The Land Rover blues and the Big Five cruise: Day 28 – 31

Our room at Lion Sands!

A playful cub.

Sundowners on the game drive.

A big buff.

We checked in at Land Rover Nelspruit to give good ol’ Grace a full medical before crossing any more borders. Shane and the team were really great, and made up some brownie points after our shambolic ordeal with Land Rover head office. Turned out that Grace needed some attention, so we left her in their capable hands and each set off to visit our Aunties…Jazz and Robbie in Carolina, and Tom and I in White River.  After some delicious home cooked food, we all met up again to head off to Lion Sands – a real treat given to us by my aunt and uncle, Nick and Jean More, who own the lodge. Seeing as Grace was getting fixed, Nick loaned us his car…we upgraded from a 2003 Defender to a 2009 Discovery – very comfortable and smart (leather seats and awesome sound system), but we missed the banging and rattling of our Defender.

Lion Sands is a 5 star family owned lodge started roughly 10 years ago. They are also looking to get involved with supporting Open Africa and the quest to become self-sustainable by starting a ‘Safari Route’. All four of us had never experienced such luxury and lavishness! We were escourted to our rooms and opened the door to see a greeting message spread across the king-sized beds with reeds and leaves reading “Welcome Tom and Nikki”. We lay there in awe and kind of giggling giddily at how lucky we felt to be there.

We enjoyed a meal for royalty on the deck looking over on to Kruger’s side of the reserve and explored the bar and lounging areas. Just after high tea at half-past three, we headed off on a game drive. We tracked down leopard in the thickets, bumped into some temperamental bull elephants on musth and enjoyed a civilized GnT and wine as the sun went down. It was a Boma buffet dinner at tables around the bonfire with gas lanterns, blankets and hot-water bottles waiting on our seats to warm us up. We went to sleep more than satisfied and still relishing in the glamour of the experience.

In the morning we woke up with the sun rising, and went on our second game drive to discover a mother lioness and her playful cubs, white rhino grazing on the side of the road, and a herd of buffalo lazing the morning sun (always with that curious twinkle in their eye). The Big 5 in less than 24-hours…what a spoil!

We checked out after a delicious breakfast and headed back to White River to finish up with some admin before continuing to Mozambique. A huge thank you goes to our aunty Jean and tannie Sanet for letting us stay and for running around after us while we were carless! We finally fetched Grace, who’s engine was purring beautifully and exterior sparkling after getting a clean…and made our way to the Komatipoort border to cross into Mozambique.

The short sugar stop: Day 25 – 27

Sishebe Rock, Swaziland.

Songimvelo Nature Reserve on the border of Swaziland

We left early and starting weaving our way along the back gravel roads of the Elephant Coast and Maputaland to Swaziland. We we’re surprised by the magical Pongola Lake just after Jozini town lying as still as glass in the valleys and stretching far into the horizon. We passed game reserve after game reserve until we reached the Lavumisa Swazi border. Our second border crossing, into the second of the last three remaining Kingdoms in Africa, went by breezily again, and we were on the road to Manzini in no time.

Swaziland, even though almost completely surrounded by South Africa, has a very unique feel to it. We sensed a relaxed yet organized atmosphere, where the people do what needs to be done, but with a sense of enjoyment. We landed up staying at Swazi Backpackers just outside Manzini, and just up the road from the legendary House on Fire. The House on Fire was the highlight of our short stop in Swaziland for sure…local rural artworks, weaving, ceramics, sculptures, crazy gaudy architecture with creatures and patterns of all kinds faceted on every wall...it was a truly inspiring scene to behold. We were 4 days short of the Bushfire music and arts festival, which takes place every year at the House on Fire, and where people come from all over the world to see local and international musicians for a weekend of off-the-wall experiences.

The crazy and creative House on Fire, Manzini.

