South Africa: Family Travel

The meal was quiet: the children woke up once on board, happy to find the screen of the plane. Once the light was dimmed, everyone was able to sleep for at least 5 hours (me…) to 8 hours (Jean-Maximilien and his mother)! We landed around 9:30 am.

I must say that I was a little disappointed at times by the service of some Swiss flight attendants towards our children, on our 2 flights when they were quite calm and even other people were less respectful.

No patience, a rushed service, looking bored with having to deal with these “little” passengers. I must have spoken too loudly on the 2nd flight, because from then on the purser took over and served us the best he could with a big smile which changed everything!

The first stage of our world tour started in South Africa, a stage I was looking forward to because of the planned safaris! Our safaris are all in Kruger Park, as private game reserves do not usually accept children as young as ours.

As the weather was not on our side, we adapted our itinerary as soon as we arrived. We took our rental car (a 6-seater Toyota Avenza booked through Holiday Autos with Hertz for about CA$250 for 9 days) and started the drive to the Protea in Hazyview in the sometimes pouring rain.

The road was very nice except for one section, a stony 8km dirt road. We took the opportunity to play a prank on our daughter by making her believe that we would sleep under the stars with the animals, nothing that could scare her more!

It must be said that the region does not show a lot of houses or hotels. Passers-by hitchhike on the side of the road. Cows walk along and you can spot beautiful fields of banana trees as far as the eye can see as you arrive at the hotel.

The Protea at Hazyview is a very well maintained hotel, the service is attentive, the rooms clean and welcoming. We enjoyed the place very much and had only one disappointment, not being able to take advantage of the outside facilities as the view seemed so splendid!

On Day 2, our itinerary included the popular God’s window view road and the Blyde River Canyon but the weather was not on our side.

We went to the HESC (Hoedspruit Endangered Species Center) to learn about different species of animals such as cheetahs, rhinos, antelopes, vultures and some others. A 2-hour jeep tour with the children where we had a lot of fun despite the gloomy weather thanks to our 2 guides. About $40 for 3 adults and 2 children.

The tour ended with a bang, as the baby rhino from the Centre has decided to chase us at high speed. A good laugh at the end which made us appreciate and think about certain local problems such as hunting or the extinction of these species.

We headed to our Airbnb for the night, located in the village of Hoedspruit. Cozy and well located, the residence is in a secure area.

Since we were missing the basics, we did some shopping for the evening and the next day, a few hundred meters away at the local supermarket and in the dark, because it is not uncommon to have power cuts. That day we had at least 4 cuts of 30 minutes to 2 hours!

Note that Jean-Maximilien is happy to see that Amex is accepted in grocery stores… and our Cobalt allowed us to earn 5 points per dollar)!

Close to one of the gates of the Kruger, our host gave us a very nice welcome and showed us our little house for the next 3 days. We were delighted.

Everything was so well decorated, Désirée was really lovely. We have only good comments to make as we were so spoiled and impressed by all the little touches left in the house.

We even did a photo report of this Airbnb (the first of its kind on milesopedia) because we loved this place so much.

We hurried to finally discover the coveted Kruger Park despite the rain (fortunately light but still present). We took the road to Mopani. On the way we met an elephant and then another one further on, many impalas, some Kudu, waterbuck.

On the road between Mopani and Letaba we also saw Hyenas, buffaloes, monkeys and even, believe it or not, ostriches! We left the park on time before 6:30 pm.

Wednesday, back in the Kruger, direction Letaba. The day started well because there was no rain! We hoped that the animals would come out of their shelters more and we crossed our fingers to see the famous Big Five (Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Elephant and Rhinoceros).

Lots of monkeys on the way to Letaba and 4 Hyenas on the side of the road taking a nap.

We had lunch at the restaurant in Letaba village. A well-deserved break after not seeing many animals. The restaurant overlooks a river from where you can see an impala, some birds and a nice family of hippos in the distance taking their bath.

