East and West side - SA 2019
"Do you really only know this one country as a holiday destination", - the tenor in our family and friends, when we told of our travel intentions.

Three years in a row and now for the fifth time to South Africa.
This also happened to us in our planning phase in the months of April and May of this year(2018) - is not that much of a good thing.
After returning from this year's tour, was there a big one? in the room, as far as planning for 2019 was concerned.
Started by some nice talks with South Africans, who had recommended us so much to Botswana, we looked around there.
First looked at the climate chart and already it was clear, for our travel time, late January - late Feb. really not ideal.
Next country on our travel list,-
a few years ago, our daughter / son-in-law were in Tanzania, Kilimanjaro, Serengeti ect.
A private tour.
An offer received by the same agency for 14 days .... of which 10 nights in the Serengeti with the Ngorongoro Crater in the comfort class, without trekking on the mountain.
It came out around $ 1000 a day, - for 2 pers. (Accommodation / entrance / driver / car and airport transfer)
We do not want to make any concessions on the stay days, otherwise the journey is not worthwhile.
We love nature and travel, but that's too expensive for us.
Because there would be additional costs for the second 14 days .....

For Namibia and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park / SA we were already too late, as some accommodations,
which we had favored, were booked.
A trip to Asian countries? - very fast was clear, not at the moment.

So again South Africa?
Yeah, after careful consideration, it will be a journey, that covers our natural preferences with 16 days and the other time, it will be on the West Coast, above Cape Town (New Land) - back to Somerset West and the last days we will spend in Cape Town.

The region has the advantage that we will meet our Cape Town friends (who visited us in September in Germany), the wine country is quite close and Cape Town, is always worth seeing.

The pictorial representation of the journey, together with the accommodations:



Part 1:





Part 2 :




Procedure and accommodation in chronological order: - Arrival Johannesburg O'Trambo, continue .....
- Kruger View Chalet 1 N
- Biyamiti Bushveld Camp 3 N
- Lower Sabie Restcamp 3 N
- Satara Restcamp 2 N
- Pungwe Bush Camp / Manyleti 3 N
- Letaba 1 N
- Mopani Restcamp 3 N
- Johannesburg Sunrock / Kempton Park
- Flight to Cape Town - Continue to St. Helena Bay - Mussel Crack B & B 3 N
- Somerset West - 42 on sandstone guest house 4 N
- Cape Town - Beluga of Constatin Guest House 3 N

- return flight


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Traveling on "beaten" paths in South Africa .....


Therefore, there are not many new findings in this travel report, at least as far as the first part is concerned.
The route is card-technically deposited above and was respected until the way back to Joburg, so too.
It is and was just the Kruger, or the Greater Kruger, which we visited in the first days and so it can go ...

The "Suid-Afrikaners" is terug.Full one-eyed indrukke,
boomy, oppressive, ravaging en knus,
what vanjaar se rice.
How wil inkom en ry ......

Afrikaans we can not "yet", as helped a Translater, but some chunks we understand every now and then.

The "South Africans" are back.
Full of endless impressions, fascinating, exciting, surprising and cozy,
was this year's trip.
Who wants to get in and drive ......

Four weeks do not pass by one / us without a trace.
The multitude of encounters with all his topics still has to be sorted, but with the first half, you can start.

So whoever is in the mood for bushland, animals and encounters, jumps up or makes himself comfortable in a chair and experiences a fascinating world, in the eastern part of South Africa.

