Hazyview-Kruger

With tears still in our eyes after leaving Shiduli, we arrived in Hazyview a small town near Kruger National Park. Our accommodation for two nights was at a place called Rissington, a fully fenced Inn run by a British travel writer. All the houses and accommodation places are fenced and guarded.

My impressions of Hazyview are not favourable. This was the first place in SA where I actually felt unsafe. The place was dirty and full of homeless people just hanging around.

The reason for our stay here was a self drive tour through Kruger which we did for seven hours the following day. Within five minutes of entering the park we saw a mother hyena with a baby just lying in the long grass on the side of the road. We then spotted elephants, giraffes, zebras, impalas and hippos before finally  spotting a leopard crouching in the grass under a tree looking at lunch (impala). Well we didn’t spot it, the fact that someone had placed a dot on the map showing where it may still be located, and about ten safari cars and other self drive vehicles parked on the side of the road, kind of gave it away. We watched the leopard patiently  stalk it’s prey for about an hour before we impatiently gave up and drove off. We ended the day tired and slightly disappointed that we couldn’t locate a buffalo, but happy that we had the opportunity to see all the other animals.

Prior to leaving Hazyview we embarked on a three hour zipline adventure. There were seven ziplines in total; three long (one the longest in SA) and four small.  We all had a ball. I think I was more scared than David or the kids but by the end we all relaxed and enjoyed each ride.

We hit the road after that, heading for Swaziland. If I thought Hazyview was scary, it was like paradise compared to Swaziland, which is where we are now.  At first we hit narrow and very scary roads, avoiding many cars, buses, trucks and taxi busses that were either overtaking or just not driving on the right side of the road.  Alongside the roads are hundreds of people/children walking somewhere. At first we thought the kids were all just friendly and waving to us but then we worked out that they were begging and wanted us to stop and give them money. It’s quite a sad and unnerving experience driving by skinny kids on the side of the road and ignoring them.

So tomorrow we are getting out of here A.S.A.P. and heading back to SA on the road to Kwazulunatal. Let’s hope we make it!