Sunday 29th October 2017
Phinda Game Reserve to Umhlanga

We are marshalling again this morning, seeing all the cars off at the Main Time Control.

But first it was an early morning game drive and what a finale it was. We started off looking for the cheetah and her cubs which some trucks had seen yesterday afternoon. No luck finding them.

The highlight was coming across a lioness suckling a two month old cub. Apparently there were a few more cubs but they couldn't be seen amongst the bushes. Another lioness was resting nearby. The ears on mother and cub were twitching. Mother turned her head and in the blink of an eye she was off after a warthog. The warthog squealed, the birds twittered and the lion had the warthog in her mouth. The guides hadn't seen a lion kill since March so we were quickly off to get a better view.

                                             Lioness resting with her cub

                                             The two month old cub

                                                                Catching the warthog

Our presence didn't disturb the lioness as she dragged the warthog to a more secure spot near some dead tree branches and chomped into it with blood all over her face. The other lioness came closer but was warned off by the deep growl of the killer. The cubs stayed where they were, apparently too young to eat meat yet.

Packing up this morning I noticed an unusual cream coloured frog sitting on our balcony railing. At first we thought it was plastic but I was sure it wasn't there yesterday or maybe someone was playing tricks. It moved slightly when touched so it was real!

After breakfast we made our way to the N2 exit and took up our position as marshalls.

After all the cars had been stamped and timed off we followed. Heading for Hluhluwe we passed acres of pineapples growing. These are much smaller than the ones grown in Australia and are yellower. Stalls along the side of the side were selling them, despite road signs indicating "no roadside stalls"!

On the way to Mtunzini we passed hundreds of acres of pollarded gum trees, and also timber yards selling the finished product.

We had lunch at the Mtunzini Country Club and met up with Richard (Inca Rally) who lives nearby and is an ex-President of the Club. 

After a few kms on the N2 we exited onto the R66 and drove through lush green paddocks growing sugar cane which was thriving in the rich black soil. A few toll roads later we reached Umhlanga on the Indian Ocean where we are staying for two nights.

The Oyster Box Hotel (Tollman family ownership) was built in the 1950's and the decor is Hollywood style. Our room is painted candy pink with white furniture. The balcony looks over the ocean with the old lighthouse nearby. Many container ships are still anchored offshore (as many as 25 in one count).

Not long after we arrived we heard that Stephen & Samantha in the Datsun 240Z had had an accident. They were turning right when a local car overtook them and slammed into the driver's side. They were not seriously hurt but the car was badly damaged but still driveable. The driver of the other car was driving barefoot, had unrestrained children in the car and had apparently been drinking. The police were at the scene.

Saturday 28th October 2017
Phinda Game Reserve

Another two game drives today. The reserve is about 27,000 hectares, including 3,000 recently bought. Apparently the Getty family have a large shareholding in the reserve and there is a private jet airstrip. The reserve has been operating since 1991 and Phinda means "return", ie returning the farmland to its natural bush.
There are a large number of Fever trees in the reserve. The Zulus called them "trees that glow in the distance" because of the yellowy powder that covers their trunks. The early settlers called them "Fever" because they were suffering from malaria and believed it was the trees that were causing their fevers.

                                                          Lionesses resting

On the afternoon drive back in the dark we saw a Pennant winged Nightjar. The guide was terribly excited and later told us there hadn't been a sighting of this bird in the reserve for 17 years.

Dinner was in the BOMA (British Officers' Mess Area).

Friday 27th October 2017
Cathedral Peak to Phinda Game Reserve

Up at 5am for an early breakfast then on the road for 207 kms to get to Rorke's Drift where we are manning the Passage Control. Up in the mountains it was foggy and drizzling rain when we left. By 6.30am school children were walking along the roads to school.

We didn't take too much notice of the fuel in the tank, thinking that if Rorke's Drift had a Museum, it would have fuel and we were anxious to take up our official position!
As we were early we had a quick look around the small Museum commemorating this battle and surprised to see eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded.

