South Africa Road Trip!

Big Cities, Safaris & The Garden Route

Johannesburg to Cape Town

We go from the big city of Johannesburg to the quiet dirt roads in Kruger National Park, to the Garden Route on the southern coast of South Africa, to the beautiful and cosmopolitan Cape Town.    Our group of 14 travels in the comfort of a 52 seat coach,  and in safari jeeps.  This is not the type of game drive safari we are accustomed to.  Unfortunately the good spotting of animals is difficult,  as the grass is high and golden brown.  Still, the trip is interesting and the birds and animals we do see are special, as always.

©

We come across this small herd of waterbuck, which are beautiful mixed in with the tall grass shades of green and gold.

For the bird watchers, it is great.  The birds always seem to be around if you look.  The first and favorite is the handsome African Hoopoe!

On a trip in 2015 my main reason to go, believe it or not, was to find and photograph a African Hoopoe. Many photographers travel to Africa to try to get a picture of the Sable, a beautiful big brown-red antelope with a face like an Africa mask.  

The beautiful Lilac Breasted Roller 

It has just landed to groom itself after being in the river.  Usually the roller is spotted sitting on a branch, stick or a fence being very still, waiting for the bugs and insects to come to it. 

 The roller is the most photographed bird in Africa because it spends so much time in the same place.  The bugs and insects think the bird is a flower, with all its wonderful colors, so they gravitate to the bird and become its dinner...

The Woodland King Fisher

This cute and shy looking bird is just hanging out, watching us watch it!

Two vultures are perched in a tree; from this side it appears they are looking for a food opportunity  in the distance.

But from the other side it is clear that there is a nest; is it just being built or are there eggs waiting to be warmed and hatched?

  

Finding this huge bird, the Saddle-billed Stork is a treat.  It is very busy with tucking its bill in close, turning its head left and right, pointing its bill up

Opening its bill, closing its bill, looking up, looking down, but never turning to show the bare red patch of skin on its chest which darkens in color during breeding season.

Male elephants are found alone most of the time, this one is drinking from a small stream.

Once he is done drinking and drooling 

he is on the move again!

Following the elephant, we spot the zebras with the ox-peckers tagging along.  The Red-billed ox-peckers are unique looking, with their beady eyes and red bills, and are found on many large mammals.  They look like hitch-hikers taking a free ride!  But they are more than free loaders, villain or hero--vampires or tick-birds?

The ox-peckers can significantly prolong the healing time of wounds but the large mammals tolerate the ox-peckers, who rid them of bugs and ticks, so long as they stay out of the host's ears, eyes and nose.

Unfortunately the time in Kruger Nation Park has come to an end. 

The Kingdom of Swaziland, the next destination, has a breathtaking landscape, with the sloping hills and sugarcane plantations.  A fully independent nation since 1968 with a population of about 800,000, it is a peaceful, agricultural country where ancient and modern ways mingle.

We cross the border back into South Africa and we check into our lodge at Mbabane, Hluhluwe, South Africa.  After checking in we walk over to the Cat Project, on the same property, a rehabilitation center for wild cats: cheetah, caracal, serval and the wildcat.  There are several other wild creatures with this huge cheetah--we are careful to maintain our position behind her, and the creature on the right is wearing running shoes.

We enjoy a game viewing in Hluhluwe, Umfolozi Game Reserve.  Again it is not a big game drive and it is a challenge to find the animals.

The Cape Glossy Starling, so beautiful for a starling.  

There are many starlings in Africa of many different colors; the one that begs to be photographed is the Violet-back or Purple or Plum Coloured Starling. 

Again it isn't about the big mammal, it is about the hitch hikers!  The male Cape Buffalos,  like the male elephants, tend to be loners in adulthood. 

Don't you just wonder what these birds are thinking or have to say to each other?

This time of the year--May and June-- isn't the optimum time to be on safari, as the tall grasses make it difficult to see or photograph the animals.

But needless to say the ox-pecker has a bird's eye view of everything!  Heh, heh!

The Woodland Kingfisher is fairly common but too beautiful not to photograph each time one is spotted!

Rhinos are spotted off in the distance heading towards the safari jeep but they never get close enough for great photos.  

As they approach we can see a baby with the one female. 

There is also a third which could have been a male but Black Rhinos aren't very sociable, so we know  little about it.

This water bird is fun to watch going up and down into the water looking for food.

A Little Egret

 

On a mission for sure!

The next destination is Port Elizabeth, the largest town on South Africa's Garden Route.  The cities and small towns on this trip were just that:  cities with lots of people.  Discovering that the Garden Route was mostly forest was disappointing but the only way to find out is to do it!  Needless to say the cities, the garden route and the coast is not the Africa we  have come to love.

Tsitsikamma National Park is on the southern coast and mostly forest but beautiful and reminds us of the Pacific Northwest.

These elephants are a treat and this game preserve, the Addo Elephant National Park, is an add-on at the last minute of the trip.  The sad thing about it is that we drive the game preserve in our luxury couch.  Luckily the game spotting isn't good, so no frustration taking pictures out of a bus window.

At the entrance to the game preserve there is an area to walk and view the bush in the distance.  If you take a little longer walk, along a trail with a fence the whole way, it brings you closer to the bush and at the end of the trail you step into a Hide Hole.

(hidey-hole, a nook or cranny used as a hiding place)

Once inside there are seats and the view from the seats at this particular time is two very large male elephants! 

Of course the elephants have no idea that we are there!  Watching these gentle giants up close and personal(?) is amazing.

It is very special!

Really big boy!

We spot this big male kudu--beautiful! 

The biggest Kudu ever!

The Africa we love are the wide open spaces of the savannas, and the bush filled with wildlife around every turn, and wonderful people--so we will be going back there in 2020!

©