The plan this morning was a quick bird walk around the property and then breakfast and then head out. It was a cooler morning (around 19 degrees C) and so it was a lovely walk around the country estate before breakfast. We added a few more birds to our trip list. Breakfast was a full buffet with the one of the biggest omelettes I have ever had. Glad we did the 30+ min walk before breakfast! We were on the road by 8:30am and we have a 6-hour drive ahead to get to Pretoriouskop in the Kruger Park.
The drive took us through Krugersdorp then round the outskirts of Johannesburg, Centurion, Pretoria, eMalahleni (old name Witbank), Mbombela (old name Nelspruit) & White River. The drive went very smoothly and the road condition is very good most of the route. Some potholes on the road from Mbombela to White River and then onto the Numbi gate but generally the roads were in good condition.
No ironic songs today unfortunately because H and I actually only listened to the ‘Rest is Politics‘ podcast. My favourite line in today’s podcast was ‘It is also best to get as close as possible to the truth’ – it seems actually just being truthful isn’t something that politicians do (not that any of us are surprised by that).
We stopped at Mbombela for groceries for the next 10 days. It is incredible how the town has grown over the years. H and I have been coming to Kruger Park for our entire married life and when we first visited Mbombela it was just a town. Now it is actually a city with multiple malls. It is now home to around 1 million people. We headed for Woolworths and found a really good / large one. It was then lunch time and that meant one thing for me – KFC – my first one in about 18 months! It has become somewhat of a tradition for H and I to have KFC before we enter the Kruger Park.
We have driven past numerous school children the last few days and today was no exception. They were coming out of school just as we finished shopping and all along the route into the park we passed scholars. It was very pleasing to see how together most of them were and how many books they were lugging around. What did surprise us though was the number of students who were wearing jerseys (or jumpers dependent on where you live in the world) and some even with jackets (and/or leggings). It was 32 degrees today!
We arrived the Numbi Gate at about 3pm and after completing the entry formalities we headed to the camp which is only 8 kms from the gate. The park is incredibly green and lush and we only saw impala between the gate and the camp. We weren’t bothered by that as it was afternoon and hot and not the best game viewing time anyway. We will see what tomorrow brings.
A beer, a braai, a glass of wine (or two) and the sounds of the bush … what more could one want to finish off the day.
Until tomorrow … P & H
PS: Shout out to our Edinburgh based reader for calling the blog ‘Buzzing Temple Travels’ … might have to rename the blog!