24 January 2008    to      27 January 2008

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We decided to take a few days off and do some camping for my birthday at our old favorite spot at Merry Pebbles in Sabie. Coming over the Long Tom pass towards Sabie we could see the area was still in thick cloud. We had had a lot of rain over the past few weeks and the Sabie area is especially famous for its wet climate so we were not expecting anything less. In the end despite some rain we had quite reasonable weather.

The little town of Sabie.

During the winter months the area had some terrible forest fires and most of the forests around Sabie had been destroyed.

We managed to find a nice secluded camping spot next to the stream.

Silvia at her favorite chore.

By now it had started raining again but we decided to spend some time in the heated pool....umbrella and all.

The following day we paid the Sabie forestry museum a call.

It contains some interesting information about the whole forestry industry in the country.

After this we took the road to the Lone Creek falls. I could remember there being a very deep cave along the way which we found. Maybe next time we will explore it a bit more with the right equipment.

Lone Creek falls in the distance.

There was quite a bit of water coming down after all the rains.

The area is covered in dense indigenous forest.

The cliff face next to the falls show some interesting faulting of the ancient sedimentary rock.

We had picked up a brochure in Sabie of this Elephant sanctuary next to Hazyview which we decided to visit next day. According to the brochure you could feed, walk and ride African elephants. The whole thing turned into a bit of a disappointment. Firstly they only had two elephants which had gone out, so the carrots we had bought were not used and secondly they where charging between R400 and R800 for a ride on the elephants. Obviously catering exclusively to the foreign tourist market.

We then went for a trip around the bottom of the escarpment through Bushbuckridge and Klaserie and back around the top. In the distance one can see were the escarpment drops off.

The rivers in the area were flowing strongly.

A short stop at the Strijdom tunnel.

Celebrating my birthday that evening.