. Again spectacular scenery, we both agree, the main South African roads are really well maintained and driving is easy. We are staying at the Pile Inn in Underberg and our host Ian Pile is from Lynmouth and he knows Trevor Prideaux, a colleague of mine from Nat Trust days. We always say what a small world.
Wed 24th
Today is the Sani Pass day!! Four wheel drive up a mountain into Lesotho. It was Awwwsum!! Hair raising, scarey but also fantastic. I hope my photo's do it justice....coming down was probably even worse.I am disappointed because this computer won't let me download the photo's so folks until next time lots of love & stuff xxxxx