Cape Town ✅, Garden Route ✅ and onto the Panorama Route ✅. From here we’ll be headed to Durban ⬜️ and into the Drakensburg Mountains before finishing out our time in South Africa in Johannesburg ⬜️. Two of our three weeks in South Africa behind us. So far, count us impressed!
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This 3rd leg of our trip took us into the Mpumalanga Province which is where you’ll find the Panorama Route. We flew into Johannesburg from Port Elizabeth (still sick to our stomachs quite literally, but on the mend) and drove 4 hours to Graskop where we spend three nights.
The Route itself is doable as a single day of visiting sights, but as we’ve been trying to go a tad bit slower everywhere we visit, we spent three nights in Graskop close to the Route’s main sights and another two nights in Hazyview which is closer to Kruger National Park. Spending two nights in Hazyview allowed us a few things (1) being closer to Kruger where we spent a day on a game drive (2) spending time in a slightly bigger town (3) enjoying a really special lodging experience.
Our first day of sights on the Panorma Route was full of waterfalls, or as David enjoyed saying, "it’s a day of falling for you honey" (I know, I know and I can imagine the kids are really missing their Dad right now too 🙄). The landscape for waterfalls is really different from what we’re used to back in the US / California. These falls are below you when you visit, not above you and that’s mainly because this area is a big canyon with different sights and views to enjoy. In fact, the The Blyde River Canyon area is one of the largest canyons on earth, Wiki says: The Blyde River Canyon is a 26 km long Canyon … It is one of the larger canyons on Earth but much smaller than those of Asia, the Grand Canyon and the Fish River Canyon. Unlike the Grand and Fish River Canyon, the Blyde River Canyon is a "green canyon" which is dominated by subtropical vegetation.
Day 1 Waterfalls: Berlin Falls, Lisbon Falls and oh, one non-fall stop called “God’s Window” which also had a small rainforest.
Day 2 awe-inspiring stops included: Pinnacle Rock, Bourke’s Luck Potholes, Three Rondavels and Lowvel Viewpoint
On our third day we drove to Hazyview and arrived at Summerfields Rose Retreat & Spa. This was a tough day, 40 min drive, lunch and massages followed by dinner on the Sabie River. Not to mention, the retreat sits amongst a macadamia nut farm and let me tell you, the gluten free macadamia nut ice cream was delicious! The lodging is “high end” canvas tents with attached open air bathrooms - check out the photos, it’s beautiful here!
Day 4 we went on an early morning game drive into Kruger Park. We’d heard mixed reviews on Safari’s here, but wanted to see it for ourselves as it is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. 5am, dark and ugly we were picked up - yes picked up meaning the alarm went off closer to 4:30am - smh. And away we went headed to Kruger and crossing our fingers that nature and the animals would cooperate and show-up. Check out the photos for yourself. It was a good practice run ahead of our upcoming 9 day Safari in Tanzania where there are no tarred roads!
Next up, Durban and The Drakensburgs.
Wow - your "tent" at Summerfields looks amazing. And it is hard to believe that Kruger Park had mixed reviews. From your pics - it looks fantastic. What colors on the sunrise! Looks like you are off to a great start 😃. Can't wait for the "real" Safari pics!
Wonderful blog. Thank you for the update. Love you guys. PS, I see my son’s Dry humor is in full swing and has not “fallen“ into “rapids“. Love the comment about falling for Ilene. I instantly reacted with, “AHH“.