Leaving Phelwana

After finally making it to the gate, we called in and they opened it for us. The road leads onto a ten mile, dirt road which was super bumpy, so I made the entire family get out and pose by the sign. I had to rest the camera on the top of the car, and strap it to the rack on the top of the car to make it work, but it was great, and so worth it!

Finding the Baby Zebra

We thought, after the giraffes, we were all done, and were just going to drive out, but we came across a baby zebra. He was behind some trees, so I got out of the car to take some photos of him. It was just so cool to be able to wander around the game reserve like that. The baby zebra stayed

there for ages, before he wandered away to join his family! The zebra family was standing right on the road, in the middle of it! It was so cool to see all these baby animals in Africa! I love how cute they were!

Walking into a Herd of Giraffe

We had a lovely breakfast, waited for Mummy and Daddy to pack up, (because a big giraffe was blocking their path) and then headed out to the main gate. It's about a twenty minute drive. While we were stopped taking photos of the hippo, we spotted a giraffe. I was too nervous to get out, but our guide was heading in his car the other direction, encouraged us to get out and take some photos. I walked up, and was getting photos, and as I stepped back, I almost stepped on another giraffe! There was an entire herd of them, there together!

They certainly weren't scared of me! It was amazing to be so close to them. I think it literally was one of the best experiences we had on the whole trip - I really knew right then I wanted to be a wildlife photographer! They eventually slowly wandered away. It was just such an amazing experience. As we were ready to leave, we got back into the car again, and we stumbled across the super old giraffe, who was really tall!

A morning walk around the Game Reserve

We got up super early, and were hanging around the main house, editing photos, before our morning game walk with the guide. We saw all the animals we had seen the day before, but right at the very end, we managed to catch two water buffalo right on the path. We quickly headed away from them, but not before I was able to get this photo!

Walking around Phelwana

We drove another hour or so, through dirt roads roadworks until we came to our turnoff for the hotel for the night. It was about 10 miles of incredibly rough, dirt roads, that were just terrible. It almost made me ill! We had only just found out that the hotel we booked, which was incredibly cheap, turned out to be an actual safari logdge, compared with just the hotel we thought it was. On our arrival into the Phelwana lodge, and met our butler and

the house staff. Mummy and Daddy had a seperate lodge house, but ours was super cute, with a self catering unit, a little hot tub, a barbeque grill area, and even a rope bridge over the river. We were told that because the lodge didn't have elephants or the big cats, we were allowed to wander around while it was

light out. I don't think they expected us really to take them up on the offer, because we asked in which direction we should go and off we went. We didn't see too much at first, apart from lots of kudu and deer, but then we headed to the big pond, with the hippos. I've heard that the hippos can be quite aggresive animals, so I was super nervous, I can't describe how nervous I was around them,

because you know it's dangerous, but you can't help but want to see them. I was constantly keeping an eye on where they were! We saw the coolest thing too - a dung beetle! It was incredible, just like in the movies! We took such a great walk around the place, looking for the warthogs,

and zebras and the giraffes, looking at the deer and such. I knew there were water buffalo around, and we needed to find them! They also can charge, so we were super nevous, but we did manage to track them down and chased them (not purposefully) around some bushes, where we could see them! We got quite turned around on the big game reserve, but we were able to find our way back quite easily. While we were getting changed for dinner, we saw this kudu outside our room! That was the coolest. I think that if there had been more

rain water, the watering holes would have been fuller, and the hippos might have been right outside our room! We ended up having dinner, and then going on a night safari too!

And then on to Bourke's Luck Potholes

Not long after leaving the three Rondavels, we ended up at Bourke's Luck Potholes. It was a completely different kind of landscape, but so close to the last place. It was this kind of land formation from the waterfalls, and there were all sorts of holes worn through by the water. They had built this cool bridge over it and you could walk all along the rocks, over to the water and

around. It was super warm, and there were no drinks or anything there, so we wandered around, before heading back to the car quickly!

The 3 Rondavels

The next day, we left Johannesburg and headed out towards the three Rondavels, these mountain structures. To be honest, there was so much driving on the trip, and thankfully I didn't have to do it. I think we drove six hours to get there, and stopping along the way. We learnt very quickly how poor

the rest of the areas outside of the city was, but lso how nice their service station was, and also that in car parks, there are attendants whose jobs it is to watch your car! We arrived at the three rondavels, which are named after traditional South Arfrican houses. It was really pretty, and at least a nice spot on our long road trip!