Rhode Trip - Van on the Road

Blyde River Canyon area

December 29 - 31, 2019

We drove the very scenic route through the Blyde River Canyon area. There are lots of waterfalls and the canyon is the 3rd largest in the world. The road climbs up into the mountains then follows the canyon edge. There are lots of pull outs with fabulous views of the canyon. The day we arrived in Graskop, the beginning of the scenic drive for us, was very foggy. You could only see a small part of the road, nothing else. The following two days cleared up and we were able to enjoy the views. We lucked out.

View of Graskop Gorge from our camp site.

Panorama Rest Camp - The lush landscape in our rest camp.

Vincent Van-go parked up for the night.

Panorama Falls - It has a zip line and a bungee jump at the top of the falls.

The Big Swing - The bungee jump from the top of the falls is 68 meters.

The road to Bridal Veil Falls.

Bridal Veil Falls

The lower half of Bridal Veil Falls is just mist.

Lone Creek Falls

Berlin Falls

All of the falls and viewpoints had souvenir venders. They had nice stuff for sale, but we did not buy because there is no room in the van. The cloth for sale was always hanging, blowing in the wind. Always temping, but I still have not bought any.

Pathway out to Lowveld View.

View of Blyde River Canyon from Lowveld View.

Three Rondawels View

Another canyon view from our camp site.

Frangipani trees

Frangipani blooms

Pilanesberg National Park

December 23 - 24, 2018

Lonely Planet describes Pilanesberg National Park as very popular with lots of animals. It is an easy drive for the day from Pretoria. There were lots of animals. It may have a lot of visitors, but it was not crowded. We were able to drive in and get camp sites without reservations on a busy holiday weekend. We saw lots of first sightings for us - rhinos, hippos, giraffes, and a large pride of lions. Of course we saw lots of other animals.

Pilanesberg National Park - View of Mankwe Dam.

Inside Rathlogo Hide - Overlooks Rathlogo Dam.

We didn't see any animals, but there were lots of weaver birds and their nests.

We saw several baby elephants.

For some reason zebras always have their backsides toward the van. I guess they are ready to run.

Our first giraffe sighting.

We watched them perform the dominance dance for about fifteen minutes. Two male giraffes rub necks, testing who is more dominate. It looked like a dance.

I think he won the competition. He looks pretty smug.

Wildebeest

Our first rhino sighting.

We saw rhinos in numerous areas of the park.

Our first lion sighting.

Male lion - This was a large pride of lions that included females with cubs and 3 male lions.

Our first cheetah sighting - 2 cheetahs resting in the shade. They were pretty close to the road. One had a tracking collar on.

Our first hippo sighting. There were about 10 - 15 of them feeding on the bank of the reservoir.

When we spotted the hippos the next day, they were all in the water.

Big yawn. This guy was just waking up from a nap.

Hippo argument.

Drakensberg Mountains

December 16 - 21, 2018

We visited several reserves and national parks in the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa. The weather was cool and we had thunder and lightening every evening. It was a welcome change from the heat. The mountains were so lush and green which was also a welcome change. Wish we had more time to spend in the area.

Castle Garden Reserve

View from our camp site.

Hermits Wood Camp Site in Castle Garden Reserve.

Miambonja River near our camp site.

Watching afternoon storm rolling in.

Another view of the mountains surrounding our camp site.

The storm rolled through and then we had really good evening light.

Evening view.

Road into Lotheni Nature Reserve.

Road to Lotheni Camp Site.

View of the mountains after the evening storm had rolled through.

Our camp site at Lotheni.

View along the horrible dirt road out of Lotheni Nature Reserve heading toward Royal Natal NP. The road was so bad our back up camera screen fell off the windshield. We now use a bungee cord to hold it in place. We will have to find a place to get it repaired somewhere down the road.