Day 3. After spending another comfy night in our little campervan we woke up to a brisk morning, perfect for an 11km hike around Freyicent National Park. The hike took us through the forest, which had large red block like rocks displaced throughout. We then headed to Wineglass Bay a very popular but secluded beach in Tasmania where we had beautiful views of the calm bay. The trail continued through to another forest section leading to Hazards Beach, a second beach on the other side of Wineglass Bay with rougher water. Along the way we enjoyed the views and loved seeing the wild wallabies bounce through the bush. After the hike we made our way inland to Mount Field National Park, a park known for its incredible diversity. The atlas we were using to get around highlighted the town of Ross as a great spot to stop for a break and it didn't let us down! Ross is a quaint town off one of the main highways with cute bakeries, antique shops and an old gas station lining main street. We visited one great bakery where Andrew bought a special beef pie (very popular in Australia), however this one was wasn't the traditional pie shape, but was shaped in a triangle with the top squeezed together in a hand shape. The baker explained that this was the traditional way miners wives use to bake them, one side was filled with savoury meat and the other with a sweet pie mix. The pie was shaped with the top formed this way in order for the miners to hold it with their dirty hands, eat it and then when done they could just the throw away the top bit. In addition to the bakery, we also visited an interesting tourist information centre with a large exhibit on wool production. Once we had poked around there we headed to Ross's last attraction the historic bridge which is the third oldest bridge built by convicts and still used in Australia. Two of the convict labourers were stonemasons who were later credited for their intricate designs and carvings alongside the bridge. It took the majority of the day to get to Mount Field National Park so we re-stocked our food supplies along the way in the town nearest to the park. Once we had arrived we realized the park office was closed so we decided we would head up the mountain to a parking lot set next to the Tall Trees walk where we ended up staying for the night. The road up the mountain had lots of warning signs regarding not driving in the evening (had no other choice really) and to be cautious of icy conditions. ICE? But we are sleeping in a unheated camper van! Although it was a Saturday night we were the only ones up there; a tad chilling as it was very windy, dark and we were surrounded by monstrous trees. We decided we would do the tall trees walk in the dark with our headlamps. It was a short 1 km walk with informative signs posted throughout explaining the tall tree ecosystem and their incredible size. The signs explained that the swamp gums, eucalyptus regnans, are the largest flowering tree in the world and have been growing before 1642. After our walk we made some food, drank some Tasmanian wine and hunkered in for the night listening to the howling wind. We woke up to a think fog around the van, we decided that we would continue up the mountain road where we would start a long days hike to see some of the parks diversity. Up and up we drove eventually leaving the fog below us, which lead to amazing views of the surrounding area. The park is hugely diverse, at the bottom there are massive tress surrounded by very lush damp rainforest. As the winding road continued up we could already see a huge difference in the plant life and moisture content. Mount Field is unique in that plant diversity increases as you increase in altitude which is usually not the case in other mountain ecosystems. The hike was incredible. It traversed up on to a mountainous plateau and across several different eco systems. At one point we lost the track but a little bit if route finding got us back on track. The walk ended up taking a bit longer than we expected and we found ourselves returning to the camp near sunset. We had't planned on where we would be sleeping next so we thought we would just drive out of the national park towards the next nearest town and camp near the town for the night. Day 5 - Although the park was beautiful it was quite cold to sleep high in the mountains so we drove down to the closet town and free camped for the evening in a back street. In the morning we drove to Bonorong Wildlife Park where we had a lovely time making new kangaroo friends and finally meeting a Tasmanian Devil! After the wildlife park we continued making our way to Hobart but stopped off at the Cadbury Chocolate factory where we enjoyed a heavenly delicious hot chocolate, loaded up on reduced priced goodies and learned about Cadburys processing history. Unfortunately we didn't get to go on a tour through the factory which you used to be able to go on. Big changes to come now that Kraft owns Cadbury. Last we heard they were planning on changing their chocloate composition to 50% rubber. Our last stop before returning the van was a drive through Hobart and up to Mount Wellington. From the top we were surprised to see the smoke from a nearby forest fire. The view from the top was fantastic! Tasmania is a really beautiful place with immense diversity and variety. We had an amazing time and definitely felt 5 days wan't enough to even scratch the surface. We'll have to return again to enjoy more of the scenery, hikes and National Parks. It is very different to mainland Australia and we highly recommend it!
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Between hitting the beach, surfing and work we've been pretty busy down here in Newcastle. But that doesn't mean we haven't snuck in a few other activities to really soak in the summer while it lasts! For Andrew's birthday we took the ferry over to Stockton, which is just north of Newcastle across the harbour. Stockton has a different feel than Newcastle. Its quite a bit more quiet and the beaches are more secluded, plus we were able to camp next to the beach! Basically we were getting tired of crossing the road to get to the beach so we just set up our tent next to it! One morning we woke up to some guy shouting, "Cordial!" While it was annoying it did get us out of bed and we watched the Hill to Harbour Marathon come past our balcony. We did feel a bit lazy sitting on the balcony drinking coffee while all these fit runners past below. I'm guessing they would have traded with us if they had the option. We woke one morning to our roommate shouting, "Dolphins, dolphins, the dolphins are so close!" It seems like we are consistently woken up by shouting. At any rate we ran down to the beach with a couple of boogie boards and quickly swam out to where the dolphins would pass by us. The swell was relatively small so we were able to get past the break without being dumped. We got pretty close to the dolphins at one point and our roommate even grabbed a couple of snaps of us. It was an amazing way to start the day!
