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| a display at the Apartheid Museum |
Afterwards we drove through nearby
Soweto (the SOuth WEst TOwnships) which has a population of 2.5 million, and is infused with the history of the struggle against apartheid.
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| modern art in Soweto |
The next day we went to the outskirts of
Jo'burg where we had breakfast at
Heia Safari Ranch - our first glimpse of African wildlife on African soil!
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| giraffe, Heia Safari Ranch |
After breakfast we headed to the
Cradle of Humankind UNESCO World Heritage Site, which stretches over an area of about 470 km2 and is one of the world's most important palaeontological areas, dotted with about 300 caves. There we visited
Sterkfontein Caves, a significant archaeological site which has produced some of the most famous hominid fossils in the world, together with a range of plant and animal fossils. Sterkfontein has the highest concentration of fossils in the Cradle of Humankind, and the latter has produced more fossils of early hominids than any other site on Earth. The most famous are "
Mrs Ples", a skull which is more than 2 million years old, and "
Little Foot", a skeleton which is between 3 and 4 million years old.
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| in Sterkfontein caves |
Sterkfontein has also yielded stone artefacts that are 1.7 million years old, and are the oldest dated stone tools in Southern Africa. At
Swartkrans near Sterkfontein a collection of about 270 burnt bones tells us that our ancestors could manage fire more than 1 million years ago.
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| Palace of Justice, Church Square, Pretoria |
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| Café Riche bistro, Church Square, Pretoria |
In the middle of the square is a statue of
Paul Kruger (1825-1904), a
Boer leader and 5th president of the South African Republic (1883-1900).
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| statue of Paul Kruger, Church Square, Pretoria |
We then headed to the nearby
Union buildings, the sweeping sandstone government headquarters and home to the presidential offices. You can't visit the buildings, but you can appreciate the lovely gardens, which are used for public celebrations such as Mandela's inauguration in 1994.
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| Union buildings, Pretoria, seen from the gardens |
After over-nighting in
Tzaneen, in
Limpopo Province, our next stop was the famous
Kruger Park, named after the President I mentioned above.
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| seen en route for Kruger Park |
Although we only spent one night in the Park we saw an amazing amount of wildlife, as you can see from the photos below.
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| Southern yellow-billed hornbill |
Shaped liked a long, narrow wedge, Kruger Park is 380km long and roughly 60 km wide. It covers ≈20 000km2 and has 20 different ecozones.
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| Zebra |
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| unidentified animal skull, Kruger Park |
Buffaloes are one of the '
Big Five'; the others are elephant, rhino, lion and leopard. The term originates from big-game hunters and referred to the five most difficult and dangerous animals in Africa to hunt on foot.
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| Buffalo |
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| Waterbuck |
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| Crocodiles |
The night we spent in the Park was at Olifants Camp, which overlooks the beautiful
Olifants River.
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| Olifants River, evening |
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| Olifants river with the morning mist |
South Africa has more than 800 species of birds, including the world's largest bird - the ostrich - and the smallest raptor - the pygmy falcon.
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| Dark-capped bulbul |
Elephants, white rhinos and hippos are the world's three largest land mammals.
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| Bull? Elephant |
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| White-headed vulture |
Roller birds, like the
lilac-breasted one pictured below, get their name from their tendency to 'roll' from side to side during flight to show off their plumage.
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| Lilac-breasted roller |
Rhinos aren't actually named for their colour, but for their lip shape: 'white' come comes wijde ('wide'), the Boers term for the fatter-lipped white rhino.
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| White rhino |
Hippopotamuses can weigh from 500 to 3000 kg and be 3-4 metres long. They spend their time in or near water, chewing on aquatic plants.
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| a hippo's yawn |
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| Wildebeest |
The
Kori bustard is considered to be the heaviest flying bird in the world.
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| Kori bustard |
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| part of the Drakensberg Escarpment |
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| part of the Drakensberg Escarpment |
Blyde River Canyon is the third largest canyon in the world (after
Fish River Canyon in Namibia and the USA's
Grand Canyon), and is one of South Africa's most outstanding sights. It is 26 km in length and on average is around 762 m deep. One of the best views in the whole Canyon is of the "Three Rondavels", huge, round rocks, thought to be reminiscent of indigenous huts known as '
rondavels'.
