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’.

The plan was to do some birding in the area and then some of the Midlands Meander route including some visits to the local markets. There was a birding site nearby to the farm we are staying at and it is part of KZN Wildlife (called Fort Nottingham Wildlife Conservatory). We saw a few different birds on route to the site but when we arrived at the area there were some locals hanging around and it did not seem that safe so we decided to give that a skip. We headed into the nearby town, Nottingham Road, and found a place for a coffee instead.

We then headed off to Piggly Wiggly which is a conglomerate of shops and eateries. The men split off from the women at this point as it was clear that some people might spend longer than others in the shops. After a quick 5 minute whizz around the shops, the men had seen a winery (with wine tasting) called Highgate Wine Estate. We thought we would do a tasting (KZN is not an obviously wine growing area) but once we sat down we discovered that 4 of the 5 wines on offer were actually from the Cape and only one of their wines was offered for tasting. We inquired why and it turns out that do the climate changes, their last harvest was not successful and so they could only produce a Cab Sav. We settled on just buying a bottle of the Cab Sav and tasting that while we waited for the ladies to join us. They did join us around midday and we ordered some cheese and charcuterie platters to enjoy for lunch.

After lunch we went back and did some nougat shopping at the Wedgewood store. I am a nougat lover and Wedgewood is made in the area. They also were selling nougat ice cream which (it turns out) is very good. H after saying no to ice cream then tasted a few of ours and went back and got her own and then pronounced ‘This is the best ice cream I have ever eaten’. A detour was then made to some leather shoe store in the area – still not entirely sure why because nothing was bought by anyone but after 30 something years of marriage one (or in this case three) have just learnt to accept and move on.

The Nelson Mandela capture site was nearby and we had decided as it was basically on route to go back to the farm that we should go and visit. It is the site of where Nelson Mandela was captured on 5 August 1962 (so yesterday was the 62nd anniversary). He had been on the run for around 18 months and had evaded capture until then but following a tip off he was arrested in this fairly random spot and that finally lead to his 27 years of imprisonment.

There is a museum and a sculpture on the site today and the sculpture is made up of 50 separate columns that marked the 50 years from when he was captured until the day the sculpture was unveiled (5 Aug 2012). The sculpture is of Mandela’s face and the full effect is only really seen by walking down a pathway. On the pathway they have 27 plaques to mark the 27 years Mandela was imprisoned with each one memorializing an important date in Mandela’s life. There are a few moving experiences in monuments like this that I have experienced in my life. This is up there with the 9-11 monument in New York, the holocaust wall in Berlin and the Apartheid Museum on Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. The sculpture is impressive. The photos won’t fully do it justice but give you and idea.

After that we headed back to the farm to enjoy the late afternoon sun and then a braai for dinner.

Until tomorrow …

P, H, A (he did the fire and braai again tonight), B (he didn’t drive today so no movement in his position), S (she gets the promotion for a number of reasons – the photo below being one of them) & O

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, Escort and Mooi River. Not places many people would aim to go to on holiday but places you pass through or maybe stay overnight at on the way to somewhere else more exciting. As a child we used to often stop overnight at either Harrismith or Van Reenen and so it brought back some memories from my childhood.

We had planned to do some grocery shopping for next 2 days at Harrismith but our plans were somewhat derailed by finding that the supermarket (Woolworths) we wanted to go to, only sold clothes and not groceries. We made alternative plans and then hit the road again. We arrived just before 4pm at Eirene Cottages (https://www.eirenecottages.co.za/) where we are staying for next 2 nights. The farm is owned by A’s sister. We are actually staying in their house (not the cottages) and so what you see on the website is not what we are staying in at all. The house overlooks the dam. They have eland and bontebok on the farm as well as cattle and sheep (we haven’t seen the sheep yet).

We went on a late afternoon walk around the dam and up a track to the other side of the farm where the cattle are kept. While walking we spotted a large flock of Grey Crowned Cranes (yes they are a lifer for all of us) and we could hear them calling and playing around before settling in for the night. A quick count got to me around 60 of them. Quite incredible to see so many of them when it wasn’t a bird I had seen before today. Before we went on the walk we actually added another lifer as well so this has already been a profitable birding destination.

We did a usual braai for dinner and everyone headed off the bed.

Until tomorrow … P, H, A (worthy of the promotion given accommodation), O (brought out some decent chocolate tonight after dinner), S (she managed to keep up with me when she was driving today) & B (loss of driving confidence it seems as he drove below the speed limit while leading the way today … leftover from 4×4 at Karoo NP it seems).

