Breakfast was very efficiently served and so we were able to be on the road by 7:30am as we headed home. Given it just over an 8 hour drive, it was good to be on the road early and hopefully miss some of the trucks. The route is taking the N1 south from Colesberg directly to Cape Town. We only stopped twice – one for fuel, coffee and toilet and the other just for the toilet and a quick leg stretch.

I counted the number of trucks I passed until we exited the tunnel at Worcester (where it becomes a multi-lane highway at that point). 92 trucks passed up until that point. Besides that the drive was relatively easy with a bit of rain in the Karoo region. It is incredibly dry there at the moment and SANParks but out an update recently saying it is a natural phenomenon and visitors shouldn’t be concerned about the state of the animals (https://www.sanparks.org/news/drought-conditions-in-karoo-parks-is-a-natural-phenomenon). They have experienced 75% less rainfall than the long term average. But it rained so much yesterday and today that the water is just pooling on the ground. The ground is so hard and dry that I don’t think the water was able to penetrate the land even.

We got home just before 4pm and are unpacked. We always reflect on these trips as we are driving back and this trip was no different. Firstly, our highlights were as follows:
P – leopard I spotted and that we then followed for about 1.5 kms
P – Mokala Bird Hide and unexpectedly finding a lifer there of a Black-faced Waxbill
H – Magoebaskloof (aka Sri Lanka)
H – Mount Grace in Magliesberg (including thunderstorm which I enjoyed too)

H also enjoyed Skukuza. I don’t like Skukuza at all as it is so big but we did at least have a river facing chalet which is nice. We both enjoyed Tzamenkomst (shout out to best friend B for finding it during Covid times). It is probably the 4th or 5th time we have stayed there now). We both really enjoyed driving up and for the foreseeable future we are going to drive and have our own car with us rather. Next year is already in the planning stage! 10 lifers for H, 4 lifers for me (I got Namaqua Warbler yesterday afternoon at Tzamenkomst) and new record of 248 birds for the trip (beating the previous record by 14 birds). Part of that is due to the diversity of habitats we visited and part of that is that our birding just gets better with time. The good news is we have another road trip planned for later this year with our friends and so we can see if we can beat that tally again.

Secondly, here are some random thoughts and comments on the trip:

1. The roads were generally very good in most places except for one bad section in North West and one section in Limpopo after we exited the Kruger.
2. Mokala NP is a real hidden gem and worth a visit if you have never been. We think 2 nights would be ideal (rather than the one we did).
3. H’s first time to Magliesberg and Mount Grace and again, definitely worth a visit if you haven’t been. There are lots of lodges in the area so find one that suits you price tag and enjoy the area.
4. Kruger Park is clearly doing a lot of maintenance and upgrading. Very nice to see. Every place we stayed in had recently been repainted on the outside and either new furniture or new fittings (fridge, pots etc).
5. Kruger Park is also doing an excellent job of fixing and re-opening past the floods. There is a lot of work to be done still and I am sure it will be months before everything is re-opened so be patient if you are visiting there. But don’t let the closures stop you from going.
6. Driving the less traveled roads even though it might be a longer route is definitely worth it both for the scenery and for not having to navigate the trucks on the national roads.
   

We are both itching already for the next one …

P & H

PS: Thanks for following along and for the comments – we love getting feedback.