Safari Time!
A brief vacation.
Liz arrived in Cape Town on June 28th, and we bugged out for a vacation in the north east part of South Africa. Flying SA Airlink from CPT to Hoedspruit Eastgate Airport. The airport itself is a runway shared with the South African Air Force and the taxi is a long way to the civilian side where there is a small terminal. We were headed to Simbavati Hilltop Lodge. I had stayed there last year during COVID lockdown in Cape Town. Dave and Courtney, the owners of Balance 442 #1 and I were hustled out of town by the team at Balance so we could enjoy our trip and not just be stuck in the hotel. South Africa took COVID very seriously, and as a result their incidence rate is quite low.
Because I was so impressed with this experience, this time I was bringing Liz with me. We were greeted at the airport and transported the 2 hours into the Timbavati region, bordering Kruger National Park. Timbavati is an area where a group of private landowners have removed all of their fences including bordering the park and the animals are free to move around. That means you may or may not see what you want on any given day, but the guides are good and you’ll definitely see something interesting. Within that region there are a number of great lodges, and we stayed for three nights at Simbavati Hilltop. We were incredibly fortunate to have a good guide and tracker all to ourselves and they provided a lot of cool spotting, including a large male lion and his female partner on the first night, and a Leopard feeding on an impala up a tree on the morning of the second day.
We had been given the Mvubu Cottage, a recent addition to the Hilltop Lodge. We were only the second guests to stay there. The travel agent that works with Balance worked a miracle and we got this large and luxurious two bedroom cottage all to ourselves for the price of a normal tent cabin. The tent cabins are extremely nice, and there are advantages to staying closer to the lodge, but the cottage was an amazing experience. Being further from the lodge also meant the night sky was that much clearer and the stargazing was jaw-dropping. If you are two couples or a family with kids coming to the Simbavati Hilltop, the Mvubu Cottage is pretty special.
Getting up every morning at 05:30 for a game drive and bouncing around in a Land Rover custom modified to be a safari wagon for three mornings in a row was about enough, so after three nights at Simbavati Hilltop, we needed a vacation! So we went to another stop I’d been to last year and wanted to share with Liz.
Umvangati House is an amazing guest house in the mountains at the edge of the Blyde River Canyon park. It is also part of a wild game reserve, and we were often able to see zebra, waterbuck, warthogs, and baboons visiting the watering hole across the little canyon and visible from the house and the guest cottages.
The House and Pool sit in a valley just outside the Blade River canyon.
The house is a labor of love for the owners Giel and Lydia. Giel designed and built the house himself, using concrete mixed on site and wood from surrounding areas. He maintains an excellent wine cellar, and will share with you his love of the area. Lydia cooks delicious meals which are served outside when the weather permits. Our time there was relaxing and one night we had the place to ourselves. The quiet was punctuated only by the whooping of a distant hyena. It’s an amazing place to come to after a safari.
Depending on who you ask, the Blyde River Canyon is the third largest canyon in the world, behind the Grand Canyon in Arizona USA and the Fish River Canyon in Namibia. I suppose it depends on your definition of “canyon” and your method of determining size, but it’s what they say around here, so rather than challenge our hosts, I’ll just go with it. It is big, anyway.
There is a “Panorama Drive” which is on the far rim of the canyon from the house, about an hour and a half by car, or two hours if you have the crappy Nissan that Avis rented me. There are various stops where you can pay a small parking fee and take a look. There is no concept of a day pass, and you have to pay at each one. It goes very smoothly if you have cash, but only some of the gate attendants had access to a credit card machine. Guess how I know that. Yep we didn’t have any Rand with us in the car. Nevertheless, the one place that simply could not take our card, just said “its fine, enjoy!” and we were able to do just that. Thanks, anonymous gate guard! It’s a long drive and there’s lot’s to see, but get yourself a better car if you plan to do it.
We didn’t feel the need to stop for lunch because Lydia had stuffed us at breakfast, but I’m told there are good restaurants in Graskop, which is the far end of the drive before you turn around to come back. Giel recommended Lift Cafe.
While at Umvangati we also visited the Moholoholo Wild animal rehabilitation facility. This is an animal rescue that picks up injured and orphaned animals from all over the area. They currently have a lot of vultures. Poachers will poison the vultures because the anti-poaching teams can spot where the poachers are by looking for the vultures overhead. So poachers will poison the kills after they’ve taken the ivory or horn off. This is adding insult to injury in the already difficult and tragic story of endangered wildlife in the veldt.
We’ve returned to Cape Town as of today (8th July 2022) and have checked in on the progress. No new pics for the build gallery today, but I hope to have some good ones on Monday or Tuesday. Monday was scheduled as launch day, but this complex project has many dependencies, and some have been delayed. The new launch date will be either Friday the 15th, or Monday the 18th. I’ll know more by Monday the 11th.
Thanks for checking in, more on the build soon!