They were to pick me up at 6:20 AM, so I had to be packed up and checked out and waiting in front of the hotel. Right about on time, an unmarked Toyota Hi-Ace van with a roof rack showed up, and when I asked the driver, sure enuf, it was them. He had already picked up one passenger, a very attractive Dutch Girl.

So we drove around, and our driver did not have adequate directions, so we were lost for about 30 minutes until he found the hotel of our next passenger, an attractive Irish Girl! (this is getting good!) So we drove around some more and went to a back-packer's hostel and picked up a very attractive Spanish girl and her boyfriend then we went to another backpacker hostel kinda place and picked up a man from Switzerland. Everyone was in there mid 20's except me and the swiss guy, and we pretended to be. So here's 6 of us and our guide off to Mpumbalonga and Kruger National Park.

Fortunately none of my companions were intolerant sierra-club-member tree-hugging fanatics, (but maybe I was creating an unfair stereotype of backpackers). Our little dutch girl was on an extended vacation in SA, Miss Ireland was exactly like me, here on business (for my employer's competitor!) and staying a few days extra for sight-seeing. Mr. Spain was also extending a business trip and his amiga bellisima came to visit him, and The swiss guy was given a round-the-world airplane ticket as a gift and had about 5 days in each continent and limited money.

By the way, the Bundu Bus 3 day safari was about 850 rand or about $170, most of the other companies were about 2000 to 3000 rand or $400 to $600. I was to learn why the big difference in the coming 3 days.

We drove east into the provice called Mpumbalonga, meaning land of the rising sun in Zulu. There are some mountain towns there that are like Scottish or Idaho resorts catering to Trout Fishermen and vacationers. We stopped at a place called Dullstroom for lunch and shopping, the group kinda split up, Two ladies and I were not real hungry so we walked around and stopped at a nice little lodge decked out exactly like a scottish estate and it started Raining and hailing! We tried to wait out the rain, and have some tea, but the power was out too.... we finally had to leave to catch the tour bus and borrowed umbrellas from the lodge. That kept only the top half of us dry, we were completely soaked from about the thighs down.

We drove on to a place called God's Window (24 deg 52.483' S, 30deg 53.443' E), where the Trek Boers in the early 1800's travelling along the high-veld, (high altitude plateau), came to the edge where it drops down to the low weld (kinda like the Mogollon Rim in AZ). They felt like they were looking off into the garden of eden, hence the name. There is even a high-altitude rain forest right there on the rim.

Then we drove to Bourke's Luck Potholes (24deg 40.369' S, 30deg 48.497' E), where the Blyde River and another river (one is the river of happiness, the other the river of sorrow) converge and have cut out canyons 50 or so feet into sold rock, and where current eddies and fallen rock from upstream have created a number of perfectly round holes in the rock. In one of them a guy named Bourke found a large gold nugget.

Then we drove to find an overlook into the Blyde River Canyon, the 3rd largest canyon in the world, after the Grand Canyon and another one in Namibia. For some reason, the parks had closed the gates an hour before sunset, so we had to walk to the lookout. (24deg 36.342' S, 30deg 48.940' E)

We then drove and arrived after dark at Nyani Tribal Village (25deg 10.035' S, 31 deg, 16.340' E). The owner has rebuilt a traditional village on the site where his grandfather (named Kapama) had a village. They are of the Shangaan tribe. They have tried to recreate the village with round grass thatched roof huts and termite-mound-mud-bricks and cow manure painted on the floor (it keeps snakes away) and a central tree etc etc exactly as it would  have been 150 years ago. He operates this for tourists and for local school children to learn about their culture. It was quite interesting and they seem to be sincerely trying to preserve their culture. We ate traditional food, Mealie-meal, pumpkin mush and chicken and drank Murola "beer" from a clay pot (it was more of a cider). A guy there wearing parts of a springbok started dancing, we were compelled to join in.  They had only kerosene lamps for light. We spent the night in a grass hut and the rains started. The one the swiss guy  and I were in leaked, the others did not!