PS: This is what B found today about Pienaars 4×4 route – the one we did at Karoo NP (from Mountain Passes South Africa website):
“A tough Grade 5 4×4 route up the Nuweveld Mountains. This is for the more serious offroader with a robust 4×4 with low range and high ground clearance. The gradients get as steep as 1:3,3 so be prepared for some nail biting driving. In 4WD circles a Grade 5 is labelled as ‘Probable damage to vehicle or possibly injury to passengers and driver.’ Don’t try this one alone or unless you have substantial offroad experience and understand advanced recovery techniques.” … B maybe should have googled before we did the route!

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 spend some time on a road less traveled to get to our destination. There definitely wasn’t going to be any further birding happening in Karoo NP as even the birds would be taking shelter from the wind.

We were heading north to Bloemfontein. For those of you who don’t know, Bloemfontein (or Bloem for short) is one of the 3 capitals in South Africa. However, it is not a place people go to holiday. People do what we are doing and spend a night there on the way to somewhere better. It is in the heart of Free State which is the heartland of farmland in SA. The usual route is to the take the major national road (N1) north from Karoo NP to Bloemfontein. We did that until we got to Colesberg. Colesberg is another one of those places that people stay at on their way to somewhere else. While some may believe it is named after the temperature of the place, it is actually named after a governor of the Cape (Cole) after being promoted from the governor of Mauritius in 1833. I bet he would have preferred to remain the governor of Mauritius!

We had lunch at Colesberg and then took the road less traveled (R717) rather than the national road (N1). While the condition of the road wasn’t great at all times (some potholes), for most of the road it was fine. The scenery was much more attractive though (the cloud formations definitely helped) and we hardly came across another car on the road. Definitely worth doing again at some point and I definitely preferred it to dodging trucks on the N1. It came with the added bonus as my bird book told me that it was a great road to see a Blue Korhaan. While I have seen many Korhaan’s in my life, a Blue Korhaan had still eluded me so if we could add that to the life list it would be a good road and a good day. The good thing is that we managed to do exactly that. H & I saw one on the side of the road which the other two cars missed but B spotted some others in a field and so everyone managed to add this to their life lists.

The R717 takes you through the towns of Phillippolis and Trompsburg with populations of 3600 and 5500 respectively. I can with certainty say that Philippolis was definitely a first time visit. Besides the impressive NG Kerk (built in 1871), I can say nothing else struck me except that I wondered where the other 3598 people were because we only saw 2 of them when passing through. Trompsburg looked a little more vibrant with at least a PEP store, FNB and Capitec Banks and a U-Save (U-save everyday is their motto) supermarket.

At Trompsburg we rejoined the N1 and after passing the 45th truck inside 30 minutes I realised why I much preferred the off-the-beaten track road. When two cars did the Moyles Maneuver (named after the last road trip when someone passed me up the left hand side admittedly on a potholed road while we were doing about 30km’h) on the N1 at 120 km/h, I was again reminded how stupid drivers are in SA. A said the official passing move is called the undertaker – that is an apt name. Another reason why the R717 was so much more pleasant.

We did arrive safely in Bloemfontein at around 4pm and checked into our accommodation for the night called Liedjiesbos (https://liedjiesbos.co.za/). We have stayed here before during Covid when travel had re-opened and we did a road trip and visit to Kruger for my 50th birthday. We enjoyed the experience then so we decided to repeat it. It is on a small holding slightly outside of Bloemfontein. After a short walk around the property. where we added a few birds to our trip list, we had a late afternoon drink and then into a dinner prepared by them (platter with meat, salad and cheese souffle).

Until tomorrow …

P, H, B (slips down 2 positions for some wayward driving which I never witnessed but taking it on the word of S, A & O), A (for suggesting I drive faster than the speed limit on the R717), O & S (no change to their positions but they did just sit in the passenger seats today)

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. It is amazing how quickly the temperature both falls and rises here.

There is a circular drive that heads out west from rest camp and that is what we took. It goes up a mountain and then descends onto the plains. There is lion in the park and some of us heard it roaring this am before breakfast but unfortunately we never spotted any lion. We did see zebra, gemsbok (oryx), springbok, klipspringer (the drive is actually called Klipspringer drive), grey rheebok, steenbok, hartebees, baboons & eland.

There are beautiful view spots at the top of the mountain before you descend. At one of the spots, O spotted a Verreaux’s Eagle sitting in a nest on the side of the cliff. A lovely sighting and worthy of raising her position in the blog stakes. There were some other good bird sightings on the route including a lifer for me – Nicholson’s Pipit – and 5 for H. All of us have seen slightly differing birds but it seems the majority of us are over 50 now.