Itinerary: Map s.o .... Johannesburg - Malelane (Kruger View Charlets 1 N) - Kruger (Biyameti Bush Camp 3 N - Lower Sabi Rest Camp 3 N - Satara Rest Camp 2 N) -
Greater Kruger / Manyeleti (Pungwe Bush Camp 3 N) - Kruger (Letaba Rest Camp 1 N - Mopani Rest Camp 3 N) - Joburg

So get into the first part of our trip in 2019.
Flight from Hamburg to Istanbul and from Istanbul to Johannesburg with extra booked more seat distance, was as always unspectacular.
The better legroom was a clear plus and the extra cost of 75.00 p.P. per section have paid off.
So we arrived quite well rested in Joburg, got our rental car (a Rav 4), stowed the luggage and off we went.
It was still about 480 km to get to the first accommodation.
For a Friday afternoon it went briskly and at temperatures around 35 degrees and humidity, it was not always relaxed.
Also the numerous measuring teams of the police, who had put their radar equipment into position, did the rest, which one had to drive very concentrated.

In short, we reached save the Kruger View Charlets and moved into a room, in the very sparsely visited area.
The dinner, we took in the deck restaurant, - a kudu steak, water, wine and dessert, brought us in the right South African mood.

After a quiet night and still very muggy weather, we went to a mall in Malelan after breakfast.

There we bought our food for the next few days.
In the Bushcamp, selfcatering was announced.
Then we picked up our luggage and drove over the Malelane Gate into the Kruger.
Using the early time, we went to Berg-en-Dal, where an elephant bull blocked our way and forced us to
roll back a few meters to finally release the road.

1.


From Berg en Dal, we continued on Gravelroads, we discovered elephants, giraffes and three white rhinos, which was a very good start.


2. loudly crashing, these young bulls "worked" with their tusks


3. you do not know what you get in front of the lens and even if they were so far away, at least we had seen them before (there were 3 animals)



On the southern gravel road we went east to get to the "private road" to Biyamiti Bush Camp.


4. Giraffes will accompany the report over and over again, because we have met them very often this year, - very often in groups of 5 - 6 animals ...





5. first to see in the sky, then the Marabus settled on trees ....




6. Leopard turtle crossing - since the modern windscreens are coated differently and the angle is flatter, one has more and more difficulty from this perspective to get usable pictures

- Hard to get, not manual .....




7. Duo ...


8. Home for 3 nights ....



After 4 km we arrived at the camp gate and could at the door of the office, take our key for our house from the hook.
Service staff would be back the next day.
We settled in and enjoyed the rest of the sun, then lit the charcoal.
Just in time we were finished with our braai evening, as some rain began ......
All in all, it was early to sleep.

- We arrived now correctly.

------
Here also something for the travel equipment and the conditions on site.
Significantly slimmed down it went on this journey.
A body and two lenses and small items, weight with the backpack to the 4.5 kg, - last year to the 9.5 kg
That was a tremendous relief and I did not miss the second body either.
Everything very compact to handle.
The length range I covered was 12-100mm / Oly Pro Lens and 100-400mm Lumix Lens (x Cropfaktor 2).
The purchase, the used Lumix / Panasonic lens just before departure, was certainly a good choice!
So I got along very well, - sources of error in the pictures are clearly in the man behind the camera to search .....
As in the last year, the lighting conditions were very extreme almost every day, - many bright shades of gray from the sky dominated the days,
nice soft light in the morning or evening was rather rare, or if it was there, you could not because of the gate times far away in the bush be on the move.
Most beautiful sunshine was mainly after 10 o'clock - 15,00-16,00 o'clock found.
Our highlights of animal sightings were either very hidden or at times when the day came to an end and the gathering evening clouds,
the most beautiful light took us away again.
The conditions can not be changed and we have seen so much that we left very satisfied from the Kruger area after 15 nights.
But there is still a long way to go ......

[traveler57]

Around the house....

Again and again in the morning .....

223. a / b Cinnyris afer - Greater_double-collared_sunbird









224.



225.



226. Balloon Plant - Gomphocarpus_physocarpus



Part of the Saturday we spent at the "market" of the Root44.


Live music, small stalls, and a lot to eat ... the afternoon at the house ...
In the evening we visited again "our" fish restaurant.
Normally visited, everything more relaxed and finally smaltalk with the boss, saw us on Valentine's Day,
but had more time today.

