Kruger

Days 4-10

We stayed at Belvedere Lodge, in a town called Malelane, which is on the Crocodile River (which is in Kruger Park).  We literally looked into Kruger Park !  From our lodge balcony, we saw Elephant, Hippos, water buks, Crocodiles, and lots of other wildlife (ie, birds).  A fantastic location.  We got to know the host really well (Edmond) - he gave us quite a few rides into town / restaurants.



Belvedere was a fantastic Lodge.  A little quirky, built to look like an old country estate, but we loved it.  And apart for the 2.3 km walk to town, its location was perfect !  Set amongst large / luxury homes and a perfect view of the river / Kruger !

Edmond introduced us to Charles, a school teacher come tour / safari guide.  we used him on a number of days to travel around the area :

Day 1 - morning safari of Kruger park
Day 2 - afternoon safari of Kruger park
Day 3 - Drive to Hazyview (adventure / fun for kids and Elephant Sanctuary)
Day 4 - rest day
Day 5 - Drive to Swaziland
Day 6 - Self drive (we had our rental cars by then) to Nelspruit and Barberton
Day 7 - we drive to Escourt

In Kruger was saw lots of animals, even (maybe) a leopard during the night safari. In the beginning, it was hard to spot any animals, but once we saw the first Elephants, then there were lots of spottings !  Lots of Elephants, Rhino, Cape Buffalo, Giraffe, some Zebra, Lions (yes, we say two sets of lions, although there were sleepy and not moving much).

Some Mongoose, monkeys and lots of birds !  Hyena, lots and lots of Impalas (food for the predators) and other goat like and pig like creatures.

Some of the sample shots of the animals we saw :











Kruger park was started (formally) in 1926, and is around 20,000 kms squared (Belgium is 30,000 kms and Netherland is 40,000 kms).  Around 450 km high and at times 50 kms wide.  The animals have been living in relative peace for almost 100 years !  Although, there are current issues with poachers killing Rhinos for their horns . . .



In Hazyview, some of us went quad bike riding.  We went to an Elephant Sanctuary , where they rescue elephants.  Some were so large - over 3 metres tall !  Then Danielle and Emma wanted to go on a Canopy ride (riding very high flying foxes over 1.2 kms long !)



My impressions of Malelane :  not really set up for tourists, especially those without a car. Many locals, walking on the roads and in the shopping centres, No taxis or public transport for outsiders (local taxis are not for tourists).  Very few restaurants.  No tour operators (we found one on the last day).  We did a little research, but obviously not enough !  But, we made it work and it was fantastic.

By the way, we decided NOT to go to Mozambique.  Mozambique is only a hour or two down the road.  Problem was that with the Christmas holidays approaching, many Mozambicans were returning home for the holidays.  And there were many.  Cars, buses, with FULLY overloaded trailers were driving towards the boarder.  We were told that there would be long delays at the border.

Problem with these way overloaded cars was they they often had accidents.  They overheated, the drivers were tired, the trailers would lose a tire, etc. . . we saw some of these.



From now on, if we see an overloaded trailer, we will say : they are going to Mozambique !

Johannesburg

Days 1-3

Our first view of South Africa on approach to Jo'burg airport.

We arrived at Johannesburg airport after a 14+ hour flight.  Very tired, but happy to have arrived..., only to be hit with one of the longest customs queue ever !  Took around 90 minutes to get through.  Not happy !

Could not believe how long these queues were - and no APEC queue !

Once outside, we got our bags quickly , found a taxi that could take all of us, and made our way to our Airbnb house.

The house was great, the hosts were great, even the digs, Milo and Coco, were friendly.  Like an oasis. Very modern.

Our first full day was a real eye opener.  We learned how to use the local train system - Gautrain.  Once  you know how, it is very easy and relatively cheap way to get to the centre of town.

We caught the Hop on Hop off bus, best way to see the city.  A few mandatory stops, including the Apartheid Museum, Newtown (lunch) and Constitution Hill (old jail).  The next day we caught the same bus but did a tour of Soweto.  Another real eye opened.  4-5 million people live in Soweto !

Hop on Hop off bus - great way to see a city !

And did you know that Soweto stands for a South Western Township ?  Formed early in the 20th century as a place to send the native tribal people from the shanty towns that were beginning to take shape in / near Jo'burg.

Picture of poor part of Soweto.  Blurry, taken on the run...

Day 4 - Saturday  - we decided to catch a bus to Malelane (Kruger) instead of using a car / driver.  We saved a cnsderable amount for money, BUT

BIG MISTAKE - we weren't to know, but just cause it is labelled a luxury bus does not mean that the ticket and queues are luxury and ordered !  Before we got on the bus we had to queue up and the queue was not moving and our bus was about to leave so we got very stressed.  Eventually we pushed our way to the front and got through to the bus.  At least we could pick our seats...

It was a 6 1/2 hour bus trip, pretty comfortable (car would have been 4 1/2 hours).  However, the next issue arose when we arrived at Malelane.  The bus dropped us off at the local Service Station, and we had lunch at Nando's.  Problem was that there was no available transport to our lodge.  No taxis, no Uber. No nothing.  So, eventually we voted to walk the 2.3 kms. With our heavy suitcases. BIG PROBLEM, as it was 42 degrees in the shade, and a very sunny day !  Bloody hot !  After about 1.2 kms, a local lady with a pickup truck stopped and said : you look like you need a lift !

42+ degree heat.  Have we learned a lesson ?

Yes please ! We all yelled at once !

Local lady saved us from the heat !

Estcourt

Day 10-12

We stayed two nights at this little gem tucked away down a dirt road 5 Kms out of Escourt.  

