The Last Memorable Trip in SA

This entry was written before I flew back to Malaysia

Ok rasa macam da lama tak menaip kt blog ni, jd hr ni aku come back lg. Banyak event happen lately, tp kebanyakannya berkaitan hal makan2 sempena meraikan kepulangan kami ke pangkuan Malaysia kembali. Terima kasih tak terhingga kepada yg berbesar hati adakan farewell party dengan makanan yg enak2 belake. Walaupun nampak macam happy sungguh kami nak balik, tp dalam hati tersangatlah berat nk tinggalkan bumi africa ni. pantai yg indah, cuaca terbaik, pelancongan yg menakjubkan, rumah yg cantik, rezeki yg murah, masa bersama abg yg tiada batas dan segala-gala yg indah aku alami kt sini menjadi kenangan terindah utk ku kenang kelak..Bagi yg masih tertinggal di SA, enjoy lah hidup di situ sepuas2nya..banyak yg boleh diterokai dan dipelajari serta diambil iktibar..

hmm pantasnye masa berlalu..

Since only several months left for us to stay here, we planned to have the longest trip inside South Africa. Biasanya, paling lama aku travel pun adala dalam 3 hari which was to Cape Town. But this time we spent about a week utk misi terjah wild animal for the last time. Why took so long? sebabnya kali ni we decided to go to the biggest safari in South Africa which is called Kruger Park, located in the north side of SA. Jauhnya dr Durban lebih kurang 12 jam drive. Aku tak sure la pulak besar mana. Tp sebesar-besar Kruger ni, safari kt belah2 atas south africa lg berganda besarnya.

Perancangan rapi dibuat dan aku pun ada masak several lauk sebagai bekal so that we wouldn't spend so much eating outside. Lama2 tak tgk nasi mana boleh. So angkut segala periuk nasi bagai, selain lauk yg dah siap dimasak aku bawak juge bekal telur sosej roti megi dan segala yg mudah dimasak.

Our first destination was Lydenburg. actually tempat ni sekadar persinggahan je sebb kesian kt en Yaris dan drivernya yg kena drive tanpa hnti selama 9 jam. Lgpun hr da gelap. we managed to book a small hotel on the outskirts. Cukup selesa utk far traveler like us. Nampk katil terus padam! Pastu terbangun tgh malam sebb lapo..

Tak tahu spesies ape nih

Stay in Lydenburg

Having breakfast. Mulut ku lebam terjatuh treadmill :(

The next day, with fresh bodies full of excitement, we continued our journey towards Kruger. And in between the journey, we stopped at severel magnifient places along the trip. Bermula dengan Pinnacle, this place has become an attraction for having a 'pinnacle' in the middle of a valley. Macam ada tiang terpacak antara dua gorges. Tinggiii sangat..cuba2 jugak jenguk ke bawah nk tahu dr mana pinncale ni muncul, tp tak terlihat sebb terlalu dalam. There was also a waterfall there..

At The Pinnacle

Seterusnya, we stopped by at another famous place, The God's Window. Sebelum sampai tu aku tertanya2 juge macam mana agaknya 'jendela tuhan' ni, mcm tingkap rumah kah. Tp akhirnya tekaan abg lebih tepat..basically this place showed a very nice viewing from the top. As if the God was looking to the earth..agaknya la hehe..

At the God's Window

Jalan lagi dan lagi (dengan kereta) akhirnya we arrived at a place that i was longing to go, The Bourke's Luck Potholes. Lama dah usha tempat ni dalam internet..kagum tgk gamba2. Alhamdulillah panjang umur juge dpt jejakkan kaki dan tgk tempat ni dengan mata kepala sndiri. Eventhough the photos we took didnt seem so interesting, but in reality this place got its very own remarkable. Dengan kuasa yg maha Esa, air yg mengalir secara pusaran menghakis membelah gunung membentuk 'potholes' yg akhirnya bercantum mmbentuk sungai, air terjun dan kolam..masyaAllah..kagum dengan kebesaran Ilahi. Air sungai tu mmg direct dr gunung so boleh diminum atau di promosi as a mineral water. .

The Bourke's Luck Potholes

Hari tu panas betul but somehow far better than cloudy or rainy. Perjalanan kami betul2 follow the schedule. Before sun down, we finally arrived at our main destination, Thornybush. This place was actually part of Kruger Park and there was even no fence to seperate the areas. Only this area has been privated and sold to some companies. For that reason, this place offered a luxury safari, all inclusive to the guest. Luckily, our company, Engen owned one of the lodges in Thornybush. So utk staff, boleh dapat diskaun banyak jugak. almost 60%. rugi tu kalau kami tak rebut!

