1. Gap Yaarhs 7; Back to South Africa.


After a painless BA  flight to Jo'burg and after buying a SIM card for the shit phone we immediately picked up our hire car and drove south of the city towards Piet Retief, our overnight stay. Easy driving through nondescript flatlands mainly, dodging the massive trucks carrying coal from the open caste coal mines ( eg the Durham Colliery); quite surreal landscapes on occasion.

Piet Retief is also rather nondescript although we stayed in a pleasant airbnb in lovely gardens full of citrus trees.


It’s spring so nippy in the am, though 27c by pm.

Back on the road for our stay at the Ghost Mountain Inn on the fringe of the Mkuze National Park, driving through vast agricultural fields and pine plantations. All of the towns we passed through were virtually 100% black and we stuck out a bit when we stopped.

Good views of Swaziland hills when the road curved around it's border.

The Ghost Moutain Inn was a lovely hotel with pools, spacious grounds and a lake overlooking the mountain.
Our first trip was to Lake Jozin, a lazy cruise in the sunshine. 






Pied kingfisher






























Our second was with Patrick, a keen birding guide, into the park itself. We went to a water hole where we were promised some impressive birdlife and so it proved from our little hide on the edge of the water.

We also spent a lot of time by the lake in the morning and early evening watching the light play over the mountains and enjoying the birdlife.


Purplecrested turaco




And taking flight


Impala


Burchell's zebra
Buffalo

Woolly-necked stork

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