Our last day in India was a bit surreal. We were really excited to be heading to Australia but we were also a bit sad because the traveling portion of our trip was nearing its end. That’s right we’re going to be integrating back into society…whether we want to or not! In addition to seeing the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge we got to visit with one of Andrew’s friends, Graham, who he worked with back in Edmonton. It was a short but sweet visit where we all got to catch up on what each other’s years had been like. Andrew also got caught up on some of the gossip he missed over the last year! Christmas arrived faster than 35 centimeters of snow in Canada for us and we were off to spend Christmas Eve with Amy’s Dad and his family out at their rural home. They were really welcoming and they helped us to come to terms with BBQing, swimming and playing badminton outside as Christmas activities. Luckily they had a fireplace for Santa to enter the house, it wasn’t burning but it was ready to receive him! After a really nice time opening gifts and a delicious Christmas morning brunch at Amy’s Dad’s place we zipped off to Sid’s parents’ house for Christmas lunch! We were so used to eating vegetarian food in India that our bodies had to perform super-human feats of digestion to keep up to the barrage of Christmas deliciousness! With our bellies full to our throats we jumped in the car and headed down the coast to Amy's Pop's house where Amy's mom had prepared us a lovely Christmas dinner. We don't know how we did it but we managed to stuff three huge meals plus dessert into our guts. We were both so happy to be spending the holidays with close friends and their families. We got to experience what Christmas is all about in Australia and loved each minute of it! Thank you to all the families who opened their hearts and homes to us, we really appreciated all your lovely gestures! The next 10 days were spent at Amy's Caravan in Ulladulla. It's a caravan park right next to the beach but also has a swimming pool, bouncing pillow, and activities center. Courtney's good friend Amy E (old roommate from second year Uni) and her boyfriend Stefan came down to spend the holidays with us as well. We all had a great time enjoying the beach, going for runs, partying, and making the most delicious BBQs! One day we went on an excursion to Pebbly beach, known for having wild kangaroos stroll with you down the beach. Unfortunately we didn't see any kangaroos but we did enjoy the beautiful beach and ultra friendly birds! After we went and had fish and chips in Batemans Bay! One evening Pop invited us all out to fish, he's a seasoned fisherman and wanted to show us what the South Coast had to offer. Below was the cheering section! The fishing trip was successful with the group catching 3 small fish that Pop and chris ate the next day for lunch! Pop however asked that we never join him again due to all the line snags, loud disturbances, and flash lights turning on and off! Next time he only took the boys! Another night the 6 of us went to the local RSL club to participate in their weekly meat draw and pokies (poker machines, which are in almost every bar in Australia). We didn't win but had a delicious dinner and good fun playing around. The second week we returned and won 2 meat trays! SCORE! On a different day Stefan drove his car down down Monkey road, which ended up being 20km of unpaved bumpiness ending at Pigeon House Mountain. After our stomachs settled we hiked up a nice, well beaten trail then climbed insanely steep ladders where we reached the top for some views of the area. It being overcast allowed us to hike without keeling over with heat exhaustion, however the view wasn't too speculator. Amy and Sid drove to Sydney to spend New Years in the city, while we stayed and enjoyed the night in Ulladulla! In the evening we walked to the town and and watched fireworks from a patio bar. After the 9:00pm show we headed to the local fair where we rode bumper cars, ate pizza, and enjoyed some cotton candy then returned to the bar. It was a great time! The next morning we woke up and were feeling not half bad so we decided to head out to an animal park. We had an amazing time petting and feeding the Australian animals! On another adventure Sid, Andrew, Chris (Amy's Mom), and I walked along 5 different beaches to the lighthouse. The walk was very nice with some great views of pelicans. The last few nights were spent playing with the neighbour's 5 boys! Each night we would have an incredibly fun soccer game usually resulting in the girls (better known as The Bashers) winning! We left Bikaner on a night train headed to Sawai Modhpur, the town next to Ranthambore National Park, one of the last remaining places on earth to see tigers in the wild. A lot of guide books and websites say that although chances are still pretty slim of seeing a tiger in the wild, they are slightly higher here in Ranthambore due to its relatively small size and a half decent population of about 35 tigers. We were told to book early as space for the regulated safaris books up quickly since the park is closed during the monsoon from June to early October. We ended up reserving space on two safaris: one afternoon safari and one morning safari. Our e-ticket stubs said something about having to pick up our boarding passes at the tourist center at least 30 minutes prior to our safari. After getting settled at a little hotel we made our way down to the tourist center only to find it closed. When we inquired with a local, we found out that it would re-open about one hour before the afternoon safari departed. After going back to the hotel and then doubling back to the tourist center again, we were greeted by a massive, loud and completely unorganized crowd in front of the tourist center. Listen, we have been in India for about a month now so we were used to the chaos that comes along with everyday run-of-the-mill activities. This, however was a different kind of chaos. We started showing random people our ticket stubs and after getting directed to the wrong service window three or four times we found the correct one where we could redeem our tickets for boarding passes on the afternoon safari. We seemed to be the only foreigners in this particular line and we couldn't figure out why. Finally we asked an Indian man who was holding a box of about 40 passports and a small ream of paper in his arms. He told us that he came to pick up boarding passes for guests staying at a