I am addicted to the Kruger National Park. There, I said it, and I am not the least bit ashamed. I just got back 2 days ago from another fantastic self-drive trip to this reserve, my 3rd since moving to South Africa a little over a year ago and my 5th visit overall. This time was a bit different than the others as I went solo. Yes, that is correct, just me, myself and I, alone in the bush and it was an amazing adventure.
Kruger National Park
The past 6 weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind of travel for me so I thought I would do a quick update to let you know I am still around and looking forward to sharing my recent adventures with you soon.
The beginning of November had me back in Nice, France for a work trip. Incidentally I left for this trip exactly one year and one day from the date we moved to Joburg. It felt a bit strange to be back in Nice (or more precisely Sophia Antipolis where our offices are located) and I really feel Joburg is home to me now. It was a hectic week of conferences but a great experience to meet fellow colleagues from all over the globe. We didn’t have much free time at all and I didn’t even get a chance to see old friends but we did manage a few hours for a nice Sunday afternoon around Antibes, much needed after the long, hellish flight from South Africa.
Flying into Nice
In my previous post I wrote about the first part of our trip to Swaziland and our stay at Hlane. Our last 2 nights were spent at a different park, Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary located a little more than an hour from Hlane. In part 1 I mentioned that the original plan was to spend all 3 nights at Mlilwane however when we called to finalize our booking, we were told that the camp was booked out for the first night for a private function. When we arrived at Mlilwane we discovered that this private function was in fact a celebration of 50 years of conservation in Swaziland with the King of Swaziland in attendance to unveil a commemorative statue. I wonder how many people can say they got bumped because of a King and on their birthday no less, haha.
Impala grazing in Mlilwane Camp
It is somewhat of a tradition for my birthday (July 11th if anyone is taking notes) that instead of lavish gifts, we try and celebrate by taking a trip somewhere, long or short, whatever we can manage that year. When we lived in Europe, as my birthday was smack in the middle of summer, this usually meant some time spent on a beach. Greece, the Amalfi Coast, Croatia… just some of the fabulous places I have spent my birthday. This being the very first year I would be spending my birthday in Africa (and in winter now to boot!) I absolutely wanted to keep with our tradition and sneak in a little birthday excursion.
Hlane National Park Reception
After many months of preparation we have finally reached the finally countdown, 10 more days ! We have a ton of things left to do before we leave but it is finally starting to seem real. We are leaving France on Oct 30 to start a new life in Johannesburg, South Africa. We are have spent a lot of time in South Africa but never Joburg so we are very excited to start to discover our new home in the southern hemisphere.
Bush walk in Kruger National Park May 2013
Under an African Sun 