Africa Adventures, Day 16-17: The Road to Kruger

After returning to Jo'burg we headed up north to Pretoria, the "Executive" capital of South Africa. The day turned out to be rather rainy, so we didn't go out a whole lot. However, I bought the hottest striped shirt ever and that made up for the rain. It was so hot that when I put it on I had to get my own phone number.

From there it was time to head east. Kruger was a ways away - far enough that we would stop overnight twice before entering the park.

Luckily there are some interesting scenic areas to visit along the way. We took a route called the "Panorama Route", which has some of the best views in South Africa. I was quickly running out of memory on my cards and did not take as many photos as I wanted, so things are a bit sparse through here.


There is a trio of waterfalls outside of Sabie: Lone Creek (shown here), Bridal Veil and Horseshoe. We checked out all three. Lone Creek is extremely easy to access, Bridal Veil slightly more difficult and Horseshoe is a major pain in the you-know-where.


This is a shot from the Mac Mac Pools. A slow-moving stream in this area provides plenty of areas for wading and relaxing.


This looks like something you'd see in Utah, but it's actually the Bourke's Luck Potholes.

One thing I wish I had taken pictures of but didn't was "God's Window" - a wonderful view of the Mpumalanga province. Highly recommended if you're in the area.

We were running out of time and wanted to get to the edge of Kruger before dark so we headed out, only to encounter the worst rainstorm I have experienced in my entire life. I had the wipers on their highest setting and they couldn't keep up. I was tempted to pull over but I had the good fortune to end up driving right behind a bus, so I was able to follow his taillights all the way to Nelspruit. We stayed at a B&B there, where we heard the loudest frogs in existence. I could not believe how loud they were - it was almost deafening. I never saw one, but we were told that they're actually fairly small in size.