few different hotels and that our hotel should have this service as well. After having no luck spotting tigers on our first safari we were hopeful that we would have better luck on our next safari the following morning. This time we were a bit smarter and asked our hotel manager if he could arrange for someone to get our boarding cards without the hassle of us going to the parks office at 5:00am. The next morning we got up early and headed outside to wait for the guy with our boarding cards and passports. We couldn't find anyone and got worried we'd been forgotten about until we saw the hotel manager riding on his bike up to us waving our boarding cards. He told us that the guy that was supposed to come and pickup our passports, the night before, never showed so he went himself. We were so grateful that he let us sleep in and took care of it for us! Shortly after a safari vehicle pulled up and we were off on our second tiger safari. This time we were happy to meet our friendly, informative guide as the one from the night before was falling asleep and not interested in talking. To increase our chances of spotting a tiger our guide suggested we drive quickly through the beginning of the park because they had heard there was a tiger in our zone a ways in from the gate. We drove to the area that they thought a tiger was in but the guide said it must of moved or was hiding so we continued through the park and at one point got to get out of the vehicle to spot other wildlife. After our break we got in and the guide must have gotten a tip from another driver because we started to once again speed up until we reached a point where a bunch of other safari cars were all stopped with everyone looking over to one side. Our driver started honking and our guide started yelling, some India tourists in our car told us the guide was mad because the car in front of us wouldn't move up and was blocking the view of the tiger from everyone else. Unfortunately by the time they sorted it out the tiger had moved and was no longer visible. We were disappointed but we had to remember that there was only a 20% chance of seeing one so for us to see foot prints, hear warning calls of other animals, and be one car behind the car who could see it we felt pretty fortunate! Romantic UdaipurLater in the day we went to the train station hoping to switch our train from Udaipur and head right to Mumbai so we could get to Goa quicker. Once at the train station we found out that the Mumbai-bound train's seating chart was already made so we couldn't get on. Therefore, we spent the next 9 hours waiting in the train station's waiting room for our train to Udaipur. Udaipur is a very scenic city built along Lake Pichola. We were told to stay in Udaipur to recharge and relax so we booked two nights in a hotel with a great view of the city and lake. We spent the days people watching on roof top restaurants and walking around the city to various sights. One of the most famous buildings in the city is The City Palace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Palace,_Udaipur), a palace complex built alongside Lake Pichola by Maharana Udai Singh. The royal family still lives today. We walked around inside the City Palace museum that was created by one of the more recent Maharanas. We enjoyed the museum and were fascinated at some of the weaponry and armor used in battles. We also visited the Jagdish Temple and the City Gardens. We really enjoyed our stay in Udaipur and we would like to come back one day to spend a little more time exploring the surrounding countryside. Most people wait at least a year to hike the Otter Trail and some wait more than that. Not us though! When we were in Coffee Bay I checked the Otter Trail reservations page to find 4 spots open on September 11th. I immediately called the SAN Parks reservations hotline and booked us two spots. Our Canadian friends Mike and Suzanne, who we met at Coffee Shack, were quite interested in doing the trail as well and we encouraged them to think hard and fast about it before the last 2 spots disappeared. They bit the bullet and booked onto the trail as well and so the adventure was set! Before we arrived in the village of Storms River where the trail begins, we bought our food and last trekking items and had a couple days to prepare and get organized before the trek. We stayed at Axe n' Tube backpackers in Storms River and arranged for our extra bags to be taken to Natures Valley at the trail's end. I've decided to break the blog post up into each day on the trail for increased enjoyment! Day 1: This ain't so badOur first day of hiking on the Otter Trail was mostly a pleasant one. The day was relatively short with only about 2 hours of hiking. We started early so that we could take our time getting used to the weight of our packs and also so that we could get into our first camp early and enjoy the coast. Along the way we passed a huge cave and a majestic waterfall that emptied into the ocean! Our first camp was a short 20 minute walk from the waterfall. One of the cool things about the Otter Trail is that you don't have to carry a tent because accommodation is provided in two 6 person cabins at four overnight stops. Although that sounds quite appealing, we still had to carry everything else like food, sleeping bags and clothing. We were the first ones to arrive at camp and after a couple hours the 8 remaining hikers tromped in. There are two 3-tier bunk beds in each cabin. So depending on how many people are in each group, hikes from the same party might have to split up but our sleeping arrangement worked out pretty well. Three South Africans stayed in our cabin and we would drag an extra mattress over from the other cabin each night and two of the South Africans made a double bed on the floor. We carried in fresh meat and veggies on the first day knowing that we could manage the extra weight so we fired up the braai and watched the stars come out! Day 2: I spoke too soonDay two proved to be a bit more challenging than day one but we were told that it had the most beautiful scenery of the whole trek. With the beautiful lookouts came grueling hills that seemed to never end. Day two also brought on our first river crossing, the Kleinbos. At first we thought we made it to the river and we were surprised to see how low its level was. Turns out that we were a couple kilometers shy of the real thing, but when we arrived at the real thing it wasn't too tough to cross. We had to wade through thigh deep water but