Sunday:

227.



228.



229. was on the road ..... unfortunately only seen this one animal that just had a collision with a car ....
If you take a closer look at these animals, then you know where u.a. Hollywood productions, such as Star Wars,
their different "figures, life forms and faces" have taken ....



At 11.00 we were picked up by our friends from Cape Town.
Looking for something longer, they found our estate and invited us.
It should become a typical Cape Town Sunday.
For a picnic on a winery, possibly even wine tasting at various wineries.
After five months, we saw each other again, felt only a few weeks ago, when they visited us.
There was so much to tell during the trip and also at the picnic at "Allee Bleue" on the R45.

Lovely sitting in the garden, each couple a box with "Fressalien" and delicious wine.
Time passed so fast, - "Do you still want to do wine tasting, you do not need to drive ....."
"Wineries like to visit, but no more wine .....!"
So we continued our wine route "dry" .....

230. Winery Boschendal



231. Quinces?




232. Tokara Winery ..... noble, noble ....

tokararestaurant.co.za/



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234.



235. delaire.co.za/ - there are already very noble places there .- from A-Z at its finest, even at a T, like toilets .....
Click through ...

View from the parking



The dinner in the evening then fell out, because we were still so saturated .....

236.




237.

[Urs]

Wow fantastic series thanks for sharing!

[GRB]

What a beautifully done series of images.

[traveler57]

And again there was a move, the last one for this trip.
But first we drove off the Clarence Drive to Betty's Bay to see the penguins.
Weeks before, there had been a major fire here, which could not be cleared for days, by the strong wind.
A resident had handled with a flare gun and thus ignited the scrubland ....
The "result" was a dead man, several burned houses and a large area of ​​ruined bushland,
where predominantly the Fynbos plants determine the vegetation.
The traces of fire were not to be overlooked in some sections .

Betty's Bay is always worth a visit.
Even though it was very crowded in the parking lot this time, the visitors spread quite well on the jetty.
And it's no comparison to the crowds in Boulders when the bus tours come in there.
We were fortunate to find a ranger who was willing to tell us how the population was
the African penguin has evolved in recent years.
After a very steady increase in stocks, they have fallen again somewhat.
More accurate new numbers will be available at the end of July.
The reason for this is the low feed stocks in the sea.
The animals would have to spend longer distances and associated long periods in the sea to feed
to be able to bring in for the young.
It consumes / digests the old animal, much of the catch itself and that is not enough in the young animals.
Everywhere, the same topic, the overfishing of the oceans, the environmental influences, ....
A very different event concerned the West Coast colonies, because the bird flu virus has occurred there
and pull the animals away - up to Namibia.
Did not everything sound so good ...

238.


239.


240. Dassie - Rock hyrax - Wikipedia



241.


242.


243. Belt lizard



244.




245. family ....



246.



247.




248. jump ...


249. burned down ....



We drove away thoughtfully, once around False Bay, to our last B & B, Beluga Guest House.
A house with large rooms, a very large garden and a great pool.
Just right for the end of the journey.

Located near the botanical garden and close to the residence of our friends.

[savoche]

Wonderful trip report with fantastic images! You really demonstrate why South Africa is the only holiday destination you'll ever need - the South African tourism board should pay you for the job

Thanks for taking the time to share!

[traveler57]

As everyone is doing, at the end of a trip, the days flew past us.
We spent one day in Cape Town and on the waterfront, the other approx. 4.5 hours
in the botanical garden and more or less in the garden the last day before departure.
"By the way" we went to dinner with our friends, another evening we had delicious fish dinner in Kalk Bay
and alone in Hout Bay, in the local fish restaurant, Mariner's Wharf.

250. Botanic Garden





251.



252.



253.


254.


255.


256.


257.




258.




259. on the subject of "small stuff" - later in an extra thread ....





260.




261. B&B




262.