We got back in time for lunch and had a few hours downtime. B messaged to say he was keen to do the 4×4 route – which we thought of doing this am but discovered it was locked and you had to book at reception. A & I decided we would join B in his car and so we headed out at 3pm while the ladies decided to stay in rest camp. Just before leaving I read the guide in the chalet which said ‘the route is challenging and is not for beginners’. B was confident he wasn’t a beginner and replied ‘You only get experience by trying’. He might now regret those words. The giveaway might have been the fact (also in the guide) that said it took 10 years to create the road.

As with most 4×4 routes, the start lulls you into a false sense of security. It was just over 7 km long route which takes you up the mountains and onto the middle plateau. About 3km into the route, things started getting challenging. There was a sheer drop off the right and the left was sheer rock that had been cut away to make the road. Throw into the mix that the road was loose shale rock, it made for quite a challenging drive. At one point I had a fleeting thought to myself of ‘I am glad I am in the passenger seat’. For anyone that knows me you will know that isn’t something I think often (or ever). When we got to the top, B stopped the car and said ‘I need to take a photo but more importantly I need to calm down and take a breather.’ It is hard to take photos that give you any sense of the challenge. I said to B, how would have S coped with that and he said ‘she would have been in tears.’ He then proceeded to tell us, what you don’t know is that at times I couldn’t see because the sun was in my eyes and didn’t realise how much the rocks were sticking out on the left! You’re not meant to get out of your car except at designated spots but we had to get out take some photos.

At one point on the way up, A said ‘I think you might have left a part of your car behind’ but fortunately that wasn’t the case and it was just the rocks spitting out behind the car. B said that the scariest time was when he turned the wheel to direct the car away from the sheer drop only to get no response at all from the car as it had no traction. Fortunately we didn’t have to go down the same route and could take the standard tourist route back to the rest camp. The ladies had no idea. My watch told me that I just climbed 65 sets of stairs. I suspect that was the combination of my heart rate and the vibrations on the way up!

We got back to the camp to find the ladies on route to the bird hide and so we joined them. At the hide, there was the start of some gloating because they thought they had seen a bird that would have been a lifer for me while we were 4x4ing. As it turns out, I had actually seen the bird previously though the last time was in 2010 so it would have been a good one to see. They saw it near the caravan section and so we headed back to see if we could find it but we never did.

Back to our accommodation for the mandatory braai for dinner followed by some Olympic watching (there is satellite TV in the chalet) and shortly off to bed.

Until tomorrow

B (he deserves it for that drive), P, H, A (he made a good fire tonight), O (despite the gloating she deserves the promotion for the Verreaux’s Eagle on it’s nest) & S (she actually got a great spot of a Karoo Korhaan today so should be higher but just unfortunate because it was a high standard day).

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 SA instead. Secondly, our trusted 4×4, aka The Beast, has after 13 years of service been retired. Finally, our good friends who have done every road trip until now with the group R&J are not with us this time.

We left this morning just before 9am – hitting the road North heading for Karoo National Park. If you have followed previous trips you would know we have been to Karoo National Park a few times previously. It is around a 4.5 hour drive from Cape Town. We are down to 3 couples for this trip – B&S, A&O and ourselves. A&O planned to leave around midday so it was just B&S and ourselves heading out together.

It was overcast and chilly when we hit the road (my car said 10 degrees C). The car was fully laden. Fortunately it was only two of us in the car because we had to flap down the back seats to ensure we could get in all our luggage, food, wine, birding scope etc! Three stops – coffee, bio, lunch and we arrived at Karoo National Park just after 2pm. On route from the gate to reception, H added a lifer to her list (which is now at 435).

After checking in, we visited the bird hide in the camp and then went on a short evening drive. We added a few birds to the trip list and saw black backed jackal, hartebees, baboons, vervet monkey, gemsbok (oryx for anyone outside South Africa reading this) and some of the smaller buck (steenbok & duiker).

We started the mandatory fire for the braai for dinner and shortly after that A&O arrived. It always seem much later than it is on these road trips. Maybe it is the fresh air. Maybe its because the sun seems to set earlier. Maybe it is the driving. It is 9:30pm and we are all in our rooms and ready to go to sleep.

This trip will be 2 weeks and 1 day long and we hope you enjoy following along with us as we travel. I am yet to name my new vehicle. It is a Landrover Defender. Your suggestions are welcome. If your suggestion becomes the new ‘Beast’ then I’ll ensure you enjoy drinking a bottle of wine from my collection. What bottle of wine will depend on how good your suggestion is!

Until tomorrow … P, H, B (he started the fire; he also spotted his own lifer today), A (he took over the braaiing at some point), S & O