the river was narrow and it only took a few minutes for all of us to cross. Day 3: Waiting for natureWe were up and hiking early on the third day as we had to cross two rivers. We knew that we could cross the first one at low tide and we found out later that that was a good idea. We managed to stroll across the Geelhoutbos River in only about ankle deep water and when we ran into the other group they had crossed at high tide and ended up swimming! Our second river crossing was a different story, however. We arrived at high tide and Andrew tried to cross but about 2 meters into the crossing he was already waist deep so rather than swim we decided to wait it out. We had a little picnic along the river shore, enjoyed the sunshine, played cards and waited for nature to do its thing and lower the tide dropped and we were able to cross in knee deep water. We arrived into camp around 6:30pm, ate dinner and prepared for an early departure the next morning. I mean really early. Day 4: The soul crusherEveryone talked about day 4. We heard plenty of stories about how it was by far the hardest of all the days because it was not only physically challenging but mentally as well. We woke up at 2:30am and were on the trail by 3. We had 10 km to cover before we arrived at the notorious Bloukrans River crossing. We were told that even at low tide it can be quite difficult to cross. The South Africans that were sharing our cabin had done the Otter Trail years ago and they seemed to remember crossing the Bloukrans at low tide and the water was over the waists, but at least they didn’t have to swim. Unfortunately we weren’t so lucky this year. At low tide the river was still raging and it seemed as though the sandbank that hikers once used to walk across the river was gone. Our only option was to swim. When we were undressing and putting our packs into the survival bags (gigantic red glorified garbage bags) we bought it started to pour rain; our luck wasn’t improving. Courtney and I made the mistake of packing our survival bag too early and when we tried to carry it to the river’s edge we slipped and dropped it on some sharp rocks and punctured it. Luckily the South Africans decided to cross at the same time as us and they brought a 50m rope to use to stop the river’s current and the ocean’s waves from dealing them a good beating and then sending them out to sea. Once the rope was tied at both ends we began ferrying bags across the river. Mike and Suzanne had worse luck than us when they opened their survival bag they found out that they were sold a small one that could barely fit one of their packs. While Mike was crossing the bag burst open and flooded leaving his pack soaked. Fortunately none of their electronics were damaged! Courtney and I had to borrow a survival bag from the South Africans to get our packs across. We all swam holding onto the rope and once all the bags were across I untied the rope and swam with it until Courtney decided to give me a free ride across and towed me in using the rope. The adventure was only half over. We crossed to a rock wall and we had to hurry to get up onto the bank as the tide rushed in. Courtney and I were the last ones to get going and we were getting ancy waiting to cross the rocks so we took the route that was “not recommended” on the map that the park gave us. The route was a series of ropes anchored into the rock face that went straight up. I'm not exaggerating. They don't recommend this route for a reason and the reason is that if you fall there's no chance you won't be pretty badly hurt or worse. We took it anyway and we made it up after some heart pounding moments scaling the wet rock face. Once we were up we took a route back down to meet the rest of the group and help them get onto flat ground safely. Unfortunately for us the day was not yet over, not even close. We still had another 4 kilometers of huge uphills and downhills to go before we reached the final camp. When we made it into camp everyone crashed and just relaxed for the rest of the day knowing that we had finished the most challenging part of the trail. Day 5: We survived!Our last day was a short hike out over some rolling green hills and finally crossing the beach at Nature's Valley. We were tired but it was well worth it. We can now see why the Otter Trail is one of the world's premier hikes! Before we jump into this blog post we just wanted to say how happy we are to have our friends and families reading the blog. It means a lot to us and we have been writing more posts so that everyone can continue to enjoy them. Unfortunately the internet situation in South Africa is rather bleak and so we find ourselves going without normal internet for weeks on end. When we do get some fast internet we usually spend a day or two uploading blog posts and strategically releasing them over the course of a few days so as to not overdose our readers with too much excitement. Anyway, all we wanted to say was thanks for reading and being patient... we really do appreciate it. After the beach and the bush we headed to the berg – the Drakensberg that is – the mountain range in South Africa split into three main sections: North, Central, and South. After leaving Kruger we spent a few days in Nelspruit to unwind, update the blog and sleep in a bed after sleeping in the tent for 2 weeks straight. We met a couple (Daniel and Kristina) from the Czech Republic in the backpackers and we hit it off with them. At first we only started chatting with Daniel and it wasn’t until we returned from getting our passport photos taken for our Indian Visa that we really got to know Daniel. We walked into the backpackers and it seemed quiet…a little too quiet. We rounded the corner into the kitchen to find a bottle of real absinth (which we later learned that Daniel brought from the Czech Republic) half empty. A second later Daniel popped into the kitchen and insisted we join in on the festivities! He and the backpacker’s owner were good friends who go way back and what better a way to catch up than over a bottle of absinth while their wives were on a day trip! So we didn’t hesitate and within seconds we were in on the absinth action! Needless to say it was a really fun day and we got to know each other fairly well. The next day we went hiking up to a waterfall about a 30 minute drive from the hostel near a small village called Kaapsche Hoop. After we returned we got to play with some two-week-old puppies that the family dog had just before we passed through Nelspruit