South Africa | Claudia & Carsten's World Expedition

SOUTH AFRICA - KwaZulu Natal, Free State, Eastern Cape & The Garden Route

Tala Game Reserve - Durban Second leg of our trip. Africa. We flew to Durban to stay with some friends and planned what would become our favorite part of this trip so far. Tala is a private game reserve close to Durban we visited together with our friends.

First hippos we saw!!	She had a baby	Swifts This day we only started to realize how many different birds there are in Africa.
	Kudu



Our first rhino!!!

	View from Botha's Hill
Inchanga Choo Choo ride On Sundays there is an old steam train running between the areas of Kloof and Inchanga, so there we went!		The lovely Madsens Our hosts in Durban


Off we go! After two weeks of planning, we finally got our first car and left Durban destined for Cape Town! Three weeks road trip!	Sani Pass First, we decided to head for Sani Pass, the border with Lesotho.
		Border We didn't manage to get into Lesotho this time, but it ranks high on our list for the next time we come to South Africa.
	Lunch on the way South Africa has many of these lovely little family restaurants. Food is good and cheap, service is great, what's not to like?
		Drakensberg The Drakensberg is a mountain area that borders Lesotho. These are the highest mountains in South Africa. We decided to leave the trekking for another time because we wanted to focus on other things in South Africa.
	View of the Drakensberg range	Petrol station
	Native village	Golden Gate Highlands This National Park borders the northern part of Lesotho and it is very beautiful.
		Clarens Lovely little town
	Our hotel in Rouxville Middle of nowhere....lovely hosts though.
Hogsback Hogsback was not in our plans, but we heard it was nice, so we stopped there. It is not known if true or not, but locals claim that this place was the inspiration of JRR Tolkien for writing "The Hobbit". Supposedly Tolkien's Xhosa nanny told him stories of a dragon living behind the mountains, which Tolkien turned into Smaug.	Happy campers	Mountains, chill, beer What's not to like?
		Hiking!!!
Beautiful forest	Big trees
	Spider
Our hotel in Addo Fantastic and beautiful spot! Used to be an orange farm and it was turned into a boutique hotel. Our room used to be the office where they would pay the workers every week.	Addo National Park One of our favorite parks! Beautiful and you can see all the animals you want.	No getting out of the car...
Our first lion!!! After three months we realized that lions are the most boring animals to look at, because they don't do anything during the day. You are lucky if you can see one walking, as they normally sleep during the day.	Warthogs
	Elephants!!!




Our first puff adder!!! Puff adders are the snakes that cause more fatalities in Africa because they are common, live close to populated areas and can be aggressive. This one couldn't care less about us though.	Blue cranes	Meerkat



Red Hartebeest		Female kudus
Male kudu		Dung beetle
Our daily lunch picnic	Jeffries' Bay After leaving Addo, we headed for the coast, into what is known as South Africa's "Garden Route". Jeffries' Bay was our first stop, close to Port Elizabeth.
Surfing is quite big in South Africa
Tsitsikamma National Park	Storm's River Mouth camping area This was one of the most beautiful camping areas where we were. Fantastic!	Our cabin
Storm's River Mouth



		Waterfall trek This is the start of the 5 day trek called "Otter Trail". We only did the first part which takes you to a waterfall. It was a beautiful walk next to the ocean.


Nature's Valley camp		Birds of Eden Sanctuary This place is a MUST for bird lovers. It is the largest free flight aviary in the world. This bird is a Knysna Lourie. They are very beautiful.
Turaco	Turaco	Lourie
Lourie
Scarlet Ibis
	Jukani Wildlife Sanctuary
White tiger White tigers are white because of lack of melanin. As a leopard with too much melanin becomes black and therefore, a panther, a cat with lack of melanin becomes white. Humans love "white" animals, so they inbreed them to maintain the color, which results in birth defects such as blindness (as is this tiger in the pictures), infertility and other body defects.	Jaguars how did you end up here?
We hope to meet in Pantanal one day	Knysna One of our favorite cabins. All the cabins you see in the Parks are handled by the South Africa National Parks. I wish one day we could have this standard and service level in Chile.	I love South Africa....

SOUTH AFRICA - KwaZulu Natal, Free State, Eastern Cape & The Garden Route

Tala Game Reserve - Durban

Second leg of our trip. Africa. We flew to Durban to stay with some friends and planned what would become our favorite part of this trip so far. Tala is a private game reserve close to Durban we visited together with our friends.

First hippos we saw!!

She had a baby

Swifts

This day we only started to realize how many different birds there are in Africa.

Kudu

Our first rhino!!!

View from Botha's Hill

Inchanga Choo Choo ride

On Sundays there is an old steam train running between the areas of Kloof and Inchanga, so there we went!

The lovely Madsens

Our hosts in Durban

Off we go!

After two weeks of planning, we finally got our first car and left Durban destined for Cape Town! Three weeks road trip!

Sani Pass

First, we decided to head for Sani Pass, the border with Lesotho.

Border

We didn't manage to get into Lesotho this time, but it ranks high on our list for the next time we come to South Africa.

Lunch on the way

South Africa has many of these lovely little family restaurants. Food is good and cheap, service is great, what's not to like?

Drakensberg

The Drakensberg is a mountain area that borders Lesotho. These are the highest mountains in South Africa. We decided to leave the trekking for another time because we wanted to focus on other things in South Africa.

View of the Drakensberg range

Petrol station

Native village

Golden Gate Highlands

This National Park borders the northern part of Lesotho and it is very beautiful.

Clarens

Lovely little town

Our hotel in Rouxville

Middle of nowhere....lovely hosts though.

Hogsback

Happy campers

Mountains, chill, beer

What's not to like?

Hiking!!!

Beautiful forest

Big trees

Spider

Our hotel in Addo

Fantastic and beautiful spot! Used to be an orange farm and it was turned into a boutique hotel. Our room used to be the office where they would pay the workers every week.

Addo National Park

One of our favorite parks! Beautiful and you can see all the animals you want.

No getting out of the car...

Our first lion!!!

After three months we realized that lions are the most boring animals to look at, because they don't do anything during the day. You are lucky if you can see one walking, as they normally sleep during the day.

Warthogs

Elephants!!!

Our first puff adder!!!

Puff adders are the snakes that cause more fatalities in Africa because they are common, live close to populated areas and can be aggressive. This one couldn't care less about us though.

Blue cranes

Meerkat

Red Hartebeest

Female kudus

Male kudu

Dung beetle

Our daily lunch picnic

Jeffries' Bay

After leaving Addo, we headed for the coast, into what is known as South Africa's "Garden Route". Jeffries' Bay was our first stop, close to Port Elizabeth.

Surfing is quite big in South Africa

Tsitsikamma National Park

Storm's River Mouth camping area

This was one of the most beautiful camping areas where we were. Fantastic!

Our cabin

Storm's River Mouth

Waterfall trek

This is the start of the 5 day trek called "Otter Trail". We only did the first part which takes you to a waterfall. It was a beautiful walk next to the ocean.

Nature's Valley camp

Birds of Eden Sanctuary

This place is a MUST for bird lovers. It is the largest free flight aviary in the world. This bird is a Knysna Lourie. They are very beautiful.

Turaco

Turaco

Lourie

Lourie

Scarlet Ibis

Jukani Wildlife Sanctuary

White tiger

Jaguars how did you end up here?