Hello from Nelspruit in South Africa (SA). Blyde Canyon was good but we had a few wet days; we found the north part of the canyon the most stunning as you can see from the image.
We're getting ready to go to Mozambique tomorrow. We've had great times in SA and also travelling through Swaziland. In Durban, and particularly Anstey's beach on the Bluff to the south, we found ourselves amongst the surfers and had a great 4 days rest by the sea; it could have been Bournemouth in the summer with similar weather and scenery. Went to "town" by bus shopping and also walked by the sea in sight of whales and dolphins.
We left Durban and headed north along the coast to St Lucia and the wetlands reserve. All by ourselves in the "Blue House" campsite. We did a trip up along the coast through the reserve and also a boat trip to see the whales and dolphins. The first day was cancelled by the bad weather, i.e. high winds by the sea, but the next morning we got out and saw Humpback whales and dolphins. At first a lone calf whale and then it later rejoined it's mother and we also saw a large pod of dolphins, all very close to the boat. Needless to say we got wet as the sea turned rough. The beach landing was also interesting !!
From there we went to Swaziland, the borders were straight forward and even managed to get a visa for Mozambique in a morning. We camped in the mountains and had a night of wind and rain with mist in the morning. Again we were the only people in the hostel but it was a brilliant position overlooking the valley. From there we went north to Sabie and Graskop to visit Blyde Canyon. It started wet but cleared and we had a great drive along the escarpment and up to the three roundels in the north. We ended up the day at Hazyview camping in a forest. This was a great site and able to have our first braii of the trip. We then visited Kruger Park cos it was only 10 km away and it seemed a pity to miss the chance. However, it was in the high 30s and humid so it really got to us. We did see lions, kudu, impala, hippo, waterbuck and bush buck amongst others, but not in great numbers that we've gotten use to ..spoilt by Namibian and Zambian reserves I guess. So now we are almost ready for Mozambique and the Indian Ocean before we return to SA and Drakensburg.
To our overlander friends, hope you've enjoyed Namibia and got that adrenaline rushing again with sky dives and dune maddness. and you're still looking forward to a little luxury such as blueberry muffins and good coffee in Cape Town,...so for now adios