the first time. We drove from Nelspruit to the furthest northern park named Royal Natal National Park. We took Daniel and Kristina along with us and dropped them off on the outskirts of the park as they planned to hitch-hike out of the area early the next morning. On our way driving we passed a really interesting municipality building in a small town. It looked more like a palace and to us really shows the contrast between excessive wealth and extreme poverty, which is prevalent throughout South Africa and took us a bit of time to get used to. Our first night was a bit chilly but we were anticipating waking up early the next morning and getting to hike in the berg all day; however…this is what we woke up to! The snow continued to fall so we decided to pack up and drive back to Durban and get our India visas sorted and after a quick two nights in Durban we headed back to the berg. On our drive north from Durban we quickly hit a lot of traffic. It was a long weekend here in South Africa (Women’s Day on a Thursday and so many people took the Friday off as well) and everyone was making their way out of the city. But, because of the snow fall a day and a half earlier the highways had been closed and had remained closed until just a few hours before we got on them. As we first started to see snow on the hillsides we noticed that a lot of vehicles were pulling over on the side of the highway and everyone was getting out to go play! Turns out many of the people that live in and around Durban have never seen snow, so it was cool to watch some first timers build snowmen! It wasn’t all fun and games for us however as we eventually hit stop dead traffic on the main highway that connects Durban to Joburg. What we found odd, was that in the opposite lane there were only transport trucks stopped and no small vehicles. We got out of the car and started talking to some of the locals (who were now building snowmen) and they explained that the trucks had been held up for a couple days by the traffic police because the road was too unsafe to drive on because of the snowstorm. Of course, rather than having the road cleaned so that the truckers could go on their merry way, the traffic police simply closed the road with the truckers on it and left. Our side of the road however had been opened in the meantime and was now being blocked by truckers who were protesting that the opposite lane had been closed for so long! The truckers who were blocking our lanes said that they would lift their barricade only when their trucker buddies were free to go in the opposite one. Finally after sitting on the highway for an hour and a half the truckers lifted their blockade and we were on our way. This time in the Drakensberg we were greeted by sunny skies and warm temperatures! We spent the first few days hiking in Royal Natal National Park to a couple places. The first place we hiked to was called the Gorge and was exactly as its name implied. It was a deep canyon with some really cool rock tunnels that we could explore. There were also some hair raising scrambles up a slope to get to a lookout. We had a tough time getting up and we were shocked to see a group of seniors make their way up behind us. One of the ladies said, “I can get up but I’m not sure I’ll make it down!” And both Courtney and I said the same thing! The next day we decided to take a shorter but more scenic hike up a route called the crack and then returned to our camp via a route known as the mudslide. Both routes were aptly named as you’ll see from the pictures below. The crack was a steep scramble between two massive towers of rock and the mudslide was an even steeper scramble through a thickly forested area with numerous chains and ladders fixed to the route to make passage possible. After Royal Natal we headed south to Monks Cowl for a little more hiking but we didn’t actually know what to expect there and we had been wanting to get an overnight hike in at some point too. Instead of staying in the park we stayed at a nearby backpackers called Inkosana Lodge where we sought some expert advice from the owner Ed. Ed helped us plan our route into the backcountry to find a cave known as the Zulu Cave. The paths in the backcountry here are not marked and sometimes the trail isn’t visible or is just nonexistent so all the backcountry exploration we did back in Canada paid off when we couldn’t find our trail for a good portion of the route. We were able to use the good old fashioned topographic map to keep ourselves heading in the right direction. When we found Zulu Cave we were really surprised to find five other guys there because we hadn’t seen anyone all day on the trail with the exception of a few tiny people way in the distance on a different trail below us. It was a group of four Americans and their South African guide who lived in Calgary for ten years. Needless to say we hit it off immediately with them and spent the evening swapping silly camping stories and gossiping about South African soap operas…I mean politics. When the stars came out so did the Kentucky Bourbon and the conversations became even more interesting. It was a fun night. The next morning we got up slowly, ate some oatmeal and started the solid five hour trek out. We only had one more place that we wanted to hike at so we made our way to Didima camp near Cathedral Peak, only a stone’s throw north of where we were. Our plan was to spend one day hiking to the top of Cathedral Peak but our plans changed when we were woken from our sleep at around 12:30AM by the contractors who were staying in our campsite. They were just getting home from the bar and making dinner outside of the safari tent they were living in, which happened to be quite close to our site. We didn’t get to sleep until around 2AM so that shattered all hopes of us hiking by 5:30. We weren’t thrilled about that and the campsite itself was run down in a bad way. Toilets didn’t flush, sinks leaked, ants coated the countertops. I know what you’re thinking: yes we were camping and we should be roughing it right? Well not after spending a month and a half in some of the nicest and cleanest campgrounds we’ve stayed in in our entire lives! So we complained and we were upgraded to a fancy hut with a kitchen, bathroom, king size bed and satellite TV! Jackpot!! When we saw the place we didn’t even care to hike anymore but so we didn’t feel too bad we went for a short hike and then returned to enjoy our day of luxury in the hut! We also played some tennis to top it off!