And so like it was meant to be, tempat ni mmg mewah dan best. Included in the charge rate, we got 2 game drives, meals, and of course a luxury room. On that day, there were another guests from Mexico who came for the WC. The way we were served was exactly like we were families. Having meal together. Paling best bagi aku waktu pegi game drive. For the first time we took game drive using 4x4. Cuak jugak memula coz the vehicle was roofless. Siap ada org duduk kt depan 4x4 tu lg utk track the animal footprints and for that I knew, this was going to be so much fun!

Cottage in Thornybush

Pengembaraan bermula

Kepala and badan kami tak hnti2 terhuyung hayang waktu game drive. Redah sana redah sini..sampai kan pokok yg sama tinggi ngn aku pun selambe je diorang redah. Mmg ganas betul game drive ni. Malam tu kami jumpe badak sumbu, gajah dan singa. Part singa ni paling best sebb ranger parking kete betul2 sblah singa ni tido. Rilek je singa ni tdo ngn bapak singa siap menggeliat lagi. Binatang2 ganas ni sbnarnye serang kita bila rasa terancam n lapar je. Tp macam mana nk tahu dia tak terancam? Wallahualam..

Bapak singa and anak singa tgh landing

Having tea break in Safari

Rhinos during the Sunset

Malam tu sepasang couple dr US baru sampai and joined the dinner with us. Ramah sgt diorang ni sebijik macam dalam drama2 US yg kt TV tu. Cara bercakap, cara respon, so typical US actor. Oh ya, makanan yg disediakan semuanya halal termasuklah daging Ostrich yg dijamu. sedap!

Early in the morning on the next day (lebih kurang pukul 4 pagi), we took another game drive and it was more challenging because normally at this time, animals were out for hunting. Manusia? berdengkus lagi. Pagi tu masyaAllah sejuk gilos. nasib baik ada blanket provided on the 4x4. what was very interesting, we found footprints of cats and harshly tracked them down. redah sini redah sana finally nampak kelibat cheetah!! wo wo cantik sungguh kucing bintik2 nih. memula malu2 kucing asyik nyorok je but the driver cuba jgk pegi dekat and at last the cheetah stopped. So dapatlah kami menatap cheetah secara live in its habitat..

Looking for footprints

Tu dia dah keluar dah

Not only that scene, ada scene yg lebih menarik when the cheetah ran away after that. we followed him and suddenly the ranger realised that it was actually looking for breakfast. there was a group of bucks nearby having green fresh grass for breakfast without any awareness on the present of an enemy. tak semena2 aku rasa mcm jd photografer rancangan Wild Animal pulak. we stayed somewhere near, hidden without making noise. Huh berdebar2 nye rasa...nk tgk cheetah serang hendap beb..

Bersiap siaga ada lauk depan mata

And suddenly, zaaapppp! sepantas kilat, sekilas pandangan aku tgk cheetah berdessupp serang kancil. habis berkeliaran huru hara sekjap kawasan tu. mangsa korban belum dapat dipastikan. now it's time to move on to track down the cheetah. pusing punya pusing akhirnya jumpe cheetah tgh berehat kepenatan kt bawah pokok. rupa2nya adegan td was just a fruitless effort. kesian cheetah. now it has to rest to cool down its temperature before continue hunting. maybe our present had disburbed its concentration just now. sorry ye cheetah comel and thanks for the great show :) That was definitely something I wouldnt forget!

Taktik tak kena pulak, jd berehat dulu

I think that was the climax of the game drive. We did saw several other animals after that and still enjoyed the drive until we were driven back to the camp site. Sadly we came to the end of stay and had to leave to our next destination. What a warm and nice stay we had in Thornybush!

Thanks everyone!

Seterusnya we headed to the next gate of Kruger Park which was owned and secured by the government. mari kita terjah Kruger park ni habis2 an. Orpen Gate basically is another area inside Kruger Park. It has far wider area if compared to Thornybush. As it was handled by the government, i can say the rate was cheaper than thornybush. But that was only kos2 tersurat..kos2 tersirat like food, game drive were not included. Plus minus, actually it was fairly close to what we had paid in Thornybush. But of course, the experience we had were the biggest difference of these 2 safaris.

