Africa

In August 2011 I went to Souht Africa with my grandmother. It was a 12 days trip with "Afrika-safari". We were a group of 5, it was like a small family. We had 2 guides and 2 drivers! - pure luxury! It was an amazing experience, and I could easily take the same trip once again!

Enjoy!! 🤪

We took of from Billund Airport Monday afternoon the 16th August 2011. After about 1 1/2 hour flight, we landed in Paris - Charles De Goul Airport. Here we got a bit of food and then waited for our next flight which took of later that evning. After about 9 hours flight, we landed in Johannesburg.  

At the airport waited our guide. All belongings were packed in a mini-bus and then we drove about 4 hour north to Malelane and our lodge - Pestana Krüger Lodge. Here we got a short intro about our stay and then we were shown our houses. We unpakced our things, went for a walk arround our lodge for a bit of sightseeing and then went to the main building for dinner.

It had been a long trip so we went to bed early, allready filled with many new impressions.

The first real safari-day.

We meet 6,30am in front of the main building and drove to a lodge nearby called Thanda Nani Lodge. Here we went for a Bush-walk with our african guide Sean. We were told how to find animal tracks and which animals they were from, we saw different kinds of trees and learned what they were used for. We also saw different kinds of animal dung and were told which animals they were from - eg. saw we the different between a White Rhinoceros and a Black Rhinoceros, a White Rhinoceros dung is dark and it eats primarily grass, a Black Rhinoceros dung is more reddish and it eats small twigs and branches, every little twig is chewed in a perfect 45 degree angel. We saw small Scorpions - I was clever to stumble and turned a stone which revealed the Scorpions! One bite from that kind of Scorpion, is more toxic than a cobra, but the cobra is more dangerous because of the amount of poison. We also saw small holes/caves in the soil from the Braun Baboon Spider, we tried to lure one out, but the only thing we saw of it was its legs. We saw Warthogs and Imaplas running past us in the bushes.

About 11.00am we all went shopping in a grocery store and on the way home we stopped and bought oranges by the road. It is not aloud to sell anything by the road, but it is not enforced - the police is even standing right beside them, but they doesn't bo anything.

At 04.30pm we went for a Sunset Game Drive in Krüger National Park. It was extremely cold and we were well wrapped in blankets. It was a very beautifull evning, but unfortunatly wasn't there a lot of animals that evning.

Our first day trip to Krüger National Park.

We were picked up by the main building at 05.45am and drove 5 minutes to that Malelane Gate at the park. It was really cold and we were wrapped in blankets and warm jackets, when the sun rose it got warmer and we were able to sit without that much clothes. We drove all day, it was a really exiting and we saw many animals, however, no big cats.

Kwa Madwala Game Drive - at 5:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Not quite so cold one morning. Our guide Washinton picked us up and then we drove 20-30 minutes in an open car! - A little cold and wind-blown. We were taken to Kwa Madwala lodge, which was absolutely fantastic! Here we had morning coffee to warm us a little before we were going on the trip. There were toilets with views of the mountains and the wild animals could actually come up to the small round huts. After morning coffee we drove around the reserve, and after a few hours we ate breakfast the same place as we had morning coffee and then we drove back around the sanctuary. Washinton went out of the car with a large knife as protection to follow lion tracks - to lure out a lion, while we sat in the car and waited. He found, however, no lion, but we saw many other animals - such as Buffalo, Warthog, Impala, etc.

Back at our lodge again at around 11.00am for lunch.

At 02.30pm we were picked up by our guide Sean and driven to Thanda Nani lodge - we were going on a Game Drive. The "road" was very up and down - Sean was out of the car a few tines to see if the hill was too steep to drive! They breed rhinoceroses and saber-antelopes at Thanda Nani Lodge. They cut the horns of rhinos to prevent poaching - they unfortunately had an incident a few weeks before we arrived where an animal was killed anyway. Is a poachers seen in the reserve area he will be shot right away. The farmed animals are sold to other reserves for further farming - a saber-antilobe costing 300,000 R (1 Rahn = 0.85 Dkr). We also found the bones of a giraffe.
We returned to the lodge's main building when it got dark - the Lodges owner Johan hosted the evening's food and fun, and was good for a story. We sat by the fire and got beer and wine - we got Sean to tell some stories; 1: He was out on a Bush walk with a mother and her 2 children, they asked to come close to some rhinos and they came close - really close! They sat hidden behind a bush and rhinoceros were about 3 feet from them. As a guide Sean had to be professional and therefore asked the mother and children to sit perfectly still even though they were about to panic and tried to run away - when Sean came home, he could almost wring his pants several times because he was so scared. 2: Ha had gone for a walk late at night alone, he found a "rhino-toilet" and stood and rummaged around in it. Suddenly there was a Black Rhino in front of him (they are typically very aggressive) and skrapede in the ground and blew. Sean ran as fast as he could up a hill with a heart that was about to jump out of his chest - he reached the hill and the Rhinoceros were in its territory. Then we got great dinner with; Impala meat, pork and other African dishes such as "Pap" (corn and water boiled together). Afterwards we sat by the fire again and got beer and wine and more talk. It was a great day!

