Graskop and Kruger

Rob needed to see a predator!!

Our safaris so far had been fab but a little lacking in carnivores so with that in mind we headed north to Kruger with a one night stop at Graskop, for its outstanding beauty, on the way.

Google maps said four and a half hours, the last part of our journey would take us along the first part of the panorama route so we were looking forward to beautiful views. About seven hours after our departure the views were truly beautiful but as I’d chosen what I thought would be the most panoramic route Rob wasn’t really able to enjoy those views. For about 90km he was unable to lift his eyes from the temporary road surface littered with pot holes the size of small craters. Obviously he was very supportive of my decision and hardly mentioned the smooth road we joined about 10km outside of Graskop that we might have come on the whole way. I vowed not to make any more decisions and let google lead the way – lets see how that turns out.🤣

We arrived in Graskop eventually to possibly our favourite hotel so far. The Graskop Hotel was like stepping back in time to another era and was soothing to our frayed emotions. Our room was luckily very roomy giving us space to spread out after our confined journey.After a quick walk around the village (I thought about leaving Rob here)

and a tasty dinner in the restaurant we retired to relax and get ready for an early start.Our plan for the next day was to visit the many sites around Graskop with a minimal amount of driving and a maximum amount of walking before heading to Kruger for the afternoon. We woke up early, jumped out of bed (maybe a little exaggeration here – Rob has never jumped out of bed) and opened the curtains, to persistent rain.☔️

Undeterred our spirits were soon restored with a blazing fire, a hearty breakfast and music that my parents used to sing to me such as Making Whoopy and It was a very good year.

We set off enthusiastically and I hardly mentioned Rob’s socks or how well they accentuate the Sturla ankles.We were very pleased when the rain stopped, but not so pleased when it gave way to persistent fog.🤣 We toyed with the idea of turning back but thankfully continued on to a beautiful, fog free walk at Lisbon falls and more beautiful views and lovely walks at Blyde River Canyon and pot holes. Neither of us however recommend the Lichen trail – unless you are happy to discover endless information on rocks and lichen?The best view of all in this area was supposed to be God’s window. We’d passed it on our way to the other highlights and were looking forward to seeing it on our way back. Unfortunately the fog had returned with a vengeance and made driving impossible, let alone sight seeing. As the fog obscured the sign for the turning to God’s window, we took it as a sign and drove on for our first afternoon at Kruger and our hunt for big cats.

We had been reliably informed that wildlife abounded within Kruger and weren’t disappointed. In our two days we saw so many animals including all of the Big 5. Our highlights were definitely a family of four white rhinosseven, lazy lionesses on our last afternoon. (Rob was very happy)

and a random tortoiseWe now feel like we are experts on the self drive budget safari. Although the Protea Hotel (I know we said no more large chain hotels) where we stayed didn’t feel budget at all. It was about twenty metres from the Paul Kruger gate and as near as you could possibly be without paying the exorbitant prices of being in the park. It was a lovely place to stay and the deers, monkeys and warthogs within the grounds made you feel like you could easily be within the park.

We had a great couple of days and felt like all of our wildlife expectations had been met.😊

Since our last post we have missed some important occasions.

Happy birthday to Aliand happy 14th to Paddy.

It also would have been my dad’s 90th on Monday.

Lastly congratulations to Effie who has learnt to walk before ten months. What took you Effie?