Our Control was in the coffee shop which was nice & warm. Soon the cars started coming in and we recorded their arrival and stamped their time cards with an official elephant stamp.

It was obvious by now that there was no fuel in this village and the GPS indicated that the nearest was 21 kms away. We had 26 kms left in the tank! Placing our trust in the GPS she took us through rutted tracks in paddocks and over gullies and we began to wonder whether we should we turn back & hope that the sweep car was still at Rorke's Drift, or keep going. We decided to keep going.

Whilst we should have been heading east we had to go west for the nearest fuel at Nqutu. It was pretty tense as if we ran out of fuel here, nobody would know where we were and it was fairly isolated. We got to the main road, the R68, and arrived at the petrol station with 6 kms in the tank.

We eventually caught up with other rally cars and came to the busy town of Nongoma. It was market day and there were people, stalls, cars and trucks everywhere. It probably took us 30 minutes to get through the congested main route through town.

                                                 Nongoma

                                               Men's Hair Stylist

                                                   Roasted corn for sale

About 30 kms out of town we turned onto Route 22 and had 42 kms of red dirt and gravel roads. It was raining and cars were covered in the red sticky mud.

We arrived at the Phinda Game Reserve and were allotted different lodges as none were big enough for our group. We were in Mountain Lodge which was luxurious. Same rules applied to walking about after sunset.
Not long after we arrived we had a 3 hour game drive.

                                                       Mr M, our tracker

Thursday 26th October 2017
Riverside near Sasolburg to Cathedral Peak

Passing the Sasol oil refineries to yet more "informal settlements" built of corrugated iron (previously shanty towns) we came to large farming areas of wheat, dairy, sheep and ostriches. Many of the power lines here are braced and appear to have little maintenance.

Morning coffee was at Poelanie's Chocolate & Coffee shop in Reitz on the R57.

Through Bethlehem the roads had lots of potholes and roadworks were being undertaken with the usual long delay for one way traffic through the lengthy section of road repairs. Many apple orchards and hothouses for various fruits.

Lunch was at Clarens, a town we had visited a few weeks ago. The town centres around a square surrounded by galleries and eating houses. We are having a halloween night next week so everyone is on the lookout for suitable attire.

                                                 Town square at Clarens

Leaving Clarens we entered the Golden Gate National Park. This is a very scenic route with sculptured sandstone peaks all around. Herds of zebras stood and watched as we passed by. Out of the park wheat fields were everywhere. Also cultivated eucalypts, which are pollarded and eventually used for building.

                                                  Dust storm

Approaching Emmaus there were lots of school children walking home along both sides of the road. All in different school uniforms. Whilst most just waved, one threw a stone which hit one of the navigators through a half opened window. She was shocked but not hurt. Through narrow bridges and cattle grids we reached the Maloti Drakensburg Park which is a world heritage site.

                                          Cathedral Peak on the right from the hotel terrace


Ed, one of the rally participants from USA, was 83 today and the hotel staff went to a lot of trouble making a large cake and doing a little song & dance routine for him.

An early night for us because tomorrow we are going to get some experience at manning a Passage Control.

Wednesday 25th October 2017
Sun City to Riverside Sun

Up early for a game drive in the Pilanesberg National Park (55,000 hectares) then back to the hotel for breakfast.
Yesterday Goodwin's broke the clutch plate in their 1925 Bentley and were towed several hundred kms by Culvers in their hire car. They had a spare so were able to fix overnight.

Skirting Pretoria, via Harbeespoort we headed for the Zwartkops raceway circuit. 

Harbeespoort appears to be a wealthy holiday destination for people from Pretoria and Johannesburg. Large modern houses are built on the hills surrounding the dam. All manner of goods for sale on roadside stalls. Interesting one way traffic through a narrow tunnel alongside the dam. 

Whilst many modern cars were racing around the circuit, the rally cars were restricted to the go-kart circuit. 

In the children's playground we spotted an Anglia!