We were picked up at 8.00am of our guide Sibu and drove to Drakens-Mountains - "Panoramic tour" - a sightseeing trip, we drove to the very top of the mountains and stopped at all the views on our way down.

1. stop were the view of The Three Rondavels and Blyderiver
2. stop were at Burkes Lots Polholes - Burkes Lot were a man who believed there was gold in this area and went there to dig for gold - nevertheless found nothing. The holes in the rock were made by water and small stones - called "potholes", thereby the name of the area. The small stones "diged" there way in to the rocks with help from the vater. The water made the stones flucate and the formation of holes were shaped like a funnel. A really great place to visit - it almost looked like a place in Jurrasic Park!
3. stop were Good's window - a view where you can see very far, it was believed in the past that God himself could sight beyond all Africans.
4.stop were the town Graskop where we eat lunch at Harries Pancakehouse. Here we also were inside a silk-factory and got a tour and were told how they make the coarse African silk. I bought a scarf.
5. stop were at a beautiful waterfall - I do not know what it was called. It was quite like a small jungle - it was very beautifull!

My grandmother and I shopped like crazy at all the small markets, which was placed at all the different view points,and haggled about the price at the stalls.

My grandmother bought: mask, scarves, nuts, 4 small wicker bowls and 2 small masks
I bought: salad servers, silk scarf and a "sun-lady"

Elephant Whispers

We were picked up at 9.30 am by our guide Sibu and drove about 1 ½ hours to the site of Elephant Whispers. This is a place where a group of elephants are trained to educate the population and where they are ambassadors for their species to protect elephants. Here we were told almost everything about elephants - behavior, body, the organization, etc. We were allowed to touch an elephant as they got to lie down and we gave it treats. Then we were out riding on elephants, it was really exciting! The elephant we rode was afraid of one of the other and moved around a bit - it's pretty difficult to hold on when you only have two straps on the pad to stick to! - a little scary. At the end of the ride, our elephant stuck its trunk straight down in a mud puddle and made beautiful a fountain of mud above us! Fantastic! 😋

Info on elephants:

The elephants are trained every day, every morning all the elephants goes through a program / morning gymnastics to see what kind of mood they are in and how they can be trained through the day. They must lift their feet, trunk, turn, etc. The elephants here are trained ONLY by reward!
Elephants behavior - an elephant has a very good memory and they are incredibly caring - fx; lifts / supports their young when they crossed deep water. They also help their family members if someone has been injured - fx if an elephant's trunk has been bitten of by a lion, the others in the group feeds it and also spray water into the mouth of the victim, so it can survive despite its injury.
Elephant's body - an elephant grows until it is 35 (their largest elephant Timbo is 27 and is still growing even though it is huge. Timbo is the elephant in the picture with my grandmother and me!). Its feet are large, round pads and it wont even hurt if it stands on top of your foot, because it molds to surface underneath. Its skin is several inches thick and there are small stiff hairs over the entire body - but it's able to feel a mosquito bite it and where exactly the mosquito hit! The ear is shaped like Africa - from this the name "The African Elephant". Its ear is used to alert and to cool. When it flaps with the ears, it cools the blood and the cold blood is sent around the body, which results in a cooler body. It switches teeth 5 times in life - a series of teeth of the size of a brick - a wild elephant will typically die of hunger when its last set of teeth are worn down and therefore typically not of age. An elephant eats about 200 kg food every day, mostly grass, and drinks about 250 liters of water. An elephant's front legs are like a human arm and elbow and the hind legs are like a human leg and knee - that is the way they bend.

After the trip to Elephant Whispers, we relaxed on the terrace with Susanne and went for a walk before dinner.

