Day 3 Hazyview to Graskop

Early in the morning we took a little tour through the bushes; guided by a still drunk but heavily armed immigrant we explored the surroundings of our camp.

Personally I liked this kind of “game walking” much better than “driving” as you can much more appreciate the little things that happen all around you, birds signaling your arrival to the other animals, marks on the ground and evidence of a kill. If you want you can touch it and you will see that it´s still warm he said, standing in front of a big pile of shit from a rhino, but I politely declined.

After this exiting morning we got back to the camp and shortly after back on the road heading towards Graskop.

After a while we stopped at this beautiful viewpoint, It really earned its name “God´s window” , funny thing there was a adult film shooting going on when we came there I captured the male lead as the girls where hiding in the bushes when we arrived. I think his artist name was comander Bomb and he still had his gun in the holster. :)

Second stop was a little water fall, nice surroundings unfortuatly to cold to swim.

Day 2 Hazyview

Second day we went so see Krueger national park. Despite that is wasn´t the most authentic game park in Africa, it was the only place we spotted a leopard.

So the day started with an amazing sunrise, made of fire and blood putting us in the right mood to go and hunt down the big five (of course only with our camerasJ). The group spited up in to vehicles, one in a 4x4 open Landover and the rest stayed with the truck.

One advise here, if you go to see a game park insist on a second guide, the driver we had wasn´t any good at game spotting at all; so it helps if there is somebody else how knows the area and believe me when I say that you only can see up to 10 meters into the bushes around you. But sometimes we got lucky and animals like these elephants came near to the road for dinner.

DAY 1: Johannesburg to Hazyview

After inspec ting our new vehicle and Toni, our tour guide, insistently demanding to call it a truck and not a bus, we got comfortable. A lot of space was guaranteed as there were just 12 of us in a truck build for 30 people. A sound system was provided which allowed us to use our own mp3 players and share our music with the rest of the group.



To give us a warm welcome the first camping spot was a pre erectet tent village with real beds. 8 km from the Kruger’s Numbi Gate, surrounded by only an electric fence I started feeling safari! Cocktails at the bar and a pool just in sight made us wondering if we can expect that kind of luxury every day.

First night, first bottle!
As it was colder that most of us expected, it was the right time to get some hot rum and a slice of lemon to stay worm. Of course Amy and the pot of steaming hot water did a great job as well, keeping my body temperature at a reasonably stable level.

How it started

Day -1

Before we really started our tour, there was a little pre departure meeting a the nice "Backpackers Ritz" in Johannesburg, quite a nice place and of course they had a bar! So the party could start. Good beer a friendly barkeeper and my new truckmates Jenn, Joe and Louis had arrived as well.

This was just the beginning but it made me realise that we need a bar as well on our trip. Scared because of the descriptions of my tour sales man, that there might be a alcohol shortage in some of the countries we will go through, a big bottle shopping was made the next day. A wise decision, as I would realise later, because it was surprisingly cold in Africa.

Intro

Before we start, quick something about me and how I ended up on this tour.

After fininshing my hard work in South Africa, leaving my surfboard and Merc behind. It was clear to me, that just leaving the country by plane isn´t enough. Woring and living in SA but never getting to feel the real Africa, pure nature and acient peoples, I could not allow to happen.

Young and with no bounderys, if not now when will there be time to do an extensice Africa tour. First I was thinking of doing a Cape to Cairo tour but political instabilities made it impossible for me to go all the way up to Cairo. So Johannesburg to Narobi it was.


You people how where wondering how he ended up with so much luggage during his trip, here a little insight of how it happened.

Just a tip, never listen to a mother what to bring on a trip like this one, you will end up with way to much, 54kg was the number the scale showed at the airport. Lucky me there was a lot of space in the truck and a lot of Zimbabweans eager to trade most of it for some nice souvenirs.