Day 9: Leaving Kruger and Blydes River Canyon Drive

Today began with another early rising for the 103 kilometer drive to exit Kruger via the Orpen Gate on the western side of the park. From there we made our way to the scenic driving route that takes in the Blydes River Canyon, planning stops at the Three Rondavels, the Lowveld View, Bourke's Luck Potholes, and God's Window, all of which overlook amazing, naturally occurring wonders in the canyon.






Picture of the Day: Bourke's Luck Potholes







At least one benefit of getting up early is occasionally seeing a beautiful sunrise. As we had a long scenic drive planned for the day, we vowed, on the drive to exit Kruger, that we would not stop for game viewing unless it was something that we had not yet seen. It sort of worked ... those darn baboons, zebra and giraffes are so photogenic, though. I swear, they seemed to know our plans and would run towards the road as if begging to be photographed!







Our biggest desire before we left the park was to see a cheetah or leopard, both of which are scarce, even in Kruger. As all hope had indeed left us for such a sighting, seven kilometers before the exit gate, we came upon several vehicles stopped alongside the road, people hanging out of windows, gazing into the brush. We knew it must be a pretty impressive sighting judging from the actions of the people in the other cars. So we pulled over too and within seconds two leopards came slinking out of a bush directly below us. We got our leopard sighting!







After exiting the park, we proceeded along rural country roads, noticing that fruit stands were plentiful. We both had agreed throughout our visit to South Africa that the orange juice here is wonderful, so we decided that we actually needed to sample the local freshly grown oranges. We purchased the small bag of oranges that the gentleman below is pointing to for 10 Rand, which is approximately $1.50. And we both agree that these are the best oranges that we have ever tasted, Florida oranges have nothing on these guys.






Continuing our drive, our first scenic stop was at the overlook of the Three Rondavels. These three circular rocky peaks look distinctly like traditional rondavels huts.






Also visible from the Three Rondavels overlook is a breathtaking view of canyon and Blyde River.







This scenic overlook is known as Lowveld View.






The next stop, and one that we both highly anticipated, is known as Bourke's Luck Potholes. These unusual quartzite rock formations, nearly 15 million years old, were created by the swirling action of whirlpools.






The last stop on our scenic drive was God's Window, a view from the very edge of the escarpment, overlooking an almost sheer drop of 1,000 feet.





And so our day ends in the lovely little town of Graskop. Tomorrow we work our way back to Kruger airport and return to Johannesburg for an overnight stay. We hope to have time on our morning drive to take in some of the waterfalls that are found between Graskop and Nelspruit.

Until later,

Rachel & Becky

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Location:Blydes River Canon, South Africa