We boarded the aircraft with mixed feelings. The stage was set for a fantastic holiday. We arrived at Johannesburg at about 0700 hrs. Our rental car was already booked and was ready for pickup. At the rental office, we were pleasantly surprised to received a package.
What did this package have?
The package had lots of information like maps, detailed itinerary, driving directions, maps marked with routes, suggestions about places to visit on the way, vouchers for the Game Drives, discount vouchers for the Bungee jump etc. This was prepared by the executive from Go Self Drive Tours and was mailed to the rental cars office. This package helped us throughout our trip and we are very thankful to Go Self Drive Tours for creating such a detailed information package.
All formalities were done and we were handed over the key of our Toyota Corolla. Our first destination was Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park - One of the Biggest National Park in South Africa
Its the biggest national park of South Africa. Excellent place to spot the Big Five i.e. Elephant, Lion, Rhino, Leopard and Buffalo. We actually were very luck to spot all of them.
At about 1530 hrs we reached the Phabeni Gate. We were staying inside the National Park at the Skukuza Rest Camp. There are multiple options to stay in and around the Kruger National Park. I would highly recommend staying inside the park rather than outside the park. Staying inside the park could be a little expensive but its totally worth every penny.
The Skukuza Rest Camp is around 39KM from the Phabeni Gate. As soon as we entered the Kruger National Park our game viewing started. Even before we reached our rest camp we saw quite a few animals and birds.
Here is a glimpse of what we saw even before we reached our rest camp
A Bird in flight to catch its prey |
Giraffe having lunch |
A roaring lion |
We spent the our evening strolling around the rest camp and had dinner near the Sabie River. The view of sunset was just amazing!
Sunset at the Sabie River near the Skukuza Rest Camp |
Some snaps of what we saw
Sunrise at Kruger National Park |
Sun City - Where the Sun never sets
Its a beautiful resort with lots of things to do. Sun City is most famous for the water park and the biggest wave pool in the world. At Sun City, two most interesting places we visited were, the crocodile century and the Birds of Prey show.
At the Crocodile Century, it amazing to see so many different shapes and sizes of Crocodiles all in one place!
Our Guide Feeding A fully grown Crocodile! |
We also got to hold a baby crocodile :)
Me holding a baby crocodile |
Guide with an Owl |
Vulture detecting that, the guide is holding food from where the other guide is standing in the background |
Colorful Parrots being fed in the open |
Beautiful Waterfall in Sun City Resort |
Tsitsikamma - The Garden of the Garden Route
This is a national park with stunning views. Living in Tsitsikamma was magical. Our cottage was right next to the roaring ocean. In the cottage there was a big glass window from where we could see the ocean in its full glory.
Roaring Ocean in front of our cottage |
This is how we have to slide between the tree tops |
Guy proposing this girlfriend on the tree top. Watch closely he has a ring in his hand! |
I can never forget what happened the next day. Next day we had our biggest adventure of all times! We decided to jump from the worlds highest commercial bungee bridge!
We jumped from the center of the arch. Its 216m high! |