Starting at the coast, going to the mountains, cruising back through and winding around the hills further eastwards on our way towards some more bush-adventures. But the later it was, the more rain came pouring down... Would we make it to our next destination or not?
After leaving the wild coast of Umdloti we travelled further westwards to the small town of Underberg. Nestled on the foot of the Drakensberg Mountain range and strategically located as a border point towards Lesotho, the town is a gateway for hikers, mountain bikers and off-road fanatics.
We arrived late afternoon in our B&B, Elgin Guesthouse. Idyllic and quiet, it offers a few very-well appointed rooms with breakfast. It was another great choice from the planners of African Genius and Joker. We went out for a small light diner at the Grind Café, a pretty good Italian restaurant. Afterwards, Véro opted to soak herself in a warm bad while I tried to update the website a bit more. We had to be ready for what lay in front…
Since we booked the original road-trip based on traveling by a simple 2x4 Toyota Corolla instead of our big badass powerful Toyota Fortuner, we had pre-booked a tour with Sani Tours to drive us up to the mountain kingdom of Lesotho via the infamous and notorious difficult to drive Sanipass. We were picked up from our guesthouse by our guide and driver Frank, and drove to the South African border checkpoint. The last turnoff road sign indicated another 25 km to the border post. The last 12 were unpaved and under serious construction. Eliciting, after the first bump and to the hilarity of the others in the car, a small high-pitched “Wiiiiii!” From Véro.
Once at the border control post, unfortunately, we had to stand in queue behind a – du-uh – big group of Korean tourists, who for once had forgone their tour bus and had chartered several Lesotho drivers with – poor us – Toyota Fortuners 4x4’s to get them up the pass… We were stuck behind them a while, but when they stopped at the first viewpoint, we were able to overtake them. That’s because while they stopped and stepped out to take pictures, we just drove on. Why? Because the cloud cover was so dense we couldn’t see more than 100 meters. No panoramic views or dramatic drop-offs, no pictures. However, due the the somewhat adverse weather (clouds/mist and some drizzling rain, not yet snow), our driver had to help out a fellow who got stuck with his load of building materials on the most tricky and steep part of the pass. Luckily, after some swearing, burnt brake pads and broken towing rope, they could continue up. And so did we.
Arrival and immigration formalities at the Lesotho border control were almost non-existing. Our guide collected the passports of our fellowship (us, another Belgian and a German couple), crossed the – woohoow – paved street and got back two minutes later with both entry ánd already exit stamps.
We drove on for another six kilometers over a blissfully paved and even road under a stark blue sky, since the clouds were not reaching over the top but remained in the Sani pass valley. As is usually the case. We got out of our car between a church and a traditional rondavel hut and were led into the latter to receive a small introduction to Lesotho. We then had lunch at the highest pub in Africa, in fact nothing more than a touristy tavern located at the summit of the Sani pass. Good tourists as we are, we took a traditional lamb stew with rice.
Going back down we received another famous African massage before being dropped off again at our guesthouse. The subsequent diner at The Old Hatchery was a bit strange. Secluded and in almost pitch-black darkness surrounding the restaurant we were the only guests. And although our B&B host had called ahead, no reservation was received. Left us wondering what went wrong. But it wouldn’t be the last thing to go wrong...
We had a stopover planned in the city of Mthatha in our itinerary due to the distance between Underberg and Mountain Zebra NP, our next destination. It wouldn’t have been worth mentioning, except for the fact that I was so stupid to step into a – what expert would describe as typical – tourist trap. Upon arrival at our hotel we were guided by what seemed to be a hotel guard to a machine to print our reservation. Silly, naïve me didn’t comprehend in time it was just an ATM and the whole setup was a scamming to get my credit card details… Only after a few minutes and arrival of other, genuine guards, when it was already too late, I realized I was set up and lost both credit and debit card. Some calls later, both cards were blocked, but only Tuesday (now Saturday) I saw that 4000 rand (approximate 250 euro) was withdrawn. I know that it was mostly due to the fact of me being stupid and me being me, but even with all our travel experience combined, I still got “robbed”.
And since it was only a stopover and even our travel agencies had said there was nothing else in the vicinity but that hotel, we were kind of stuck with our thoughts and this bad experience for half a day. But luckily we could continue the next day towards another safari-drive in Mountain Zebra National Park!
