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Forever Resorts Swadini – September 2022

Name? Forever Resorts Swadini.
Location? In the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve, Transvaal Drakensberg Escarpment.  Off the R531 between the R527 (the Tunnel Road”) and the R40, just south of the border between Mpumalanga and Limpopo, South Africa.
Type of Venue? Self-Catering chalets, shaded camp sites (with electricity on each site and bricked bases on some), basic furnished permanent tents.  We camped.
Time of Stay? Spring - mid-September.
Price Range? (At time of our stay) R250.00 per campsite per night for four persons.  R50ppn for extra persons up to a maximum of 8 persons per campsite.  High season rate, minimum two night’s stay required.
Value for Money? Excellent.
Booking Protocol? Central Reservations https://www.foreverswadini.co.za/ or online, search the internet for Swadini Online Reservations.
Road Conditions? Good condition tar from the R531 to the gate and inside the resort.
Take Along? Camping gear, swimwear, walking shoes, binoculars, bicycles, cameras.
What Can You Do There? Swimming, picnic, putt-putt, tennis, jukskei, play parks and paintball wars for the kids, hiking, mountain biking, boat trips, quad bike adventures, exploring – Hoedspruit and surrounds, Mariepskop, the Kruger National Park.
Other Info? Ablutions clean and user-friendly.  Very well-stocked shop.  Restaurant on site.  Conference and function venue.  Climate warm to hot in summer with more rain than the eastern parts of the lowveld, cool in winter.  Mountain and riverine scenery absolutely stunning.

Africamps Magoebaskloof – Limpopo, RSA – August 2022

Africamps Magoebaskloof - Limpopo, RSA

Name? Africamps Magoebaskloof.
Location? Off the R71 between Tzaneen and Haenertsburg, Limpopo, South Africa.
Type of Venue? Self-Catering, Luxury Tents, sleeps 5.
Time of Stay? Late Winter - mid-August.
Price Range? (At time of our stay) Three-night Winter Special – R611.67 per adult per night for two adults, R275.00 per night per extra adult, R175.00 per extra child (3-16 years).
Value for Money? Yes.
Booking Protocol? Online, https://africamps.com/glamping-specials/ - via Nightsbridge.
Road Conditions? Good condition tar from Tzaneen or Polokwane, then 3km good quality gravel road to venue entrance.
Take Along? Warm clothing, swimming towels, fishing gear, walking shoes, binoculars, bicycles.
What Can You Do There? Hiking, mountain biking, fishing, exploring - local brewery, cheesery, essential oil distillery, Haenertsburg’s eateries and quirky shops, etc.  Warning – some attractions are closed during the week.
Other Info? Shop selling essentials on site.  Climate cool to warm in summer, very cold in winter.  Scenery mountainous and verdant, however the area is home to vast exotic timber plantations as well.

 

The Owl House – Nieu-Bethesda, RSA – Feb 2022

The Owl House - Nieu Bethesda, Eastern Cape, RSA

Helen Martins will always be a bit of a South African enigma.

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Cape Town Road Trip, Klein Karoo, Karoo & Free State, January & February 2021

Cape Town Road Trip, Klein Karoo, Karoo & Free State - January & February 2021

ROAD TRIP ON THE DIAGONAL – PHASE 5

HOME, VIA THE KLEIN KAROO, KAROO AND THE FREE STATE

It has taken me some time to pen the words to this, the final phase of our epic road trip from the Lowveld to Cape Town and back.

The reason is that I lost all the RAW images of the trip and subsequently my mojo for travel writing.  The suspected cause is badly co-ordinated interaction between a pet, myself, my laptop and its recycle bin.

Let me pontificate on this:

  • Ensure regular back-ups of treasured electronic data on your electronic devices;
  • Do not leave your laptop open, on, with a file selected, and leave the room;
  • Do not blindly empty your recycle bin every time you notice something in it, even if you are an OCD, minimalist, perfectionist Virgo.

Anyway, my mojo is back, and I’ll be recovering images from posts on Gesigsboek.  Please excuse the reduced quality of posted pics.

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Cape Town Road Trip, Cape Town and Winelands, January & February 2021

Cape Town Road Trip, Cape Town and Winelands - January & February 2021

ROAD TRIP ON THE DIAGONAL – PHASE 4

CAPE TOWN AND WINELANDS

Heading south from the West Coast area, we were mentally preparing ourselves for the Big City.  We had not been in Cape Town proper for many years, and we were not sure what had changed.

