This morning we leave for Mpumlanga, dropping several hundred feet into the lush subtropical region of the Lowveld.  Travel along the circular Panorama Route via Graskop, visiting the view sites of the Blyde River Canyon, one of the natural wonders of Africa, gasp at the glory of God's Window, with a boundless view of mountains  and fertile plains and finally a visit to Bourke's Luck Potholes before heading to Hazyview
Distance travelled - 500kms
Early start to the day wakeup call was set for 6 am, but we were awake before the call, we had our showers and packed our bag’s these had to be outside our door by a certain time for the porters to pick up, feeling a bit like royalty having things done for you, we spotted Wellington and made sure the tip we left for him yesterday was given to him, we headed to the bus for a 7:30 departure. Our bus driver was called Mosses, and he will be creating miracles for us and keeping us safe on the road.

We were heading for the Mpumalanga Province.

We stopped for a coffee at Fego Café, how appropriate, happily, Fi Go for Coffee and a muffin, Craig our tour guide seems to have a sense of humour, him and Nathan have something in common, I expect they will share many 5 minute breaks together…..

Craig got everyone on the bus excited, letting us know there was a giraffe on the side on the road and then added rhino and zebra, and then had a chuckle as everyone started taking photos, they were made of concrete and was part of an education programme for children.  We drove through some interesting places, one peaked Nathans attention more than anywhere that morning, Craig started to tell us about the Fishing in the area.

As we were driving through the Buffelskoof nature reserve, Nathan caught a glimpse of 5 giraffes, he just managed to get a picture. (see day 3 for what happened to these pictures)

We stopped for lunch at Mashishing (Lyitdenbrug)

We then travelled further north and had the opportunity to stop at Blyde River Canyon, then Bourke’s Luck Potholes and then God’s Window, for anyone that watched the movie “The God’s Must Be Crazy” at the end of the movie, where the coke bottle gets thrown back to the gods, it was at God’s Window where it was filmed.

We reached Hazyview at 5 pm, freshened up and went down to dinner, Nathan ordered an Ostrich steak which with a red berry sauce, Gracie who served us said , they serve it without the feathers, Nathan then proceeded to say why not, it could use one for a toothpick.  “Sensational” was the word he used for his dinner. 

We have an early start to the day tomorrow as we are doing the full day open safari, 4:45 wakeup will be a banging on the door, breakfast in a bag to take with us as we are to be at the gates by 6am.