For those of you that have been to or heard of African Lion Safari near Guelph, Ontario you know that there are Rhinos, Giraffes, Zebras and even some Lions. But did you know that Africa has its very own African Lion Safari? It’s called Kruger National Park and it’s a little more rugged and wild than what we have in Canada. Being in South Africa for a few weeks now we had heard the hype of Kruger. Everyone we met said it was fantastic but we may or may not see the big five (buffalo, lions, leopard, elephant, and rhino – are called the big five because during the good old poaching days these were said to be the 5 most dangerous animals to hunt). We had also heard that Kruger books up quickly so we were glad that we had pre-booked our 14 days of camping in June while we were in Mendoza, Argentina. We read up on some of the camps and thought because we had the time we would start in the South and work our way North through most of the park. Kruger is about 20,000 km2 in size, which is comparable to the size of Wales. 74 km east of Nelspruit we drove through the Malelane Gate where our adventure in Kruger began! On the way to our camp we spotted rhino, elephants, zebra, crocodiles and countless impala. Once arriving at our first “camp” (Berg en Dal) we were totally impressed because the “camp” is more like a resort; including a curio shop (small grocery/souvenir shop), a restaurant, ice cream shop, several self-catering lodges ranging in size to fit between 2-12 people, a swimming pool with waterfall, a beautiful walkway over-looking a dam, which continued into the Rhino trail (mini hike around the camp), and a large campsite each with individual braais, a shared water faucet, garbage cans, and then bathrooms with hot showers, a kitchen with gas stove tops and on-demand boiled water. Most of the campers, more like glampers (glamorous campers), set up along the fence line so we found a nice spot at the back next to the fence. We stayed at this camp for three nights and really enjoyed ourselves. All of Kruger’s camps are similar to the description above. We split our time into five different camps, three were normal and two were rustic (running water but no electricity). As you can imagine this blog would be enormous if we wrote all of what we saw so we are only including the highlights split into two semi chronological blogs. Our first morning in the park we did a morning drive, which is a guided drive in a Parks Safari truck with 8 other people. We met at 5:30am with our coffee in hand. We asked Raymond, our armed driver, if there would be a washroom break. He told us no so we went before we left. The drive lasted three hours but Andrew’s bladder didn’t! The drive was really exciting as we got to use a huge spot light to look into the bush while we drove. Our first spot was a rare antelope, and almost immediately after we spotted two lions laying on the road. As we approached they stood up and we followed them along the road and up through a restricted road where Raymond explained that they were mature young males urinating to mark their territory for the lioness’s. We saw lots more wildlife on our drive but the lions were the most exciting part! We’ve both seen lions in zoos and at African Lion Safari near Guelph, but there are a few differences between the caged and wild animals. First we noticed that the wild lions were enormous and muscular. They were also quite scruffy looking as if they had been in a few good brawls. During our time in Kruger we were fortunate enough to spot a lot of cool animals right outside our camp fences. Hyenas were quite common in the evenings and at night. They would pick up the delicious smell of braais from miles away and come in search of some scraps. People are told not to feed them as they become more comfortable around humans and eventually very aggressive towards humans once they realize they aren’t always going to get food from them. The characteristic hyena wooooo-ooop could easily be heard all night at most camps we stayed at. It wasn’t until our last night at the rustic camp, Balule, that we heard a whole pack of hyenas doing their characteristic laugh or cackle. We both woke up in the night to the sound and Andrew was convinced they were inside of the camp and had gotten a hold of a small child. Turns out a female was in heat and the males were going bananas right outside the fence in front of our tent! Once we were taking photos of them and they came right up to the fence and licked our camera, good thing it wasn’t my hand as they have the most powerful bone crunching jaw of any land mammal! At the rustic camp, Balule, we saw a male hyena submit to a female one in surely one of the most awkward displays of submission out there. Check out the video below. This may come as a surprise with all the mating going on outside our tent, but believe us it’s not very common to see baby hyenas in Kruger. We lucked out however and were able to sit with (inside our car) the furry cubs and watch them play with each other. Sitting next to our fire we saw the neighbors spotting something in the bush. We went over and saw it was a huge Rhino grazing! We also got to see giraffe, a less common small-spotted genet, small marmots running about, a family of warthogs eating along the fence, and two bush babies that jumped incredible distances from one branch to another all from our camp! Also from camp we commonly heard lions roaring at night, it’s not the sound you expect from The Lion King, it sounds more like a really loud old man’s snore, more of a belly grunt noise. Every day we would drive the roads surrounding our camp or pack up and travel North to another camp. Most days we spotted tons of animals, especially in the South. Our top spots were... Watching a herd of zebra walk in sink bobbing their heads, which we later found out was because bont flies lay larvae in their noses and they bob to get them out…pretty entertaining. Watching herds of animals walk right out of the bush and onto the road, giving us great picture opportunities. We laughed every time we would see impala drinking then get spooked and dart off in every direction, the impala looked like they were always on edge, probably because they are a great snack for any big cat! We saw a wildebeest fight, buffalos