When – February 2024 6th – 10th @ 7.30am
TRANSPORT
Flight 1 – from Hong Kong to Johannesburg with Cathay (airmiles) – 1 piece 23kg – 13 hrs
ACCOMMODATION – It was an organized tour with ‘Safari With Us’ – a 5-day budget safari.
Night 1 – Rissington Lodge
Night 2 – 4 – Kruger Adventure Lodge.
Day 1 – February Tue 6th – Airport to Rissington Lodge
I arrived in Johannesburg at 7.30 am …eek Safari time!! Ok, so I need to remember not to make this so, so long but I might not be able to help it haha!! So tuck in with a cup of tea 🙂 After arriving at the airport, I went through immigration (no hassle and quick enough), got the bags, also quick enough, and went to the exit. Sakura from Safari With Us was standing there with a sign with my name on it. She was so lovely, in a beautiful blue turquoise dress, all smiles and had fab beads in her hair! I was getting the transfer at 10.30 so I stayed at the airport for a few hours. I got a SIM card, MTB, 10 GB, valid for 30 days, and was about 20 euro. There were many different types of sim options. Then I went to get money out of my “global” HSBC card which did not work. I tried many times and had no luck. Thankfully, I found my Irish bank card which worked no problemo! Most places do take credit cards, even in the lodges but it is a good idea to have cash handy. I had a lovely coffee in the YOLO cafe there while waiting.
I got the transfer with Lime Time to White River, it took five hours and there were 12 of us in the minivan. It was air-conditioned and comfortable enough. The roads were really good and I was taking naps and reading the whole way. We stopped for a ten-minute break for the toilet and food/snacks/drinks etc, all good! I met two lovely ladies, they both lived here and both gave me their names and numbers in case I got into any trouble or needed help/advice about anything. One lady even offered that I could stay with her if my accommodation was not ok haha, amazing!! This man drove me to my accommodation from White River, about a 40-minute drive with beautiful landscape and macadamia nut trees everywhere!!
Rissington Lodge – what can I say, it was absolutely stunning, how was this a budget accommodation?! It was beautiful there. I got there about 4 pm, greeted by a lovely lady who gave me a fresh lemonade welcome drink and showed me to my room! I got a free upgrade to a superior room and it was superior. I didn’t know what to expect but this was lovely. I had a balcony, a view of the pool, trees, gardens, and all the greenery. There was a massive shower with all the supplies, a huge double bed that was SO comfy, air-con, a fridge, a kettle, and even an ESPRESSO machine haha with tea, coffee, and biscuits. Then she pointed out the massive decanter of free sherry. I first thought of Nana, and how she always loved a sherry in her lovely little glass! So of course I had one in her honor lol! There was wifi and honestly, everything you needed!
I got settled in, had a long shower and scrub, got into my swimsuit, and went for a swim in the pool. It was lovely. You just look out into nature, it was so peaceful. I sat there for a while and then I went up to the restaurant to write a bit and had a beer. Back to room, quick change, and down to dinner for 7 pm. The menu was great, with three options for starter, main, and 5 choices for dessert! All included too. I opted for the smoked mackerel with salad, then the lentil and pepper curry (omg divine, piping hot and all the spices were amazing! Poppeadoms and dips came with it too!) Then for dessert, I went for fruit salad and ice cream! It was really quiet around, there were a few old couples which I was eves dropping on a bit lol. I was happy to chill tonight and get an early night. I went back to the room, watched a little documentary on Netflix, and fell asleep by 9.30 pm! Conked.
Day 2 – February Wed 7th – Rissington – Kruger Adventure Lodge – Evening Safari
I woke up at 7.30 and went back to sleep till 8.30. I had an amazing sleep. The bed was so comfy, I could’ve had another few hours haha! I got up and got myself ready, did a little stretch, and went down for brekkie at 9.30 am. Again amazing, you can order from the menu as well as help yourself to the breakfast buffet which includes fruits, yogurts, cereals, breads, scones, all the spreads, quiches, salad, everything. And the coffee, I think I got a liter of the perfect French-pressed coffee for myself. Spoiled. They had this nice homemade bread, it was like Madeira cake but tougher and chewy, amazing with butter on it!