Stay at Orpen Gate

Konon2 nk experience the same thing (or maybe better) as we had in Thornybush, we booked 2 game drives (evening and morning drives). The self-catering motel was quite relaxing. After having lunch of bekal yg kami bawak (lepas 2 hari bru dpt mkn bekal tu huhuu) and having enough rest, we prepared ourselves for the evening drive. Memandangkan Orpen Gate ni lebih besar, so we expected to see more wild animals..berkobar2 rasa di dada..

Sekali rupa2nya we were just brought by a truck (yg macam truck askar tu) to the tar road, terkedek2 kena cari binatang sendiri kalau terjumpa di kiri n kanan..wuaaaa cam nak nanges je rasa. dah la naik macam nk buat rombongan mak kiah. kalu camtu, baik kami naik en Yaris kami aje. Tak de yg menarik pun yg kami jumpe. Paling ok pun kami jumpa cik Hyena sebatu nmpak cam semut je. Menyesalnya..tak semangat langsung nk join another drive pagi buta esoknya..

Tp sebb da bayar mahal, so kami dengan liatnya bangun jugak pukul 330 pagi. Yang kelakarnya..sebb gelap, renjer tu suruh penumpang pegang torch light and suluh sendiri kiri kanan cari binatang. hadoila..nasib baik bkn aku yg kena. Pagi tu adala juga hasilnya..dr jauh tersuluh singa tgh mengawan. depan kami pun selambe tak cover ish ish. Renjer tu bagtau..waktu tu mmg musim mengawan and singa biasanya mengawan setiap 15 minit sekali..dasat kan..patutla singan jantan ni lambang kehebatan..huhu.

Rombongan Cik Kiah

Dah..tamat je game drive pagi tu kami terus bersiap2 dan menuju ke destinasi terakhir. After The Bourke's Luck Potholes, this last stop was another place i was longing to step my foot on. It was Blyde River Canyon. We spent about 2 hours and enjoyed beautiful scenary along the way before we reached the place. And far from we expected, this place was soooo magnificent, fascinating, enchanting and more..subhanallah maha suci Allah..

Semua tempat pun excited utk sambut WC. Tp kaunter chalet ni mcm pejabat kerajaan daa

Blyde River Canyon was the third largest canyon in the world after Grand Canyon in US and Fish River Canyon in Namibia. Therefore it presented as the 2 nd largest Canyon in Africa. Kat situ ada sungai that flowed into a huge dam in the middle of the canyon. We stayed in self-catering motel which faced the canyon. The reservation was set up to suit middle class people who like to stay long and love tracking or hiking.

Makan Maggi dlm situsi camni mmg sodap!

And so did us. only we just planned to stay one night there. bila tgk cantiknya alam ciptaan Allah, tak sabar rasanya nk pegi hiking utk jelajah lebih jauh kebesaran Allah. Di sini disediakan map that showed several trail routes including approximate duration which were so helpful for trackers. Di sebabkan time tu dah pukul 3 petang, we chosed Leopard trail which will take approximately 3 hours return trip. During that season biasanya pukul 6 dah maghrib..kalau boleh nk balik before gelap..kang sesat naya..

We will follow the Leopard Trail

Lihatlah batu-batu ni bersambung membentuk gunung

Mudah saja hiking ni tak perlu pening sebb boleh ikut petanda kaki leopard yg dilukis di batu. so agak confident takkan sesat. memula tu tak penat sgt sebb asyik turun bukit je.. finally we reached the target to get the best view of this Canyon. Ini dipetik dari google:

"Possibly the best view in the whole of the Blyde River Canyon is the Three Rondavels, huge, round rocks, thought to be reminiscent of the houses or huts of the indigenous people, known as rondavels . This canyon is part of the famous Panorama route. "

The Three Rondavels at the right side. Kt hujung tu mcm bumbung rumah

Three Rondavels ni bagi aku sgt cute. Comel je tersusun atas gunung. Yang pasti tempat ni memang memukau pandangan..menyedarkan aku betapa besarnya Kuasa Allah dan Kerdil nya kita di bumi tumpangan Nya ini. Walaupun penat berjalan tp dapat melihat keindahan alam sebegini sememangnya berbaloi-baloi.. Alhamdulillah..

Segala puji bg Allah

Our mission has completed. Hope to come here again..

Begitulah alkisahnya my last memorable trip in South Africa. Hope anyone who read up to this point enjoys reading this entry (tabik tabik). Semoga Allah memberikan aku kesempatan lagi untuk terus meneroka kebesaran dan keindahan alam ciptaan Nya..ameen..

Nyum nyum