12/31 – 1/1 – Tour and Blyde River Canyon
Alrighty, so I know that Bridget and I normally plan and execute our own trips and itineraries. But…Bridget had a long list of wanna-dos that included visiting multiple countries, driving over 1,000 miles, visiting multiple national parks, and staying in places that may or may not be the safest place to leave a rental car (nevermind finding a place to park it!). So, Bridget worked with a trip outfitter (Detour Africa) and built a custom tour to her exact specifications so we’d get to do everything on the list AND have a guide who would explain stuff while he/she drives. This way, we’d get to have our cake and eat it too with the peace of mind that all of the details (most meals, accomodations, excursions, etc) have been arranged ahead of time. Our trip was designed for a small group, and we’d find out the final passenger count when they picked everyone up before heading out of Joberg.
So, preamble over. Our guide picks us up after the amazing breakfast and, much to our delight, we ended up being the only two who signed up, so we got a private tour with just us and our guide! He’s a local South African who grew up in Pretoria (just north of Joberg) and is super knowledgeable about all kinds of things.
He picked us up and we drove to our first stop – Blyde River Canyon. Along the way, we stopped at a place called God’s Window. This is a trail/lookout along the edge of a sheer 3,000ft cliff-line. That cliff is along a fault line and, over time, the valley sunk over 3,000ft below the higher plate, leaving a dramatic, and dangerous, drop-off. Due to the cooler air in the higher country and the hotter, moist air from the lower country (coming inland off of the Indian Ocean), that region is typically pretty cloudy and “misty” as our guide calls it. Visibility isn’t always very good, but we made it there at a pretty good time of day and were able to see pretty far.
The Dropoff
Us :)
This was at a gas station / rest stop on the way over - It had a wildlife are with two rhinos!
The second place we stopped at that was pretty cool is called Potholes. While there are lots of potholes in the road in South Africa (which our guide keeps mentioning as we swerve to avoid hitting yet another one), this is the name of the confluence of the Blyde (Happy) River and the Treur (Sad) River. For whatever reason, where these two rivers meet, the water apparently used to swirl and over the years carved circular formations in the rock that look like potholes or tubes. Pretty unique formations.
Potholes Picture 1
Potholes Picture 2
Potholes Picture 3
Little rascal trying to steal food from tourists...
After all of the excitement for the day, we celebrated New Years Eve with a dinner of Pap and Saus with grilled Wors, cole slaw, and steamed veggies. We were pretty pooped by the time dinner was over so we retired for the night and left the raucous celebrating for everyone else. ☺
Before we headed out the morning of the 1st, we did two hikes around the place we stayed, which is at the edge of the Blyde River Canyon, home to the 3 Rondavels (the circular hut shapes). Apparently this canyon is the third biggest canyon in the world (the Grand Canyon is the top) and was cut by the Blyde River (same one mentioned above at the Potholes area). The longer hike that we did (3 miles) wound around the edge of the canyon a bit and had some spectacular views of the rondavels along the way. The shorter hike was out to a small Tufa waterfall. Interestingly, this type of waterfall is characterized by moss covering the rocks that the water is flowing over rather than by sheer rocks that have been cut away over the centuries by the water. Apparently this water is rich in oxygen and minerals that actually add to the waterfall over time. Pretty cool.
The Three Rondavels (admittedly hard to see though...)
Us :)
Baboon across the valley
Cool-looking plant along the trail
The Tufa Waterfall
After finish up our hiking, we headed to Hazyview and Kruger National Park
...so where did you wind up staying?
ReplyDeleteWe had a variety of accommodations. In Blyde we stayed at a cabin in a campground area. Other times it was more of a hotel. We typically did 2 nights in each place, though there were a couple 1 night stays throughout.
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