South Africa - Pilanesberg Park

Went to Pilanesberg Park for a few days before going back to Gabon.  Also stopped in Sun City which is at the entrance to the park.  Don’t bother; it’s like a lame Las Vegas.

Pilanesberg is just 2 hours northwest of Johannesburg.  We stayed at a nice lodge inside the park, The Ivory Tree Lodge.  If you are only in South Africa for a short time, the lodge is highly recommended.  Nice rooms, good food and two drives per day with excellent guides.  We got to see wildlife we hadn’t seen in Kruger, including hippos, which were amazing and giraffe.  Our guide Peter tried to get us to see lions, but it didn’t happen.  We’ll definitely come back.

South Africa - Durban

From South Africa

Drove to the east coast and stopped for the evening in Durban on the Indian Ocean.  Very beautiful, another example of the diversity of landscape in South Africa.  The city reminded me of South Beach with the ocean, hotels and restaurants all in close proximity.  The only place in the world that has more people of Indian decent is India.  They were brought over by the British for labor and stayed.  Now they own most of the big hotels.

South Africa - Drive North and Kruger Park

From South Africa

Drove up North through Blyde River Canyon and then over to Kruger.  Beautiful drive through some amazing country; the landscape changes every 100K, flat lands, hills, hugh cattle farms, pine forests, steep rocky outcroppings, etc. The highway stretches forever with nothing in between the exits, yet we often see people walking along the road.  Parts of the highway are adjacent to shanty towns and they have signs that read !Danger Hijacking Area! !Do Not Stop!.  The median on the highway has a wall 15ft high and 6 feet thick in these areas, separating the shanty on one side and a more middle class neighborhood on the other.

South Africa - Pretoria

I met my girlfriend in South Africa on the way back from NYC.  We are spending time and touring around with a friend who works at the US Embassy in Pretoria.

Initially, it felt more like a suburb, maybe in NJ, rather than a country in Africa.  Very clean with street lights, paved highways with signs and exits, nice homes, shopping malls, restaurants…lots of infrastructure.

After I rest up from 20 hours in the air, I start to realize where I am.