We visited the elephant museum before heading back to Olifants and Satara. A word of advice: look for signs in each village indicating where the animals were seen the day before or on the day itself.

After calculating our time, we had 4h30 to cross the Kruger to the border. We passed zebras, impalas, warthogs and buffalos and had a great look at hippos again before arriving to Satara. We finally had the pleasure of seeing our first giraffe and her baby!

The road between Satara and Orpen was the most beautiful of our first 2 days in Kruger! Herds of elephants, giraffes, buffalos, impalas and kudu mainly. A zone rich in surprises, on the other hand no feline seen, because of the weather, probably.

We ended the day with a beautiful sunset and arrived just before closing time! The bad surprise for Jean-Maximilien was that it was still more than 1h45 drive to get back to our Airbnb! Not easy when you’ve just done an 8-hour drive. Phalaborwa may not have been the best idea for a location after all. To be continued…

We spent the next day at our Airbnb quietly trying to work (many blackouts occurred) or relax and get back on track on Friday. The kids and my mother-in-law needed a break from the car!

Friday, we took the road, and made a stop an hour later to see Tonie and his wife Shirley, who have “adopted” two hippos of which Jessica is the most famous.

You have to know that hippos are one of the most dangerous animals. We often talk about the Big Five but the hippopotamus could be part of it as it is responsible for many deaths!

Following a flood, Tonie and Shirley took in a baby hippo when it was born, 19 years ago, and named it Jessica. Premature, she could not return to the wild, otherwise she would have been killed. Today they have 2 hippos, Jessica and Richie, a 7 years old male, also in a bad situation during a flood.

Jessica eats 80kgs of food a day (potatoes, corn) and drinks bottles of tea. We were lucky enough to be welcomed by the family and their helper, Elizabeth, who showed us a film about the family history and explained how to feed Jessica and even give her a kiss!

A special moment that Alexandra loved and did very well! We were impressed and at the same time touched by this big baby (teenager now) who was sucking its bottle!

Cost of the visit: about $30 CAD.

Next stop, Blyde River Canyon. We started with the magnificent view of the 3 rondavels (3 peaks in the shape of native huts, which remind the 3 troublesome women of Chief Mapjaneng and the highest flat peak, the Chief himself) and the confluence next to it which joins 3 rivers including the Blyde River with several viewpoints to check out. The children had a great time climbing the rocks.

We crossed gorges, coniferous forests and then arrived on Bourke’s Luck Potholes, giant potholes, created by the meeting of 2 rivers (Blyde and Treur), which caused an erosion of the rock, leaving behind them pools or potholes.

A well-deserved “play break” for the children, coffee for the adults, then it’s off again: towards Berlin falls and God’s window where the view is magnificent. The Rainforest also offered us a nice viewpoint (we only went to the first one, as there were many stairs). Jean-Maximilien started to take out his drone to take pictures.

Finally we drove to our hotel for tonight, the Protea Kruger Gate. A beautiful day made of sublime panoramas.

Each point of interest costs from $1 to $3CAD per person. Children under 6 years old do not pay and the opening hours are from 7am to 5pm. Different trails are available for the more athletic like the 4H Leopard Trail.

On Saturday, my mother-in-law and Alexandra stayed at the hotel to enjoy the facilities, including the pool, as the day promises to be very warm and sunny.

We left with Arthur to visit the Kruger once again. We took a long tour through Skukuza, along the Sabie River to the Lower Sabie Rest Camp where we had lunch. Then we went back up to the East side to witness a lion hunting a buffalo on the side of the road. The hyenas followed, then the vultures will finish… Almost an hour of “show” which we attended with 6-7 other cars.

We returned to the hotel at the end of the day after more than 7 hours of driving in the Kruger! The advantage of the Protea is that it is located 200 meters from the Kruger Gate!

The day after, we left this hotel to go back to the park one last time, leaving from the south to reach our last hotel before our flight to Cape Town: the Protea in Nelspruit. We have visited a very large part of the Kruger Park in the last few days!