Some people decided that going out for a run at 7am this morning would be a good idea when the temperature was 2 degrees C. Not only was it pretty cold as was witnessed by the frost on the ground (including the cow dung even), it is pretty hilly around here and so it wasn't surprisingly that when I asked H how the run was that she simply replied 'hard'. Frost covered ground this AM The...
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It was 4 degrees C when we woke up this am. It actually didn't feel as cold as that probably because of the altitude and dry air. We had breakfast at Liedjiesbos and headed out at around 9am. We were heading to the Natal Midlands and the route took us north, east and then south and we basically had to drive around Lesotho. The route takes you through places like Winburg, Senekal, Bethlehem, Harrismith, Van Reenen,...
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The wind blew, gusted & blasted the whole way through the night and into the morning. I have been to Karoo National Park a number of times and never experienced the wind like this. It was cause for a restless night and a very cold morning. We had originally decided to do a quick loop in Karoo NP but over breakfast we ditched that idea and instead decided to rather venture off the main road and...
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The temperature dropped over night and when we got up just after 6am it was only 6 degrees C. Breakfast is included in the accommodation price so we went to breakfast at 7am so that we could go on a drive after that. By the time we left for the drive is had warmed up to about 10 degrees C but on the drive a few hours later, my car temperature was measuring 28 degrees C....
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It feels like it has been a long time since our last road trip but the time has finally arrived for this years' one. It is different in many ways from what we expected. Firstly, we planned to go to Botswana but it seems the whole of Europe travels to Botswana in August and so we couldn't get accommodation at all the places we were hoping to stay so we had to re-jig and stay in...
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Our flight was leaving Hoedspruit airport at just before 2pm so we aimed to get to the airport around 12:30pm. That meant leaving between 6-6:30am from Letaba as we wanted to the majority of the drive in the Kruger Park. It was cool and drizzling the whole morning. Not great weather for birding but good weather to see predators (or so we hoped). We stopped for our last morning coffee aside the Olifants River and then...
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We woke this morning to rolling thunder in the distance. H had decided to go for a run before we went out so she was up and running by 6am and we headed out when she got back. The lightening and thunder stayed in the distance and while it remained overcast the whole day, it has yet to actually rain. We did the drive north and to the bird hide (Matambeni) which overlooks a portion of...
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The rain did clear overnight as predicted. H and I planned to head north to Mopani and the idea was to try and do as much birding as we could possibly do including covering off a few dams and waterholes (for waterbirds) and some river frontage (in hope of seeing an owl or two). We did see another black backed jackal on the way but no other predators again today. The birding was more successful with...
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We had seen the weather forecast and it had said overcast and rain the whole day. We decided to sleep until we woke instead of needing to get up at a particular time. H also thought it would be a good morning for a run (and it was). I (of course) woke for the first time at 4am but managed to persuade myself back to sleep. H was up and out running by 6am. The weather...
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Today was the last day that M, O & I were with us. Their flight from Skukuza airport was at 11:30am so we needed to get them there by 10:30am. We decided to let I sleep in a bit and only leave around 6:30am. We had planned to take the slightly longer drive to Skukuza but heading north on the dirt road and then east from Phabeni gate to Skukuza. It was a good call -...
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