Crocodile Country Inn Nelspruit

... managed to enter the park<br>at 12:30pm on the first day and made our way to the camp. Even being<br>the hottest part of the day we still manage to tick off elephant (first<br>animal); warthog; wilderbeest; zebra and a great sighting of rhino, as<br>well as a wide range of antelope. The late afternoon drive was great as<br>well and provided much of the same, including giraffe and some of what<br>makes Kruger so special! The small creatures, prolific birdlife and<br>amazing ...

... township ( which is certainly no slum but has quite upmarket areas, too - amongst other houses the house of desmund Tutu), had a chance to stop and chat, high-five pretty much all the local kids, drink the local "beer" (fermented out of maize) and eat not only the crazily huge Soweto burger but also the slightly less enticing speciality of grilled meat from the cow's head... this is using the term meat quite loosely ;-) compared to others in our group ...

... camp was Punda Maria in the north, and the north of Kruger is somewhere we would love to spend more time if we ever return. There were less tourists, beautiful scenery; the camp was how we like it quiet and well spaced out. Skukuza we would avoid if at all possible. Paul was disappointed he didn&#8217;t see many big cats, which we were surprised at as well. We were out early enough in the morning and took our time driving around ...

Woke up around 630am or so, relatively peaceful sleep. Got picked up on the BazBus and headed towards Nelspruit- the gateway to Kruger NP. On the way there, we stopped at gas station and I went in to use the ATM. Needless to say it was a bogus ATM, but I didn't figure that out until someone came up from behind me put my card in (correctly) and told me to enter my pin. Then the screen didnt change. I didn't put my actual pin number, feeling a bit sketched out that ...

... the heat, even the locals were feeling it. You feel constantly thirsty and after running out of cold water we re-fill our water bottles from the water jugs we have stored on the roof - you could probably make tea with it, it is so hot.  The kids were awesome, no complaining, just taking it all in.  We arrived at the border town of Musina in S.A. which was bustling with Zimbabweans buying up their mealie meal and were rewarded with a huge thunderstorm ...

... area but on this particular day, God's Window was closed. First we stopped at Bourke's Luck potholes, where the Blyde and Treur rivers have carved beautiful circular pools out of the bedrock. My favourite part of the whole trip was going to the Three Rondavels and looking out at the amazing view of the Blyde River Canyon.

... is on the ground and basically outside, not that our tree house is too well insulated or anything though. Mosquito nets are a must as the 'walls' are bamboo and there is nothing stopping bugs from coming into our house. The balcony overlooks a beautiful stream although the grass is too tall to see much wildlife around the stream. Dinner ...

... dubious. So we first had to find somewhere to spend the night and just phoned a place recommended in Lonely Planet. It turned out to be not that great - the people running the place looked like they were high on something other than life, and our room did not have a key so we could not lock the door. As a result we decided to move to another hotel, a roadside inn nearby, fairly quickly. As we arrived on a Sunday, the Mozambique embassy in ...

... so nicely commented when we got on. It was a DC-9 and even I knew that was an old plane. The pilot sounded very competent, though, and the flight was just fine]. We collected our bags upon arrival and headed for the car hire. At Europcar, we filled out the paperwork and made our way to Chico, our new wheels for the week. Chico is quite the piece of work. Despite being fairly new (of typical age for a rental car) and a VW, Chico seems like a rickety old product of the Third World ...

... lodge is a series of small cabins, elegantly appointed, warmly staffed overlooking a mostly dry waterhole. It felt refined and they did all they could to welcome the kids. Russell, the house manager, played with them and showed them the "secret" areas. After an afternoon swim, we were off on our first game drive. It is amazing how heightened your senses can be when you don't know what to expect. We were all so thrilled at seeing our first impala and zebra. (Little did we know HOW ...