South west safri Africa day 1-5

Arriving in Johannesburg we stayed in a very basic hostel, Backpacker Ritz it was the recommended  by our Acacia tour as this was where our pre departure meeting was taken place and our tour was leaving from.

We had 2 days before our tour left and our first thoughts where to lock ourselves away in our room as we had been told how rough it was, well we where pleasantly surprised, we where in walking distance to a shopping mall which was very Americanised, in fact the whole place had a bit of a US feel to it. I was told not to even were my plain silver ring, which seems a bit silly know as I was walking next to ladies dripping in diamonds carrying every designer bag you can think of. So we felt very safe.

We still didn’t do much in those first two days though, we relaxed by our pond like swimming pool, had a few lovely meals and went to the cinema, which might seem a little strange to do while in Africa and we should be out seeing the sights, but we knew we would see them when our tour started.

Day 1- we set off on our first day with our new tour group at a very reasonable 7am (I say reasonable due to the outrageous early starts we have had). It was a full day driving out of Johannesburg and at 4pm we arrived in the middle of nowhere in a bush campsite called Nkwathle view in Hazyview just outside of Kruger national park.

Our camp

Outside toilet

outside shower

Camp Bar

 We had the most amazing night with a culture show put on for us, which consisted of very ripped men doing some very funky dancing and some ladies singing in the back ground, around a roaring camp fire. We had some traditional African food laid on which was actually very yummy, Chicken stew, sweet potato, chicken liver, maize (which was a lump of white stuff) and lots more.  First night in the tent was slightly challenging, the thin like yoga matt’s are not the most luxurious but I knew it wasn’t going to be the Ritz. 

 Day 2- The next day was our first Safari in Kruger Park, we dragged our cold stiff body out of the tent at 4.45!!!! but the sun rise was worth it. 

sunrise in Kruger

The full day safari was very successful a grand total of 27 species of animals birds and reptiles and 4 out of the 5 big five, the leopard was nowwhere to be seen :(.  The Lion that walked right up to our jeep was a definite highlight of the day. That night we had the best BBQ around the campfire….. antelope steaks are the best! 

best site that day

so close..maybe to close

 

chilling in the shade

 

still to close

Day 3- We Drove, drove and drove some more. Camped next to a very questionable truck stop with a lot of drunk Africans, called the big fig Inn. Matt was on cooking duty with his team and dinner actually turned out to be a success. Truck duties where taken very seriously, we where split into teams of 3 people unless your Matt which was in a team of 2, there is a roaster that you follow. The following are the jobs that are on the roaster and in my opinion of best to worst.  Job 1 Day off: well obviously this is the best day to have, but you do have some degree of guilt watching everyone do their jobs. Job 2 Truck cleaning: This should be done twice a day but most likely once, its your responsibly to make sure the coolers have ice for the drinks, it must be swept and rubbish taken off. Job 3 packing: your job is to get all the tables, chairs, tents, cooking equipment, food on or off the truck… (Sucks if it is a 5am start). Job 4 cooking: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast was not so bad, put the kettles onto boil, put some bread in the frying pan to toast. Lunch manly consisted of cutting up some cheese and tomatoes for sandwiches and maybe a salad if you can be arsed and anything left over from last night’s dinner. Dinner was the worst meal, you started to prepare it around 6 and ate around 8.30pm so it took up really your whole evening while everyone else is having a good time drinking. Job 5 washing up: the worst one by far. You had to wash up breakfast lunch and dinner, you would have wash up for 16 including the drivers and guide and all the thousands of pots you used for cooking dinner…nightmare!

Day 4- Another long day of driving but we did cross from South Africa into Botswana, We stopped on the side of the road and had hot dogs which was a tad strange, and if you needed the loo it was into the bush you went, which I was not a fan off. 

lunch on the side of the road

That night we stayed in a campsite called Elephant sands, which had a bar around a watering whole. So there we sat until very late waiting for wildlife to appear but unfortunately nothing big turned up, only some very large dear like animals. It was my night to cook dinner but the chicken had gone off so the campsite put us on a very nice spread. That night was the first night I had a goodnight sleep, it could be something to do with the big pillow I picked up in a shopping mall.

camp

water hole

 

 Day 5- The drive today was our shortest yet, along the way we saw a lot of elephants on the side of the road which was pretty cool. We pitched up our tents at Thebe lodge in Kasane and we had an afternoon sunset boat cruse down the Chobe river. It was AMAZING I think I preferred this to our safari ride. It did turn into a bit of a booze cruise, Matt and I went upper class and shared a bottle of red out of our camping tin cups…classy! We sore a million elephant, Hippos, crocks, giraffes, buffalo to name a few.  We watched a whole herd of elephants cross the river. It was the best day and we are both glad we decided to do the tour despite our reservations, even though I have not had a warm shower in days, my head feels like an ice block during the night, and the early starts. It is all made up by great company, wildlife and just generally great adventure and its only day 5!!. 

Elephants crossing

us on the Chobe river

Mr Hippo

Sun set on the river

Dusk