On the day of departure we met again in their house for lunch until "finally" we went to the airport.
This time without any problems.
The wait until departure was quick, the boarding was over on time and we took off.
The last big surprise for this trip, my wife discovered looking out of the window, in a climb over the bay.
First two large shadows were visible, then clear, as two large whales frolicking in False Bay.

What an end!

The rest of the return journey was unspectacular, except for the somewhat chaotic gate planning at Istanbul Airport and the delayed
Start towards HH. - No. 14 in the starting row!, - which resulted in a total delay of 1 hour.
In IST light rain / sleet and in Hamburg the most beautiful sunshine at 6-8 degrees. )
We managed to get home in time to pick up a car from our new dealer.
The "new" was in the delivery, but was not there yet - it took a week with everything.
So long there was a replacement vehicle.
Arrive first, there was a lot to tell after the 4 weeks in the bush and the west coast region.

I had already drawn a first small conclusion halfway through the trip.

The complete trip, after five weeks now, to review and evaluate the distance,
is actually pretty easy.
After looking through all the pictures and the memories, it was a great time!
So many different species of animals that we have seen, more than in recent years.
However, what was increased by the learning effect of the years.
You just take a closer look and listen better to the noises, that come from the bush to your ear.
And yet, you still overlook so many things.
But, what I already expressed - looking for the special event, is moving more and more into the foreground.

Which also "annoys" that you can't really get at many things, especially with the smaller species, because you are "caught"
in your own car.
Even on the drives in the PGR, there is no time for it when you are traveling with several people and the "Big five" have priority.
Of course I am also aware that this is a whining at a very high level and I know beforehand what I am getting myself into,
when I'm in the NP.
So the possibilities for this usually arise in the camps, with the restrictions.
After the 15 nights, we both thought it was enough.
Therefore, the days on the west coast and around Cape Town were more shaped to let it run ...
No big day trips to do.
The almost persistent three-four night rhythm, as a change of location, was fine.

It is difficult for us to find a different process for South Africa, because on the one hand the desire for more rest periods
there is a cozy atmosphere, which in turn is contrary to the curiosity, at least in the bush phase, of missing something.

If I read the travel reports of those who fly to SA for 2-3 weeks and mostly see one winery after the other,
dine excellently there and know so much about the wines, I find that very exciting, informative and great,
but for us that would be nothing.
So the time management and location splitting, with the contrasts for this vacation, was just right.

We will see, what the future will bring ... and whether we can endure without Africa?

As always at this point.

A good wanderlust for everyone.

Epilogue:

Thank you for being so brave and "riding".
There were a lot of animal pictures this time, few landscape shots, because they were known places and areas,
that we visited.
Therefore, there was not so much spectacular news to report, except for our personal impressions.
Encounters with people, whether in the first half of the trip in the Kruger area or afterwards around Cape Town,
had been informative, enjoyable, and entertaining.
It is and remains a great travel destination, which offers so many opportunities to spend a wonderful holiday there.



263.


Aviators, crawlers and colorful splashes of paint from SA

As already "threatened" in the SA travel report, it should be about the little things that can be discovered on such a trip.
During the Selfdrives in the National Parks, it is almost impossible to take such pictures.
The perspective from the open side window of the car gives hardly any creative, still close shooting possibilities.
As a reminder, it is forbidden, except for very few places, to leave the vehicle.
And I admit frankly, I'm not really relaxed at these places, whether it's a picnic area or a lookout place.
Especially when there is very little visibility through tall grass.
Therefore, the best opportunities arise in the camps, since you can act from the streets or wide paths.
I don't go into high grass areas here either .......
If I kneel down, I always have a towel with me that prickly and prickly my skin. or to protect stinging things.
Even on grassy areas, such as in the botanical garden in Kirstenbosch / Cape Town, I looked closely at the reason before I went to the ground level.

1. Wandering dragonfly - after umpteen considerations and various sources of information I tend to this determination ....


