Pennygum Country Cottages Underberg

... was growing more and more anxious. He finally blew into the piece... 10seconds later, and we were all holding our breathe at this stage he finally said 'yeah yeah you're good to go!', here we slowly rolled away, finally breathed and then started laughing soooo hard... it was an exceptionally close call! Colour finally returned to Paul's face.<br> <br><br> Saturday &#8211; Sunday, Sani Pass<br> Another early start and busy day planned for us today &#8211; we were heading up to ...

... able to slip her foot from the stirrups and barrell roll onto the ground. She did manage to get right back up and finish the ride.<br><br>Although we had planned to leave that afternoon, we knew we couldn't let Dexter go unwatched. We cancelled our plans, and decided to stay another night. This time, Gareth insisted we play "coinage" which is the much more difficult South African version of "Quarters" played with the 1 Rand coin. We then ...

... entirely surrounded by South Africa. It has the highest lowest point (think about it!) of any country in the world (if Tibet is no longer to be counted as a country in its own right, that is&#8230;) Sani Pass is one of the few points of access through the mountains and is a steep zig-zag climb, in itself quite an adventure, and offers fantastic views up the pass and back down to the valley. We took a trip up the pass in a 4WD landrover, the need for which was apparent all ...

... sausage made from mince and spices) and some kebabs! The highlight of our time down in Drakensberg has to be our trip up the Sani Pass with a very entertaining Rudi as our guide. We had a bumpy ride up in the back of the 4x4 with 2 German couples who kept us thoroughly entertained. I hope that our ears will recover soon after my screaming when Rudi did a 2 point turn on the "Oh my God" corner and stuck the 4x4 into reverse instead of first!!! We enjoyed ...

This was one of my favourite days of the trip. Of course we were only there for 13 days, they were all pretty much my fave. This morning was beautiful, like everyother day we had in South Africa. We woke up early and joined the four other guests at the Three Trees lodge for breakfast in the main dining room. Most of the talk revolved around local sports with the world cup cricket being of great concern to everyone except ...

... is so nice. And for R50! The outside shower being one of the highlights! Imagine taking a shower outside with views towards the Drakensberg. Unmissable! Next day was Sani Pass day. Sani Pass is a route that connects Kwazulu-Natal and Lesotho. It is a notoriously dangerous road, which requires the use of a 4x4 vehicle and above average driving experience. While South African immigration at the ...

... waiting I was sharing a yoghurt with one of the girls (see picture) in the bus. Minibus experiences in Africa are really something! The buses never leave until they are packed to the rim, and that included all the luggage people are carrying. They are the cheapest way to get around, and also a good way to meet local travellers. But comfortable? Nope, not at all! Anyway, made it to Sani Pass Lodge. To be continued...

... and grunting. It was along 2 hours to wait for the liquid steel to dry, and even a longer few minuits after we had poured in some new oil, watching for any leaks. But the thing held fast, and not one drop of oil escaped!! i was impresed!! So, now a good 6 hours late for starting our trip home, we set off, stopping every few km's for the first while to re-convince ourselves that the oil was staying in the engine of ...

Today was what we had come for - the trip up Sani Pass... We decided that there was only time to go up, explore a bit and come back down, so we left most of our kit at Vic's house, and headed off up the pass. This is an absolutely stunning area, with huge mountains and rough roads. The only bad thing was that, being a saturday, there was alot of traffic weaving it's way slowly up or ...

... some fine views of the Devil's Tooth and the Eastern Buttress. On the walk out the cloud cleared even more and we were rewarded with even more fine views of the whole of the amphitheatre - this place is truly spectacular. Back at NP HQ we finally saw some ...