Kruger, Satara Dec 14th to 16th Satara is lion county and we did hear a lot of them but it was not until we got up at the crack of dawn for a morning drive that we saw them. For the morning drive we had to be at reception for 3.45am!! It was still dark as we set out and it wasn't long before the vehicle stopped and still in the darkness we were able to use the spot lights to shed light on a small pride of lions, one male, three females and two small playful cubs...

Kruger, Lower Sabie Dec 12th to 14th Kaz had been told in camp to look out for a male lion only about 100m from the camp gates and sure enough enjoying the shade of a tree there was a magnificent male just waiting to be photographed, click, click click I went! My window bean bag that Paul had gotten me for my birthday was working a treat for resting my heavy zoom lense on while I could tell Paul was glad we'd invested in a digital (on our last trip to Kruger I'd...

Kruger, Berg -en-Dal Dec 11th to 12th After gladly leaving Nelspruit we headed into Kruger all packed up through the Malelane Gate. Formalities at the gate were short and even before we reached the gate we crossed the Crocodile River and spotted one huge croc basking in the sun on a grassy bank! About 50m past the gate we then spotted two White Rhino by the side of the road, animal spotting was going well but surely it would't be this easy!!On our drive to Berg-...

The Essentials in Nelspruit After a long drive and a lot of road works we arrived in Nelspruit to a power cut and Nelspruit Backpackers which I don't recommend to anyone!! It was very laid back and close to the local shopping centre where we'd get what we needed but the rooms wheren't so clean and the showers not hot and definitely not clean - sleeping on the bed felt like an adventure!! That evening power did come back on and we walked up to the local laundry a...

The Royal Kingdom of Swaziland (Dec 8-10) We left Dundee in the same weather as we'd entered it, in the rain and headed for the border into Swaziland at Mahamba. As we approached the border I was a little bit nervous, Kaz and Dave were sorted now but would there be any issues on the Swazi side with the vehicle, thankfully as it turned out everything went very smoothly. Paul had to pay 50 rand in road tax which was the only formality for Kal, they weren't really ...