Then @ 11 am, I checked out and got a transfer in a big 4×4 with two men. Only a 10-minute drive to Kruger Adventure Lodge. It was behind a wooden gate, like Laytown, in Ireland where we used to go when we were kids! Checked in and sat in the lobby for a bit while waiting for my room to be ready. I got my itinerary which looked great. A mix of chill and safari drives! Exciting.
I checked into my room at around 1 pm. It was also lovely but not as nice. There were fans in the main area but no air con (the air con was in the rooms though). Also, the Wifi only worked in the main area. It was so, so hot today, 38 degrees, and the electricity kept cutting off. The room was cute, it had everything you needed, although no fridge, which would have been handy to keep things cold. You have a private bathroom too. I chilled for a few hours and read my book (Strange Sally Diamond)! I got ready for my first Safari in Kruger, woo hoo. We left at 3.30.
There were only three of us on this Safari, myself and a Polish couple. It was a very short one this evening – left at 3.30 and back by 6.30 and it takes 20 minutes to drive to the Phabeni gate from our lodge. It was great though. We saw zebras, impalas, elephants, and giraffes. I took lots of pictures. Wow, the park is so huge and vast. The whole of the UK can fit into it haha!! It was extremely hot today, in the high 30s but there was a nice breeze the the truck was driving. We were back at 6.30. Hazyview seemed quite active but we were not allowed to walk around it at all. The electricity in the lodge was going on and off again. I went in for dinner at 7 pm as they were doing a braai (a South African BBQ) for dinner and we had to be there at 7 pm. It was chops, a little salad, and some polenta mashed up. It was grand. I had a beer with it and then I was dining in the dark, electricity cut. It came back on a few times in between. I went back to the room at 8 and had a cold shower. Watched some things and read and went to sleep around 10 pm.
Day 3 – February Thur 8th – Safari Sunrise – Lunch – Safari Afternoon – Lodge
I woke up at 4.45 am, I got myself up and ready for the long Safari Day ahead. What a day it was. We set off to Pubani gate, a 20-minute drive away. There were five of us today, the Polish couple and a nice couple from Wales. We saw loads of animals, giraffes, elephants, and zebras all up close. The dogs/hyenas were vicious-looking. We also saw a lion but it was far away sitting under a tree so I needed to use my binoculars there. We drove for hours and had no more luck with the lions.
We stopped at a campsite called Skukuza Rest Camp at 8.30 am to have our packed brekkie. It was great. I strolled around the campsite and it was on the water, there was a big supermarket, which had lots of snacks, even a dairy milk mint chocolate haha. There were lots of places to sit and a few restaurants dotting around. They had a cute swing too. I took some pictures and back to the truck after 30 mins. We continued driving and dropped the Welsh couple off at a different gate because they had a flight to catch. We saw more herds of elephants, giraffes, and zebras crossing the road.
We stopped for lunch at 12, I still had some brekkie left so I got a coffee and water. There were loads of monkeys around the place. It was a really cute place, smaller than the other one but still nice. It had shops too and I bought a pair of leather boots (55 euros) and a book about safari animals! I also got some biltong! We drove around for many more hours and we got back to our lodge at 3.30 pm. I had some food then and sat in my room for a few hours reading and writing 🙂 It was so hot so I needed the aircon! I didn’t even take advantage of the pool today, whoops! I went for dinner at 8 pm. We could order from the menu so I got this grilled chicken salad and salty lentil soup, it was nice though. Dessert was fruit crumble and ice cream and I had a wine. The wifi wasn’t great so I couldn’t ring anyone. I went back to the room at 9.30 pm, watched some stuff on my iPad, and went to sleep at about 11 pm. There wasn’t much atmosphere at the lodge but that was ok, I was happy to relax and catch up on a few things.
Day 4 – February Fri 9th – Panorama Route – Sabi Sands Safari – Lodge
Up at 7 am, I got ready for my full-day trip around the panorama route and the Sabi Sands safari. Brekkie at 7.30, got eggs and tomato with toast. They also had a mini buffet set out so I took some banana bread with me ;0). We hit the road at 8.30, there were only two of us, me and another girl from Morocco, Nour – she was lovely. Omg the weather today though, it started so foggy, like you couldn’t see a thing!! Not even five meters in front. The first stop was God’s Window and as they say, he had the window closed and there was no view!! We walked through the forest for a bit and it was pretty and you could see views of the mountains on the other side. Still really nice.