After walking around enthralled by the colourful and one-of-a-kind creativity, we stocked up on some more sugarcane, and continued on our way. We passed through Mbabane alongside Sishebe Rock, through plantations and Piggs Peak, racing time on slow gravel roads to get to the Bulembu border on time. The winding roads through the bluegum plantations got the better of us, and we landed up getting to the border half and hour too late! After trying our luck and begging the border past officers to let us through (to no avail), we backtracked to the small town of Bulembu, where we camped on the bowls field of the Bulembu Country Club…right near the border. A nearly-never-visited town, Bulembu still had notices on the wall from 1986 in the abandoned sports club!

We set off at the crack of dawn, got through the border quickly and smoothly (at the right time), and set off for Nelspruit. We drove through the majestic Songimvelo Nature Reserve, another unexpected gem in the middle of seemingly nowhere, which brought back memories of Lesotho with the rolling landscape of mountains, and waved good-bye to the fields and rock formations and mountains of the Swazi Kingdom.

The first beach (with the friendly hosts): Day 21 – 24

A dragonfly we found on the beach.

Following our noses on the N2 most of the way (and passing through about 5 tollgates!), we watched the landscape change from the sparse, dry vegetation of the winter mountains as we passed Pietermaritzberg, Durban and Richards Bay to the tropical and pleasantly humid coastal village of Sodwana.

We headed for the beach, trying to find the closest possible place to stay on the coast so that we could hear the waves. Passing a hippo crossing sign on the way, and countless boards advertising backpackers, B&B’s, lodges and campsites (even though our GPS only mentioned four places – Sodwana clearly an under-explored gem) until we stumbled upon a beach treasure and holiday-makers heaven, AND (luckily) in off-season.

Sodwana Bay.

Inkwazi Beach Camp is definitely one of our favourite and most delightful discoveries on The Journey so far. Marius and Mariette treated us with the utmost hospitality and welcomed us as family, spoiling us on the first night with some of their delicious home-made sushi, and upgrading us to the cabins for the price of camping. We all fell in love with the place – the relaxed wooden beach-style architecture, the sand beneath your feet in the kitchen and dining area, the less-is-more approach and the hosts! We landed up staying for 3 nights. 

Jazz walking along the rock pools at Sodwana.

We visited the 4^th of the World Heritage Sites we’ve seen so far – The Sodwana Bay Marine Park. Paying R25/pp for beach access in the 4x4 (ploughing through the dunes to get to the beach, much to the boys’ delight), we spent the day soaking up the sun and swimming in the warm water, fishing and rejuvenating our inner ‘beach-baby’, and in winter! Next stop …country number 3 – the Kingdom of Swaziland.

The last of the mountains: Day 18 – 20

You could sense a change in the atmosphere as we crossed the border from the land of the Basotho’s to the land of the Zulu’s. The most obvious change, besides the fact that we weren’t in the mountains anymore, was that the traditional huts got more and more colourful and artistically patterned. The South African vibe has a certain electricity to it…only once you’ve experienced it, will you know what I’m talking about.  

The road descending from the Lesotho border was a serious challenge, and by the time we got to the Drakensberg we were all ready for a few days of relaxation. The Sani Lodge Backpackers for R100 per person a night with a four star rating was the perfect place to do just that. The fireplace lounge is the place to hangout when the temperatures start dropping and in the midst of all the people you hear accents and languages from all around the world – a real global mishmash nestled on the foot of the famous (or rather, infamous) Sani Pass. 

A R50 per head FULL breakfast at the Giant Teacup, which is right next door to the backpackers, was the best way to fill us up and prepare us for a lazy day. Egg, bacon, homemade yogurt, milk fresh from the udder, freshly squeezed fruit juice, luxuries like cheese…you name it! Trout fishing in a nearby dam was the highlight for the boys, even though this time they came home empty handed (because it is off season of course).

We all know the Drakensberg is renowned for the Sani Pass – a thrilling 4x4 challenge, but we managed to convince the boys to spare our heavy laden vehicle for the 9 countries we still plan to cover.

After the two days rest a long drive to Sodwana awaited us and we were all more than ready to breathe in the thick salty sea air and soak up some sunshine!