drinking and bathing in a swimming hole, a crocodile eating an antelope (its legs were still sticking out from the croc's mouth) while the antelopes new born was on the shore trying to nurse from another animal with no luck. It was sad to watch as you knew shortly after the new born would become a light snack for another predator. Big cats are very hard to spot because they are perfectly camouflaged with the dry grass or trees but we lucked out by getting to see them a few times. Our first sighting of lions, after the morning drive, was a piggy back spot (where someone else spots) and you observe! We watched two lionesses laze around under a tree rolling on their backs; they then stood up and walked towards the river where buffalo had been grazing. The buffalo walked away from the river, crossing in front of our car, and continued into the bush. We were given some advice from a Ranger who said that if you see a herd of buffalo, there are usually some lions following close behind. The second time spotting lions was early in the morning; we had just stopped on a bridge to observe the crocs and hippos. When we began to drive away we saw four lions crossing the road right in front of us, we weren’t able to snap a picture but it was pretty awesome! On our way back to one of the camps 3-4 cars were pulled over, which usually meant a big cat was in the area. We stopped and saw a guy was out of his car pushing someone else’s car. When we asked if they needed us to call anyone they said someone was on their way but to look over there as there was a huge lioness a few meters from the road. Luckily she decided not to eat the man outside the car and begun heading towards the bush. Using the piggy back method we saw leopards twice! The first leopard was really hidden up on a tree branch, we thought it was amazing that someone could actually see it. The guy had lots of patience explaining to everyone where it was until we all saw it. I laughed when his mom finally spotted it then said “oh my it looks like a fur coat!" The second was on the ground; right when we pulled up to the area it crawled up into a tree and stayed there for some time. I (Courtney) was watching with the binoculars where it began crawling out further on the branch towards us giving everyone a great view. It is truly amazing to see how well camouflaged the animals are. Their colours are so bright and vivid in the wild, very different from a zoo; they must feel so exposed in zoos.
After our brief stop in Hluhluwe we headed further north crossing the border into Swaziland. Swaziland is an independent country separate from South Africa. It is also one of the last countries in the African continent that is still ruled by a King: his excellency King Mswati III. Crossing the border was like night and day at first. On the South African side the Immigration and Customs building was quite large and very modern. On the Swazi side the Immigration and Customs building was more or less a shack and no one was even wearing uniforms. At one point a guy in jeans and a t-shirt came up to us in the parking lot and asked us if we had paid our cross-border vehicle tax – which we did – so he let us go. Upon leaving the border we travelled on unpaved roads for a couple kilometers where we reached a sign noting the current highway upgrades. After this sign we were shocked to see how good the roadway infrastructure actually was. The pavement was mostly all brand new and the highways were very large and well marked. One of the other things we noted fairly quickly in Swaziland was that there were a lot of kids and old people, but not too many middle-aged young people. When we inquired why we were seeing this divide we were told that the aids rate is quite high and many young people have died from the virus leaving their elders and their children behind. 26% of all adults in Swaziland are infected with the HIV/AIDS virus (by some reports although there are ones that show a higher infection rate). The average life expectancy in Swaziland is 32 years, the lowest in the world. That said, the people of Swaziland were very friendly and quite cheerful at all the places we visited during our quick three day stay in the country. We had heard about this good backpackers called Lidwala in Ezulwini and so we got ourselves a private room (we earned it after 7 nights of camping). On our first full day in Swaziland we drove to the Mlilwane Game Sanctuary to hike up to a place called Execution Rock. As you can probably imagine the rock gets its name from a time when people who were believed to be witches were thrown off the rock for practicing witchcraft. The hike took about 4 hours round trip and over the course of the hike we could spot impala, wildebeest, zebra and other furry African creatures. After our hike we had a bit of time to explore one of the local markets in Ezulwini. The market was put in place by the Swazi government with the help of some private sponsors to promote local arts and culture. The market was fun to walkthrough as the majority of shop owners weren’t pushy and loved to joke around with us! A nice change from some of the markets we’ve visited on our trip. Later that night we had a delicious authentic Swazi dinner cooked by the ladies that worked at our backpackers. Pumpkin, curried beans, porridge, cooked spinach and roast chicken were the foods that made up our traditional Swazi plates. Before we left Swaziland we decided to do a shorter hike right behind our backpackers known as Sheba’s Breast. This time we had company. The owners little dog, a Jack Russell whose name we didn’t know, came along for the hike. The hike was pretty steep up the entire way and in a couple of sections ladders were affixed to the trail so that hikers could easily navigate the terrain. Dogs don’t do ladders so well so we had to carry our little friend up and down the ladders but he did make it the whole way up with us. On our way out of Ezulwini we garbbed a couple newspapers for starting camp fires and quickly noticed that excessive nudity is common place in them. Swaziland has newsprint figured out! Canada needs to get its act together! After the hike we left Swaziland and drove back into South Africa towards Nelspruit where we would prepare for the next 14 days in Kruger National Park!
