We weren’t very sorry to say goodbye to Pretoriuskop……it used to be one of our favourite camps but now the staff seem to treat you just like another punter….the housekeeper only made herself known to us by walking backwards and forwards past our rondavel staring on the day we departed, the reception staff went through the motions without any cheeriness and this time it was the Echo Safari drivers who drove around at high speed, moving their vehicles in front of you when you were spotting, driving right up your tail so you couldn’t suddenly stop and racing past you at 60+ kmph…maniacs…they need their licences taken… We met lots of nice Safari vehicle drivers but there are just a few companies who need reminding that the rules apply to them as well as everyone else….grrr moan over.

Our rondavel had not been the best in that the outside table was set into the wall under a cupboard, so John struggled not to hit his head, there was no bedside tables so I had to use the cool box, there was only one space to put a suitcase which was next to the sink under the towel rail and the kettle lead was so short you had to move the tiny table to put it directly under the plug point ……all these things make such a difference to your comfort and the standard was well below what an international visitor would expect….but hey! We managed.

Having said we weren’t sorry to say goodbye wasn’t entirely true because by leaving it meant we were heading for Berg-en-dal which is where we started and where we were ending our safari….but we still have 3 nights there and another 2 nights at Pestana Hotel so 5 more days of safari.

We filled with petrol and found the member of staff both cheery, funny and efficient. Well done to her…. Off we went…the first 60 km along Vortrekker Road were totally uneventful.

The only thing we saw were a small group of elephants crossing the road.

We got to the H3 at Afsaal picnic spot and headed for Malalane. Still we saw nothing….what an unusual day…the sun was out but the animals were not. In desperation we turned down to Renosterpan.

At last there were three big elephants in a muddy pool. Joining them were three warthogs.

We continued down to the main water and ate our sandwiches. There were absolutely no animals drinking. However we watched a flock of Southern masked weavers flitting in and out of their intrinsically woven hanging nests…they were intriguing to watch.

We also spied a water monitor striding across to the waters edge…it was our first of the trip.

Actually in the water was a terrapin.

On leaving the water and retracing our steps we found a very large elephant blocking the road..it took him 10 minutes to browse his way into the bush.

Back on the H3 we passed a social gathering of WBV’s in a tree.

We stopped to to take a photo of what we call our tree….we had sat under this tree whilst Queen Elizabeth II funeral took place….we had a 2 minute silence and then we had opened the car windows and sang both Jerusalem and the National Anthem at the top of our voices, for all the world to hear….it had been our way of showing our last respects to our Queen….So you see that tree which sits on top of a hill in the middle of the wilderness will always be “Our Tree”.

We rested a few minutes there and laughed as a squawking quinea fowl appeared.

We continued our journey, turning up to Berg-en-dal and still we saw very little. On arrival just before we parked the car we saw two parrots hiding in a tree.

The reception staff greeted us like long lost friends…we were allocated chalet 60. We booked on the sunset drive and went to the chalet to rest. Laid outside our chalet was a bushbuck.

We waited for the sunset drive truck with 7 other adults and 9 children all under 10…..but pleasingly enough they were well behaved in-fact they made no noise at all and their adults weren’t too bad either 🤣

Peter our driver shuffled across the carpark, 10 minutes after the time we’d been told to be there…his persona didn’t bode well…everything about him said he didn’t want to be there and would sooner return to bed or the bar…which ever he’d struggled in from…

He did however do a nice introduction and off we set. We saw absolutely nothing for the 10km tar road from camp to the H3….he did call out “ Pumba “ once but none of us saw a warthog and he didn’t slow.

Turning on to the H3 we soon came across a large rhino, which had obviously had a mud bath. Our photos weren’t brilliant because Peter also had a good camera and he positioned himself, in the cab, in the best spot for photos….whilst we were behind a thorn bush…🤣 but he did move a little before shooting off again.

He continued up the tar for 30 minutes….we had seen nothing an hour or two before and we saw nothing again. We took a couple of poor sunset shots whilst racing along…

As dusk fell we came across a hyena den…the mum was laid outside and out of the culvert came not just one or two pups …but they kept coming…we counted 6 in total….a lovely sight.

Next we saw a huge herd of elephant 40+ in total.

We carried on up towards Afsaal and on the left were 3 more rhinos. This time we had a good view…Peter explained the difference between white rhino and black rhino for those who didn’t know….The white rhino is much bigger and has a big square jaw, grazing on grass. The black rhino is much smaller, has a “V” shaped jaw and browses predominantly on leaves and bushes.

A little further along were another 4 beauties….we rarely see this many rhinos in a full holiday let alone within one drive …what a delight.

Peter turned on to the dirt and within a few minutes someone shouted stop…he did..a hyena was walking towards us and crossed the road behind us…but before we could get decent photos we were off again.

For the rest of the dirt road we were jolted around left right and centre… I braced myself by holding the side and the seat in front.

Twice people shouted stop but the vehicle only slowed and Peter shouted out “hippo” and then “genet” but none of us got to see either.

Back on the tar we did stop when a hippo was on the road edge. Peter explained that they can travel up to 30 km a night whilst grazing.

We returned to camp delighted with our rhino, hyenas and hippo sightings but a little disappointed with the actual drive which was far from comfortable or relaxing.

Our count for the day was 99+ impala, 4 squirrel, 1 hoopoe, 99+ elephant, 1 bateleur eagle, 12 Chacma baboons, 17 zebra, 1 woolly neck stork, 16 WBV, 4 warthog , 1 terrapin, 4 quinea fowl, 1 water monitor lizard, 1 steenbok, 4 kudu, 14 vervet monkeys, 5 giraffe, 3 lilac breasted rollers, 2 bush buck, 1 redbilled horn bill, 1 tawny eagle, 1 hippo, 1 wildebeest, 1 scrub hare, 9 hyena, 8 rhino….. not bad for what had seemed like a slow day.

We went to the restaurant for supper then back to our chalet for cards and bed.