What an adventure. All two and half months of it. What a treat – but then we are retired!
In a nutshell
We drove hundreds of kilometres across magnificent mountain ranges, along extensive plateaus, visited a crane sanctuary, saw four of the Big 5 in a private game reserve, sampled some of South Africa’s finest food and wines, met our new family members again and made so many friends. Oh, and I had an infected wisdom tooth pulled out.
The term ‘the Big 5’ refers to the five most dangerous African animals to hunt. The African elephant, African lion, African buffalo, African Leopard, and the rhinocerous. We saw all except for the leopard.
Memories of the ‘Jungle Book’ flooded back as we journeyed through Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Mthatha, and saw signs for Lesotho and Swaziland. Did we meet Shere Khan and Mowgli? Sadly, no.
Our South African adventure was an overload of wonderment, beauty, friendship, sheer bliss and memories.
Drakensberg mountains
The dramatic Drakensberg mountains enclose the central Southern African plateau, stretching over 700 miles and reaching heavenwards to over 11,400 feet into deep blue skies. We’ll let the photographs speak for themselves.
Lichens Pass
Our return journey from Johannesburg to Durban took us through two villages called Egypt and Bethlehem before driving along the Lichens Pass. Majestic and breath taking are poor words with which to describe the visions laid before us.
One deep sadness
On safari, the wildlife was spectacular but declining at an alarming rate. Poaching, coupled with a strong tourist trade paying high money stakes to hunt and kill for pleasure, are diminishing the animal kingdom at an alarming rate. For some animals, it’s already beyond a sustainable level.
The facts on poaching alone speak for themselves. In the last three years alone, 100,000 elephants have been slaughtered for their ivory whilst the desire for rhino horn from far east countries means the Rhino will be extinct by 2020; the birth rate is far, far lower than the slaughter rate.
Our human race has so much to answer for.
Return to Guernsey
Having spent so much time in South Africa we found it really hard to leave. We’d met so many lovely people, seen so many wonders and loved every moment. Yes, it was hard to leave.
We landed late in the evening at Guernsey’s ‘International Airport’. Stepping out into the rain, we asked the taxi driver to take us the long way back to the bungalow we’ve been lent whilst Play d’eau is being repaired.
We were soon being driven along the coast road. A strong onshore wind was hurling the seas against the rocks causing the spray to detonate in all directions. Very different from the hot South African summer we’d left behind. The smell of the sea, the sight of the spray. Yes, it’s good to be back, back home.
Photo album
From nearly 3,000 photos we’ve picked 182 in a slideshow for you. Colonial style hotels, mountain passes, game reserves and drives, lion kills, exotic animals – the list goes on.
Image captions appear below the thumbnails. Arrows on the left and right of the main images allow you to change photos manually and you can pause and play by the icon in the centre of the image.
So let the photo album tell our story. We hope you like it.
Piers and Lin
waiting for the return of our
Play d’eau
Fleming 55
Amazing! I see you got a photo at the dentist, no 24!
Thanks for sharing these awesome pictures!
Thanks Tim. I really enjoyed taking the pics. The drawback was in carting so much camera kit around – but worth it!
That house in the water is amazing.. And that’s some great wind-surfing Piers!
The house is the Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse. It’s well known for its cooking which was simply gorgeous. To choose the wines, we went down deep into their cellars….
Great memories, thank you for sharing
My pleasure Mike. It was so good having you there for the start of the adventure.
Yet more fantastic photos and more experiences/tales to tell. Thanks so much for sharing.
P&Pxx
These photos are masterpieces and give a wonderful view of your whole adventure. I love them and almost feel I was on the adventure with you. The only things missing are the sounds and the smells. The colours are glorious, the way you have “caught” the animals is brilliant, the flowers are extraordinary, the scenery is breathtaking and the humour is such fun. I have looked at them many times and love them every time. Thank you so much-it must have taken you a very long time to select those photos, but they give huge pleasure.
Lots of love, Hil x x