We took a private shuttle from Warner Beach to Durban’s city Center to pick up our rental car. Once we arrived and sorted through the rental agreement we jumped in a shiny new VW Vivo, a small hatchback (a bit bigger than the Daewoo). We were a bit nervous to be driving in another country but so excited for our adventure. Lucky for me Andrew nominated himself to drive the car out of the city. I was really impressed with Andrew as it took him only a couple of minutes to get orientated to driving manual on the wrong side of the road and soon enough we were zipping down the N2 headed for iSimangaliso Wetland Park in St. Lucia. It was really fun having our own wheels for the first time in 6 months. We saw a few things that were a bit different than what you would see drivng in Canada. Unfortunately lots of people (all ages and speeds) cross the highway (4 lanes or more) by foot; it’s super dangerous. We then saw a backie (truck in South African) literally stuffed with people standing in the back driving at high speeds on the highway; also super dangerous but props for good economic use of space and what a great way to reduce emissions! We saw a man on an old bicycle carrying a log of about 12 feet in length on the highway. We also thought it was funny that wherever there was road construction women were walking up and down the road carrying fruit for sale on their heads. The drive was very scenic the whole 250 kms, both sides of the road were covered with sprawling fields of sugar cane that was being farmed. They say that South Africa has the best sugar in the World! Once we arrived in St.Lucia we set up our tent, and walked around the area towards the beach. We were happy to be in a place that was safe and filled with families on school vacation. Directly outside the camping park was a boardwalk running alongside an estuary and out to the ocean where a beautiful pristine beach is set. Along the boardwalk and out on the beach were these signs… And behind the signs were these guys... We were super excited to be able to watch crocodiles and hippos right from our camping sites doorstep. Every night before dark we would walk to the boardwalk and watch the hippos splash around, popping their little eyes out of water to see who was watching them. There were always so many, some up on the land eating others swimming around looking for food. Once we were standing chatting with a family and one popped right out of the water next to the dock and scared everyone as he made a huge blow noise that reminded us of a large burp. We assumed he was trying to get our attention; it worked! The second day we took a stroll on the beach, drove to the Croc Center and the walked along a free self-guided hiking trail. Along the trail we saw one buffalo grazing in the fields and some red duikers. The Croc center was very informative and interesting; there were crocs of every size and age lazing around in their little enclosures. The Croc Center also had its share of hilarious signs! We chatted with a young South African couple in the next camp site over who gave us some advice about South Africa and places not to miss on our trip! So far we’ve found that word of mouth is the best way to get around in this country. The guide books don’t really do it justice! One of the couple’s suggestions was for us to visit Cape Vidal, another area in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park 35 km North of St. Lucia. So the next day we headed north through iSimangaliso and had a fabulous day observing game and swimming in the Indian Ocean (Editors note: It’s winter here)! Along the drive were side dirt road loops with viewing points, picnic spots and game hides. The game hides are small buildings designed to allow spectators to covertly view animals in their natural habitats without spooking them. We saw so much wildlife along the way it was fantastic! Once we got to Cape Vidal we changed into our swimming costumes (what South Africans call bathing suits) and lazed around on the pristine sandy beach that stretched further than the eye could see up and down the coast. Late we spent some time walking up and down the coast watching families play and anglers fish. We then climbed up to a dune where we had a private lookout of the ocean with a tropical wetland forest behind us. The parks gate near St. Lucia closed at 6:00pm so we had to hop back into the car and head back to our camp. Along the way we saw lots more wildlife and got to take in some more beautiful South African scenery at sunset. Our third day in St.Lucia we got up early to go hiking but then sat for an hour in the car waiting for the rain to pass. Once the rain passed we drove back to the self-guided hiking trails where we hiked around the area for over 3 hours. At one point on the path there is a set of stairs over an electric fence where the path goes towards the St. Lucia Estuary. There is a lovely sign cautioning people about the area as there is a potential to encounter buffalo, hippos, crocs, elephant, and big cats. Unfortunately (or fortunately perhaps) we didn’t see any big game in this section but later saw tons of harmless animals. In one area we saw countless zebra, wildebeests, bushpigs, warthogs, kudu, wild horses, eagles, vultures, red duikers and impalas amongst other things we couldn’t name. But the most exciting wildlife we saw was this HUGE dung beetle who we filmed rolling a piece of dung the size of a baseball. We have learned to avoid stepping on or driving over dung as dung beetles lay their eggs within the mounds. They also contribute to a greener earth by eating the dung and thus reducing the amount of greenhouse gases that our furry friends produce. Later in the day we headed back to the beach attached to our camping site and walked along it for several hours. We had lots of fun trying not to get wet from the huge waves splashing up the shoreline. The Indian Ocean is surprisingly warm especially for their winter. We spent the evening observing the hippos right near our camp site where we met an amazingly friendly Indian family who gave us their contacts and invited us for a visit the next time we are in Durban. Once it got dark we had to sit in the car to watch the hippos. We were told to never walk at night due to the risk of encountering a hippo.
The next day when we were driving to our next destination (Hluhluwe) we heard on the radio that a parks ranger, in St. Lucia, was in his garden in the evening seeing what his dog was barking at and got attacked by a hippo who felt threatened. The man survived but had to get his leg amputated. The parks people are now observing the hippo to see if they need to relocate him. CRAZY! We really enjoyed St.Lucia, it is a great, small, peaceful town with beautiful beaches, hiking trails, and wildlife. We also really liked sleeping in our tent listening to the lapping waves of the ocean, the crying bush babies and the monkeys throwing stuff onto the roof of our tent! |
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