Moholoholo Rehabilitation Center

We met at 06.00 and drove to Moholoholo Rehabilitation Center for Wild Animals. Here we got a lecture about animal lifestyles and Africa in the old days and Africa today. All animals are part of a system in nature - fx; some vultures has a strong beak, that is able to break through old elephant skin, where other vultures have smaller beaks, that is able get into the deep places of the dead body, and again other vultures only eat the "sick" meat of the dead animal. In the past, almost all of Africa were covered in green and luxuriant vegetation (besides the desert of cause) and there was room for all the animals. Today humans has taken over the most of Africa and there is almost no green space left. All the green areas remaining are reserves and Kruger National ParK is one of the largest. This means that many animals die, there is no place for them to live and people kills them, because they doesn't understand wild animals and how they live.
The Reserve tries to save the animals who are caught in traps, kept as pets, poisoned, shot, etc. and if it is possible for the animal they will release it back into the wild. If the animal has suffered too much to turn back to the wild, it will be an ambassador for the race - it will be trained and taken to schools and villages, to teach people about their way of life and how such a wild animal must be handled.
We were allowed to touch a cheetah and were then shown around the center, and was told about all the animals that were there - a very exciting trip!

Blyde River

Then we drove to a view point near Blyde River and after that we drove down to the Blyde River, where we went out sailing for 1 ½ hours - it was very nice. It looked very prehistoric. We saw a waterfall where the water came from underground and were pushed up and out onto the mountains. The deepest point is about 52 meters. In the past, much larger parts of the area were bcovered by water - this is shown in the different layers in the mountains

Loving God Pre-School in Jeppe's Reef

We were picked up at 08.00 and driven to the Pre-school. We were almost attacked by all the children! They all wanted to be picked up and carried. The kids loved pictures, both that we took pictures of them and also that they could take pictures with our cameras. We saw their classroom and heard what they had learned - they showed us the "abc.", the "weekdays" and various kind of dances and songs. Incredibly sweet- and very happy children - they were extremely happy that we came to visit (they doesn't see white people often, only when Africa Safari comes to visit). We gave a donation to a new roof for the school.

Swaziland

After the school visit we drove across the border and into Swaziland (here suffers 40% of the population from AIDS), and then further to Maguga Dam where we picked up a guide. We drove a bit further and walked for a little while to our new guide's home - he and his family lived as a tribe. These people lived incredibly primitive and simple, almost like the Stone Age! They made their food over an open fire, the houses were made of wood and mud, plowed the field with two cows, etc. Our guide was very proud to show us his village. In the village lived one chief, his two wives (he once had 3 but one died) and his 26 children of which our guide was the eldest son and the only one who work outside the small family village. One of the tools which he showed, looked like a great old-fashioned mincer, his best phrase for this was: "you would not belive it - but it's actually very old," and then he put a tin lid back over the hole where you pour corn down after which you based around the crank, and the corn would get crunched. We got a tour of the entire village: the kitchen (small round hut without windows and chimney, but with fireplace, corn knives in the ceiling and jars - the whole ceiling was blackened), the men's small stamping ground, the sweat lodge, the fold for the cows (made of firewood, I think there could be4 cows if they were really close!). It was an amzing experiance! This was a totally different way to live, and just seing how proud our guide was when he showed us around - it was wonderful! 🤭Everyone should appreciate life the way they do!
After the tour, we drove back to Maguga Dam where we saw the view of the dam.

When we got home I was up and massage.

Last day-trip to Krüger National Park

We were picked up at 05.15 and drove to another entrance than the first time. This day was a lovely hot day and a great trip, we didn't get to see as many animals as last time, but we did see 3 lions from afar and 1 leopard in a tree from a distance. 😀

After our trip we packed our things, paid and I got a massage.

Sudwala Caves

Sibu drove us towards Johannesburg, we were picked up around 12.00. On the way we made a stop at Sudwala Caves. A very old cave (more than 250 million years old), where we saw many beautiful formations formed by water and minerals over million of years. It was very nice, but they should have used some more light, there was a lot that was too difficult to see. There are many stories about what the caves has been used for - housing for tribals, shelter in wars, hiding place for guns and gold, etc. Our tour guide slamed on one of the mineral formations with a big hammer - it made a huge sound which could be heard far into the cave - this used the early tribes to warn people about enemies, so they would have time to hide themselves further into the caves. You could also see the fossils of sea gobler (once it was all covered with water). The cave is today used as a tourist attraction, but is also used at concerts - it has a fantastic acoustics. Formations in the cave is still changing to this day.

Then we were driven to the airport in Johannesburg, to get a plane back home to Denmark. A fantastic holiday with my grandmother, filled with experiences and impressions, but too short! I could definitely go once again - and I would love to go to the same place! This was the best vacation I've ever been on! 😀