We had breakfast very early in the morning. Actually, the moment the restaurant was open, we were there to fill our tummies and got going. We drove towards Mountain Zebra, leaving all bad vibes behind and dreaming of all the animals we would see. After two hours we reached the main gate and spotted our first wildlife: a teeny tiny mouse! We got a map of the national park and drove to the reception to check in and pay the entrance fee (218 ZAR pp). We then continued to the picnic site to enjoy our crackers with avo (yes, we say it like the South Africans now) and tomato. But some very stupid tourists decided to feed one of the vervet monkeys Doritos chips. Véro couldn’t take it and pointed (some would say shouted) out to the teenager, being a good teacher, that that wasn’t a smart thing to do. Feeding wild animals learns them to associate humans with food. They will continue visiting places like picnic areas to get and eventually start steeling food from humans. The monkeys will in the end become depended on ‘human’ food and no longer have the urge nor ability to survive in the wild. So feeding one little (way to spicy) chip has a lot of consequences. Therefor it is one the main rules of national parks all over the world: don’t feed the animals!
After teaching and preaching good wildlife behavior and a quick chat with the ranger about good sighting locations we finally started our self-drive. We had our route for the day figured out and I prepared myself for the first 4x4 trail of the park. After following Véro’s somewhat misleading guidance we found ourselves among some ostrich and clearly not on track. We drove back and a few minutes later found the right entrance of the trail. The very bumpy road led us up one of the mountains with Véro’s little screams of excitement as background sound. On the way we spotted a few animals but we got even more joy out of the drive itself and the very beautiful views.
We drove all the way through the park towards our accommodation for the night: a secluded mountain hut away from everything except wild animals. Sleeping there was a real adventurous experience. Although it was a mountain hut, it had everything we needed: gas stove, gas powered fridge, cooking utensils, solar power for lighting, a (hard) bed & braai facilities. But what about a toilet and a shower, I hear you thinking… That’s the adventurous part of the hut: outside! But no worries, the mountain hut was fenced so only real eager and fit animals could maybe reach us. But still, when you hear some rustling in the bush right next to the fence, your alert level rises immediately.
After (again) a great home cooked meal we went to bed and were bright awake early in the morning. After breakfast we began our drive in search of cheetahs. But unfortunately, we were unable to spot one. We went adventurous, again, by going up a more challenging 4x4 trail. But even that couldn’t help spotting some wild cats. Not even after multiple “Hier, poesje, poesje, poesje.”. But hey, we still saw some wildlife, such as zebra’s, hartebeest, eland, … and we just really enjoyed driving through this beautiful national park.
From there our journey meandered west towards what’s supposed to be another highlight in South Africa: Addo Elephant National Park. Since we left Mountain Zebra and Craddock quiet early, we decided to still drive the afternoon inside the Addo National Park…
We (but definitely Véro) were very excited about this national park because, well, the name suggests lots of elephants. But boy, did we get disappointed during our first afternoon drive. We knew it could get hot but compared to other day this was just right into the oven. We spotted zebra’s, they just never let you down, and an elephant or two. We were getting a little bit frustrated when at the end of our drive we decided to do one last loop. And lucky us! We spotted not one, not two but three leopard tortoises. It’s quite rare to spot these so we felt like real spotters again.
No mountain cottage this time but some pampering at Addo African Home. They have beehive huts but we stayed at the house where we got also relax in the living room and prepare some dinner in the kitchen. After eating some leftovers (Véro was a little bit too enthusiastic the day before) we played some scrabble. Which was not so easy since the game was set up in English and we created Dutch words (the points per letter are totally off). I was really taking a heads start until Véro overpowered me. My revenge (whether or not in bed we leave in the middle) shall be sweet…
Since playing scrabble is exhausting we had a very good nights rest. In the morning we fueled our bodies with an amazing breakfast in the herb & veggie garden of Molo Lolo, the restaurant of Addo African Home. After some writing, photo checking and route planning we took off for another trip through the national park. In contrast with the day before, it was a feast! We spotted 2 very large groups of elephants, 2 lions with their prey, a monitor, a leopard tortoise, blue cranes, buffalos, ostriches, warthogs, elands, a blesbok, ground squirrels and off course a lot of zebras.
After a day filled with wildlife fun we made our way back to our African home and prepared for dinner in Molo Lolo. We were very curious since it’s the restaurant that employs students from the cooking school to gain their first experience. And yes, it was! We were treated to some very fine dining with a delicious dessert. We went to bed very happy.