Pantala flavescens - Wikipedia
Wanderlibelle ? Wikipedia


I will show you how "crazy" things can go with dragonflies ...

2. Nymph - whatever .... was 8-10 mm tall



It was even smaller, about 3-4 mm "big", but mine was enough
Equipment not really out to make this species really sharp
to be able to map ....


3. first thinking ...... Azanu jesous
Azanus jesous - Wikipedia, but it looks more like this .....

• Zintha hintza hintza (Trimen, 1864)

- is a very small butterfly, height about 10-12mm, which I caught with the combi Oly Pro 12-100mm + Raynox 150 ...- unfortunately only in the shade.



4. a very active jumping spider at the house .... - was glad that I succeeded in the picture ...

- a stack was out of the question ...




I and a few other enthusiasts have been able to experience how complex the provisions of the dragonflies are.
Also this year I was faced with the question, which dragonflies did I actually catch?
A great help is this page, where the species from southern Africa are described quite well.
Dragonflies Index
What I particularly like about the page is the function when you hover over the names with the mouse pointer,
a suitable picture opens immediately.
If you find something, it goes into the fine work ...

I discovered these dragonflies at the Mopani Rest Camp, or (No. 8) at a bird hide where we parked the car.
Assuming that it was a separate species, I searched for it using the index page.
There were already similarly colored animals, but somehow they didn't go together.

5.



6.



7.




8.


So I postponed this task and turned to another dragonfly that I had seen in Mopani.

9. These animals were always on the ground, mostly in the shade and were therefore not so easy to spot.
In addition, there was the high escape distance of the animals, which made photography very difficult.
The study of the index page also solved the riddle as to where the other recordings should be placed ....
Because it was one and the same kind! - the Southern Banded Groundling

http://www.dragonflies-id.co.za/Dragonfl...Groundling.html

Here an older male and the female counterparts above.






You are usually not observed in such situations.
Here I was directly on the presentation plate for the other residents of the houses on the street.
A family of four resident drove past me by car.
Sit back and ask me - what I would do there and what there was to see there .....
When I explained that to them, only one long "Oh ......" jumped out of them .....
and very "interesting" .... and they drove on.
The immersion in the macro world, which can be so exciting and brings a lot of new insights,
is more likely to be viewed as abstruse in a place where it is mostly about large animals.
I can live with that, because when I'm here with us lying on the floor and taking pictures,
I am sometimes smiled at or walked by, what is there?
If you talk to them for a while, it is usually amazed faces that look at you .....: D

Pictures - during our stay at the Mopani rest camp this year

10. Brown grasshopper



11.


12. here a nymph of approx. 4mm "size"






Now a big jump from the east of the country to the west coast, more precisely, to the botanical garden of Kirstenbosch / Cape Town.
In addition to all the flowers, shrubs, protees and trees that can be seen here,
there is also an area where a large pond is created.
There are also plenty of insects in this area (in February).

15. it doesn't take the long journey, but if there is, then it does ....



16. Quiet second



17. my wife sat on a bench and let me do it .....



18. compared a lot and "decided" at the end, that's a red-veined dropwing

http://www.dragonflies-id.co.za/Dragonfl...d_Dropwing.html



19. two different skimmer dragonflies -



20. It was really fun with it because it almost always flew back to the same area ....
If you want to know more, look here:
Dragonflies Index
SKIMMERS, DROPWINGS, etc



21. Tropical Bluetail



22. and something soft ...


This is now finally over .....
I would like to thank everyone, who did not let the translator scare them away, through the google english.
My old school English is definitely not good enough for so much text and I also lack the "time" to translate everything, meticulously and cleanly.
So I hope, that at least everything came across well.
This journey took place from late January 2019 to late February 2019.
So just at the end of the year I finished the translating Vesion.

I wish all visitors, who have had a look inside, - a quiet, contemplative, Happy Christmas and a healthy New Year 2020.