Saturday, June 21, 2025

We got up at 5 to get packed and ready to go. Jessica knocked on our door at 5:30. We met everyone at the safari vehicle at 6:00. Our friends from Singapore were leaving right after the game drive and we were going to leave right after breakfast.

We went down by the river to look for the African Wild Dogs (which we didn’t see), but we did see a hippo walking in the plants. We headed out into the bush and saw a hyena sleeping in the grass. It was still dark so Jessica used the light on it. He laid there for a long time before getting up and running away (probably to hunt). 

We drove on and Tammy spotted another hyena sleeping right at the edge of the road. It was lighter now so we could take better pictures of it. It was right next to the safari vehicle!

We went to the water hole and saw the usual hippo back in the water. We also saw lots of birds there.

We joined Tammy’s relatives for a pancake and coffee stop. The pancakes were more like crepes and we had lots of options for toppings. I had fresh fruit and whipped cream on mine. They also had alcohol made from the fruit of the Marula tree for people to add to their coffee.

Other animals that we saw included 3 warthogs and later we saw 2 more, 10-12 White-Backed Vultures, 1 Tawny Eagle, 5 giraffes, lots of impala, 5 kudu, 1 duiker, 8-10 zebras and later 6 more, more mongooses, and 2 South African Ground Squirrels.

After the game drive, we told Jessica thank you and goodbye.

We went to breakfast and enjoyed our last breakfast buffet. We saw three elephants crossing the river. We went back and got our luggage and checked the room. 

We headed out to drive to Sabie. We drove for a couple of hours and stopped for lunch at a small restaurant. I wasn’t very hungry because we had just finished breakfast right before leaving. We met the rest of Tammy’s relatives there. We went to a curio shop next door after people finished eating. I bought a necklace.

We had originally planned on going to the hotel in Sabie to drop our luggage, but to save time, we decided to stop and see the sights on the way. I took some pictures of people in the villages we passed. We drove to the Three Rondavels and paid to enter the park. A rondavel is a traditional round African hut. At Blyde Canyon, there are rock formations that look like three rondavels (hence the name). We didn’t have far to walk from the parking lot. Tammy’s mom stayed with the van. We took pictures and enjoyed the view. It was a little hazy from the smoke in the valley. Many people heat their homes with wood fires so there is often smoke handling over the valleys.

We used the restroom and headed back down. We thought about stopping at the Potholes (circular rock formations caused by a river), but it was almost $10 U.S. to enter and the water levels were low so they might not have been filled with water so we decided to skip them. We drove to the hotel in Sabie. We got there about 4. There was a mix-up with the room keys, but it got sorted out. Tammy’s and my room had a large bed and a twin by the window. The room was cold. The shower was a stand alone unit stuck in the bedroom. It was weird. We connected to the internet and caught up on messages. We posted our pictures from Sabi Sands on Facebook. We made plans to go to dinner at 6 with everyone who was staying at The Woodsman with us (the 6 of us in our vehicle, John/Anthea, and Ruth/Aidan). We walked across the street to The Fig Tree restaurant. It was great! They had a fire going and we were plenty warm. I ordered the vegetarian pizza and it was the best pizza I’ve ever ordered! The crust was crispy and the vegetables were very fresh and not overcooked. I thought it would be a personal pizza size based on the price, but it had 8 large slices. I ate 5 of them and then Ruth took the rest to eat later.

We walked back to The Woodsman. It was not the greatest. We didn’t notice that there was a heater high above the curtains until the morning so Tammy and I were thankful for our camping blankets. There were lots of noises that sounded like large animals running around on the roof. Even we told Tammy’s dad the next day, he thought it was probably monkeys. We got in bed to warm up and read before going to sleep.