We arrive at Kruger Mpumalanga Airport. It was opened in October 2002 on the back of the Football World Cup in SA and as a major gateway to the Kruger National Park.
It is the most beautiful airport. It is international.
We hire a car and check it over.
Impala were at the airport entrance as we drove out.
Stunning scenery as we get on the road.
It is an hour drive to Ashbourne Estate. Nick and Janie have been coming here every year for ten years.
A view from our balcony and Nick and Janie's.
Our cottage room.
Drinks on Nick and Janie's balcony. They come here at this time of year for the warmth, and it is lovely. Janie is driving back to Cape Town - a 4-day trip.
The next day, we head for a self-drive (with Nick as guide) into Kruger National Park. The park covers nearly 20,000 km²- about the size of Wales.
Here are aerial views of Kruger National Park, showing its immense bushveld, rivers and scattered watering holes.
Nick has done this many times and is our tour guide. Look for Hazyview here, which is near where we are staying, and we will be going to Skukuza for lunch (the golf club restaurant).
A view of the park.
First sighting: baboons.
Then elephants cross.
Mumma elephant pushed baby elephant up the hill. I missed the video. You will just have to imagine it. It was beautiful.
Then a warthog. Looks like a male one.
This is a male impala - males have horns, females do not. This is according to our guide.
Zebra grazing.
Then lions, right close on a loop on the side of the road.
The lion on her back. I just missed videoing her rolling over. Anyone up for scratching her?
We saw this later. It was one of the same two lions, now on the move.
Then a campervan stopped to tell us to go back and look at the hyena in the culvert. With her cub!
Sharp teeth.
We arrive at Skukuza. Its in the park but you can play golf in a cart. Yes, those are hippos on that island and in the water.
I wanted to get closer. I did not think Nick and Bill were watching! Bill's shot of me.
I got a few photos. I wish I had left my hat on.
Cute baby.
Hippo goes in the water.
This one from a legal position. Nick and Bill are talking about old times or rugby. I was mesmerised by the hippos. You don't usually see them out of the water during the day, our guides in Botswana told us. They graze at night.
Bill didn't want a photo. Nick was happy to interrupt their chat and said " What? Another photo when you have taken so many?" Good attitude.
We took the same route back after lunch. Kudu.
At the beginning of this video, the impala on the left is a young male, with short horns developing. The one on the right is a female, with no visible horns. The bird is an oxpecker, looking for ticks and other small parasites to eat from the impala’s coat - a travelling meal! The impala often benefits from this grooming, although oxpeckers sometimes also peck at wounds.
The road. (And giraffe, Ed.)
Here's a bit more of the scenery. I wasn't expecting to see an elephant!
A zoom in.
Then giraffe crossing the road.
Spot the animal in here. This is a close-up of the bush too. ChatGPT identified a bushwillow. Plants are obviously important in this ecosystem, and because we saw so many animals, I haven't identified them. Next trip.
Back to Ashbourne for sunset.
Wait for it. This is for Janie. We missed getting it when she was here.
And the three of us - a Point 5. (That is for Anna who taught me how.)
The boys at dinner.
Golf (at Sabie, not Skukuza) the next day. Nick, the winner. I definitely did not get enough shots. They did not budge on my handicap, and they must have been scared I would surprise them. Not with my ankle playing up. Such a beautiful course.
Lunch at Red Litchi Farm Cafe the next day.
And then the final night dinner. Joan, the manager looked after us all wonderfully.
Then it was a flight to Cape Town for the second test, and time with Nick and Janie at their house.