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| Three Rondavels, Blyde River Canyon |
For another fabulous view we headed to
God's Window, where cliffs plunge 700 m down to the
lowveld landscape below.
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| view from God's Window |
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| Red agave flowers, God's Window |
We also stopped briefly at nearby
Pilgrim's Rest, a late-19th century gold rush town that has been preserved more or less in its original state.
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| main street, Pilgrim's Rest |
Next we headed to
Swaziland, where we spent a night near
Manzini and stopped the next day at Nisela Safaris, a small private reserve near Swaziland's southern border.
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| a spiral-horned male nyala |
There we saw warthogs and
nyala antelopes, and admired the traditional Swazi 'beehive' accommodation.
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| Swazi beehive hut |
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| road sign, Swaziland |
On leaving Swaziland we headed for the coast, where we were going to spend two nights at
Sodwana Bay in order to go
scuba-diving.
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| note "Beware of hippos and crocodiles" as well as sharks! |
Sodwana Bay is recognised as one of South Africa's best dive sites, and is the only tropical dive site in the country. The 50 km reef complex (believed to be the most southerly coral reefs in the world) boasts around 95 species of hard and soft coral, sponges, other invertebrates and around 1200 fish species. It attracts 35 000 scuba divers every year. 700m deep valleys, and underwater canyons, are spread over a distance of 2km.
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| our dive club's set-up on Sodwana Bay Beach |
Rare
coelacanths were sighted here in 2000 (for more about coelacanths see my blog post
here). Sodwana Bay is part of the
iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site which stretches for 220km south from the Mozambique border.
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| because of the surf boats have to be launched using tractors |
I was somewhat apprehensive about the water temperature, but at 23-24°C the sea was warmer than the air temperature of 20-21°C!
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| looking out to sea, Sodwana Bay |
The majority of the reefs are named after their distance from the launch area, and we did two drift dives on 2 Mile Reef at 'Bikini' and on Southern 2 Mile at 'Caves & Overhangs'.
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| map of 2 Mile Reef dive spots |
Bikini has an average depth of 18 metres and is considered an advanced dive site. It's an important cleaning station on the reef complex, but bigger visitors (sharks, dolphins, whales, mantas) can also be seen on occasion, although we didn't spot any on our dives.
We saw a potato bass, crocodile fish, leaf fish and moray eels as well as nudibranchs.
Caves and Overhangs has an average depth of 13 m, and a maximum possible of 17 m. We saw a hawksbill turtle, a blue-spotted stingray, triggerfish and scorpionfish, amongst other things.
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| traditional village, Kwazulu-Natal |
Leaving the coast we drove inland through Kwazulu-Natal to
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park. Although one-twentieth of the size of Kruger Park, Hluhluwe has plenty of wildlife, and its size makes it somewhat more accessible. It's renowned for its rhinos, and we certainly saw plenty of them!
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| white rhinos |
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| wildebeest |
The area was once the royal hunting grounds of
King Shaka and the Zulu kingdom, but was established as a modern-day park in 1895.
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| male warthog |
Our accommodation was at the unfenced Mpila Camp in a safari tent.
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| safari tent, Mpila camp, Hulhluwe |
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| night sky, seen from Mpila Camp, Hluhluwe |
As the camp is unfenced the Park's animals can wander around, and several hyenas came to see us that night - I had never realised how big they are!
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| hyena, Mpila Camp, Hluhluwe |
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| African wild dog |
One of the best sightings of our whole trip was on our last day in South Africa, on leaving Hluhluwe the next morning, when we saw a female cheetah and two cubs walking by the side of the road!
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| female cheetah, Hluhluwe Park |
If you enjoyed this post you might also like:
Suggested reading:
- Disgrace: A Novel by JM Coetzee explores the downfall of one man and dramatizes with unforgettable, almost unbearable vividness the plight of South Africa - a country caught in the chaotic aftermath of the overthrow of Apartheid.
