Travel guide of South Africa
After my time in WOTC I traveled for one and a half months through the whole of South Africa. Sander and I joined up with my girlfriend and her friend and colleague (they where staying in Welgevonden Game Reserve for their thesis) and we left off in a Hyundai i10 with the four of us. Which was, to say the least, cramped, but very 'gezellig'.
With the four of us we started our trip in Johannesburg after which we headed more north to Mapungubwe.
- Mapungubwe National Park: contains the most beautiful landscapes (sandstone formations) of the parks that I have seen in South Africa. In addition, it also is culture wise very good, as one of the first South African kingdoms was situated in this park, and you can find plenty wildlife.
After Mapungubwe we went south to the Blyde River Canyon.
- Blyde River Canyon: third largest canyon in the world and largest green canyon in the world! Especially from the ridge up top you have magnificent views into the canyon. However, also the canyon is more than worth the effort as you can do a boat trip on the dam.
On the 9th of December we headed back to the WOTC to say goodby to everyone I worked with during my internship. We had a really nice braaiparty which was a beautiful end to a magnificent internship. The next day we entered Kruger and drove south all the way to the coast. In the days thereafter we followed the coastline until Durban. Here we went inland until we reached the Royal Natal National Park with its majestic Amphitheater.
- Royal Natal National Park: we did the Gorge track where you walk through a beautiful Gorge towards the Amphitheater and finally one of the longest waterfalls in the world!
From the Drakensbergen we went back to the coast and traveled al the way to Cape Town. In between we did a boat safari in St. Lucia, surfed in Jeffreys Bay, hiked at Tsitsikamma National Park and did a cave tour close to Oudtshoorn.
- Cape town: although I believe you can't compare any South African city to European cities like Rome or Paris it is certainly worth the trip, but mainly for its surroundings which include the Table Mountain, Cape Point, Gansbaai and Hermanus (for Cage diving and Whale watching) and vineyards (but especially wine tasting =)!).
From Cape Town we traveled upwards into Namibia where we visited the second largest Canyon in the world: the Fish River Canyon. Overall we stayed in Namibia for two days as an appetizer for future travel intentions. When we left Namibia we entered my favorite place in the whole of South Africa: the Kgalagado Transfrontier Park.
- Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park: here we saw lots of predators ranging from kalahari lions (10x) and cheetahs (3x) to wild cats, caracals, owls and raptors. Best park in South Africa to see cats!
From there on we headed back to Johannesburg, to buy some souvenirs, and eventually to fly back to the Netherlands where I am now looking back on the life changing experience I had in South Africa.