On the N7, the Piekenierskloof Pass and the Swartland offered their own picturesqueness, however there was a large flat piece of rock at the end of the road, getting bigger as we approached – Table Mountain.  Nothing says “Cape Town” more than that iconic piece of granite.

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Cape Town Road Trip, Karoo to Cederberg January 2021

Cape Town Road Trip, Karoo to Cederberg - January 2021

ROAD TRIP ON THE DIAGONAL - PHASE 3 - KAROO TO CEDERBERG

Having waved good-bye to the Karoo National Park, we boarded the N1.  We were heading to the Cape.  Well, not Cape Town directly, we still had a stop in the Cederberg planned, which would mean a little dogleg to the north.

The problem with taking a main route like the N1, is that you know that there is much more to it than the tar ribbon and the dusty road shoulders.  Beyond the scrubland and grass there are things to see, the side roads lead to places full of interesting stuff.  This is what makes travel addictive, there is always more to go back to.  We passed turn-offs to Leeuw-Gamka and Prins Albert and shot through Laingsburg, with its Flood Museum built on the floodplain, and kept adding items to the bucket list.

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Cape Town Road Trip, Karoo NP January 2021

Karoo National Park - January 2021

ROAD TRIP ON THE DIAGONAL - PHASE 2 - MOKALA TO THE KAROO NATIONAL PARK

Bidding a fond farewell to Mokala, we headed down the N12 via Hopetown, Britstown and Victoria West to join the N1 at Drie Susters (Three Sisters), crossing into the Western Cape at that very spot.  Since our home stomping-grounds boasts the Three Rondawels as part of the Blydepoort escarpment, we had to stop and take a photo of their three Karoo-cousins.  We were in the Great Karoo, a much beloved area of South Africa.

THREE SISTERS, WESTERN CAPE

THREE RONDAWELS, MPUMALANGA (KRUGER-NATIONAL-PARK.DE)

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Cape Town Road Trip, Mokala NP January 2021

Limpopo to Mokala National Park - January 2021

ROAD TRIP ON THE DIAGONAL - PHASE 1 - LIMPOPO, GAUTENG AND NORTHERN CAPE

COVID-19 hit us in 2020 and hit hard, it did.  Picture the scene, three trips booked for 2020 ….. Marakele National Park, Kruger National Park, Namibia ….. but the virus said NEIN!  STAY AT HOME!  Which we did, stoically.

Luckily, we had only booked camping and accommodation in the South African National Parks by the time COVID-19 gave us the “nein”, so it all went into their credit system, taunting us from afar.

We started seeing light at the end of the tunnel at the start of December 2020, so we rolled out the map and opened the SANParks website.  So much to see!  Diaries were consulted and an end of January, beginning of February 2021 gap in Lecturing Twit’s calendar was found.  We proceeded to plan a doozy of a trip from Hoedspruit to Cape Town and back, trying to fit in visits to as many nature reserves/national parks as possible, the emphasis being on new experiences.  We begged room from friends, activated our credits and threw in two stays at CapeNature reserves, leaving us with a bill of around R800.00 and still some credit in the pot.  The diesel bill will have to take care of itself (yeah, right!).  We were ready, set to go!

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Mabibi Camp, December 2019

Mabibi Community Camp - December 2019

Mabibi, a place we just cannot stay away from.

A pristine, quiet beach with the warm Indian Ocean lapping the shores, a protected bay that offers excellent snorkelling at low tide, a community campsite with basic, but clean, ablutions and campsites tucked away under shady Milkwoods.

Ok, enough said, no more information, lest the madding crowd start streaming in ………

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Richtersveld National Park, September 2019

19 August 2019

An unexpected visit from a friend from far away resulted in an opportunity to remove a green pin from our travel board. A green pin on the board indicates where we still want to make landfall and plant the Two Travelling Twits flag.

Jenny, a friend and ex-colleague from Stellenbosch popped in for a visit in March 2019, bringing with her the news of a planned group trip to the Richtersveld in September 2019. A throwaway remark contained an invitation for the Twits to join the jaunt. This invitation was leapt upon with alacrity, without any consideration of possible impediments in the way of such a trip – for us, from east to west right across the northern part of South Africa.

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