We drove for around 10 hours from Malelane (Krugee Park) through towns like Barbeton, Volksrust, Ermelo, Newcastle, Ladysmith.  We vid not pass through Amaterdam or Utrecht, although I wanted to but they were out of our wat.

The landscapes were magnificent, rolling green hills, mountains, lots of space.  The towns we passed seem to be worn, like they were past they heyday.  

The road were very good, with a few exceptions where they were being rebuilt.

The Escourt property had some magnificent gardens, and a separate cottage that was ours for two nights.  See above photo.  There was a pool, tennis court, and a view of the nearby dam.

Our host Wendy grew up in the cottage (her father built it) and when she got married, her husband built a bigger house next door (she has 6 children).  

Wish I could have stayed here for few more days 😀.

Moscow at dawn

I woke up at 4.30am and noticed that we had left the curtains open.  Usually not a problem, but in summer, the sun rises rally early and the light can easily wake people up.

In my case, it was already light outside.  Bugger.  I only got to sleep around midnight.

So, I got up and had a look to the window.  What a view !  Although the sun hadn't made an appearance yet, the light was good and there were a lot of scattered clouds about.  I waited for about 35 minutes, and was finally rewarded with the sun making a show through the clouds.

I must have taken dozens of photos,mtrying to capture every angle and the many different shades of light.

Here is one I took with the iphone.

Moscow - a new city to conquer

A recap of the last two days that we have spent in Moscow.

First of all, Moscow is a big city.  More than 11m people live here.  They have a great metro system, used by 7m people a day.

Well, we were able to conquer the Metro.  Basically, it is very simple.  Buy a ticket (or better, one that lasts for 5 trips) and then pick your line (ie, line 2 or line 5) and then pick a direction.  This last step can be a little difficult, as the places the metro stops are written in Cyrillic, which is all Russian to us...

The metros are often very deep underground.

There are also some metro stations that have been decorated like museums, often at the expense of artworks and marble stolen from churches. The 1930's.

The streets and the maps, well, not so easy. Both maps we used have been created with an unusual scale and not all streets and their names are included.  Even if the street is on the map, the name in the English alphabet does NOT, repeat, NOT resemble the name in Russian.  BIG problem.  At one stage we were trying to cross the city, just four blocks or so, but we ended up going in the wrong direction and finished up about 10 blocks from where we wanted to be.  We only know where we ended up by coming across a Metro station that we could look up on the map.  

Red Square is big, surrounded by St Basil's, the Kremlin, the GUM shopping centre, Stalin's mausoleum, other churches and various museums.  

The GUM shopping centre is full of expensive brand name shops and some coffee shops and restaurants.  Very upmarket.  We managed to find an affordable cafe on the 3rd floor that served simple, delicious food.

St Basil's' was a little disappointing, as instead of a very large interior, the inside was very poky and broken into nine smaller chapels, each beneath one of the domes.

The roads can be very big, especially the ring road.  I counted at least 6 lanes in each direction, some areas having 8 lanes.  This makes it impossible to cross and it is so busy that the authorities have made many underground passageways to improve traffic flow.

We found some affordable restaurants to eat in (ie, not the $50 breakfasts in our hotel) and every now and then treat ourselves to a coffee and cake in the afternoon.  Once, at the Vogue Cafe, one of the cakes costs almost as much as our entire lunch !

All in all, we are filling our days up, leaving our room at around 11 am and often not returning until 10pm after having dinner at the restaurant across the road from the hotel.

This final selfie was taken in front of the Bolshoi Ballet Theatre.

Krakow - a quite morning listening to Chopin

We've been out for breakfast (we found a great bar that serves a full breakfast for around $6 that included a cafe late, oj, eggs, bacon, sausages, toast, croissant, etc...) ans started our walk thigh the old Krakow City, but it started to rain.

Instead, we decided to return to the room, TC got changed into some warmer clothes, and we sat lustening to some Chopin.

Our room is amazing,  spacious, full of antique furniture and a cupboard full of antique croquery.

Warsaw - surprisingly interesting

I had little expectations from our visit to Warsaw.  Originally, I had suggested that we did not spend much time there, as I had thought it has just a large, grey, dry city.

How wrong was I  .

Warsaw is vibrant, full of people.  And to think that most of the city was completely destroyed on 1944 and it's population of 1.3 million people either relocated, net to concentration camps and killed or some stayed back and lived in the ruins.  

The city is now full of large, shiny, new(isg) tall buildings spread amongst a fe emty blocks and apartments blocks of varying styles build in the soviet ar between 1950's and 1980's.

Now, there is a lot of building going on.  Tall skyscrapers, new residential blocks, older buildings (pre war, if still standing) renovated.  Older monuments being re built from the ground up to look exactly like the old ones.

Vibrant streets, lots of cafés, restaurants.  People everywhere.  Lights, shops, brand names on display.  

Most people seem happy.  Some are not, and obviously have so few possessions that they ar reduced to asking others for help.  A few old ladies have a couple of items on display on the ground that they hope to sell.  A few flowers(most likely picked from the park), a couple of glasses, a pair of old shoes.  Nothing of real value, but they are trying to raise a few zlotys to keep themselves going.

We walk past one such old person (I thought it was an old bloke) and I thought, I should give them some money... But the moment had passed and we moved on.  But Therese said, no, go back.  So I did.  I took 10 zlotys (around $3) and dropped it in one of the glasses they had been trying to sell.  The lady (yes, it was an old lady) looked up and said some world which I took for thank yous.  Her face beamed, and she again expressed here real gratitude.  Probably, the most money she had been given that day.  

Perhaps she now had enough to eat a meal tonight.

Warsaw.  A very vibrant city.  Full of people, history and hope.