The next stop was Berlin Falls – a beautiful waterfall that you look down on over a balcony. So funny, the driver was saying could we be quick because we were a little stuck for time, so we flew down, took pics, and back up again, and then he lost his keys haha. It baffled us all for like an hour. We searched high and low and all over the place, even the ladies in the stalls and security were searching. He was so confused as were we…and then there they were hung up on the side of one of the shacks!! Like how did we not see them there haha.
Anyway, on we went again and the next stop was the BEAUTIFUL Blyde Canyon. The views were amazing, a few clouds but that was perfect! It was so vast. We would have liked to stay longer here and maybe get coffee etc but the driver was getting impatient because he said we needed to get back in time for our night safari. Nour was annoyed and voiced it with the driver and they had a bit of a tiff. I tried to stay out of it and then tried to resolve it. All was good.
The next pit stop was the potholes, a lovely path down to bridges and a boardwalk to see the formations below, lots of water, and views over the bridge to the potholes formations below us. Then we headed back to Hazyview for 2.30 pm where another driver brought us to the Sabi Sands area – it was 1.5hrs and we drove into the park for about an hour passing giraffes and zebras to get to the private reserve lodge Ukembe.
Well!! It was soooo fancy! When we arrived, we were greeted with a cool cloth and a shot of brandy haha. The cold water. Our drive was at 4 pm so we had time to walk around the lodge and go to the toilet. It was INSIDE the park, I saw a treadmill and bike haha, needed as you wouldn’t be strolling around the park that’s for sure haha!! On we went!
It was an open-top vehicle, with a girl guide, and a spotter sitting at the front. There were 8 of us on the drive. It was class, all off-road. A different experience from the other drives which was cool. We saw plenty of animals but not loads like, we got close to elephants and rhinos but yet again no big cats. She was very confident that we would see loads but that didn’t really happen. It was still a very cool experience. We stopped for drinks and snacks, also very cool. Having a wine at sunset in the middle of the epaand a bush pee haha. On the way back it was dark so the guide had the torch searching for all the nocturnal animals. It was like watching a game of tennis ha. The group was lovely, from the Netherlands and Belgium.
We got to see the very stressed Chameleon but the guide was so knowledgeable about all the animals and very respectful of what was right to do and not right to do. Then on the way back, she stopped the car, turned ALL the lights off and there we were sitting under the beautiful stars and gazing up in awe. She brought out this mighty laser haha and started to explain all the consolations. Beautiful. We got back to the lodge about 8 pm. A quick toilet stop and back into the car for a 1.5-hour transfer back to our lodge. We saw a hyena ahead of us running on our path. We had dinner in the lodge half asleep and I went to my room at 10. Sat up and watched Netflix for an hour and fell asleep at about 12. Cape Town tomorrow to see Rachel and Josh!!!:)
Day 5 – February Sat 10th – Morning Free (voice of safari at extra cost) – Transfer to Johannesburg Airport
Up at 8ish. A quick 15-minute stretch and packed my bags. Went out for brekkie about 9. I had the same as yesterday and caught up on my WhatsApp messages. Went back to pack up and checked out at 10.30. I settled my bills and waited for my pick-up in the lobby at 12. I was brought to a little shopping square in Hazy View where my main transfer back to Johannesburg airport was to pick me up. I was the first one on and then we drove around to a few more lodges to pick others up and went on our way. We stopped in a cool place called Alzu Petroport for a break where there were zebras, rhinos, and impalas just hanging out in the fields behind the plaza. We got to the airport around 6 pm and my flight to Cape Town was 7.55 pm so plenty of time.
Below is a list of all the animals I saw on the safari – what a trip!
- Elephants
- Giraffes
- Lions
- Leopards
- Zebras
- Impalas
- Rhinos
- Impalas
- Kudo
- Bull
- Buffalo
- Hippo (basically underwater)
- Wild dogs
- Hyenas
- Turtle
- Pumba (wild pig)
- Bluebirds & a Kingfisher
- Monkeys
- Vulture
- Baboons
- Chameleon
- Different types of antelopes
- Springbok Antelope
- Blackbuck Antelope