Into the bush, up a mountain

Dec 232011
 

It’s in my blood.  The bush that is. Only when you return is when you know how you’ve missed it. Hearty wel­comes, laugh­ing and catch­ing up with rel­a­tives, the slower pace of life - all adds to the charm of the small town named Thabaz­imbi.

My ini­tial thought was to do one post about our Bushveld adven­ture, but as the days pass, I realise it would be impos­si­ble. This is very spe­cial place and I wish instead of pho­tos I could’ve walked around with a video cam­era so you could expe­ri­ence it first hand. Marakele National Park just out­side of town is a favourite. It is the sec­ond biggest game reserve in South Africa, the first being The Kruger National Park. The road leads you through the park and up a very high moun­tain to where the radio tow­ers are located. The beauty of the park and the ani­mals will have to be shared in two sep­a­rate posts, as it over­whelms the senses.

Ruan was behind the cam­era and did most of the pho­tog­ra­phy. He cap­tures the heart and splen­dour of it. Be ready to be awed.

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The beconing call of the Bush

Dec 222011
 

The next leg of our excit­ing jour­ney.  Onward to the Bushveld  in Limpopo Province. We left the city behind and grad­u­ally the land­scape changed from con­crete and steel to grass­lands, and then the famil­iar thorn trees of the bush. The bush is lush with green grass and trees. I haven’t seen the veld this green in many years — evi­dence of the ample rain that fell - and it is absolutely breath­tak­ing. Rolling moun­tains as far as the eyes can see, new crop on the fields with won­der­ful sun­sets to com­plete the picture…

This is where my late hus­band was raised and we stayed for five years. We are en-route to visit the in-laws, to renew fam­ily ties and say a quick hello to the many friends we left behind. Walk­ing back on paths we shared brings back mem­o­ries and is good for the soul.

Once you’ve lived in the Bushveld, drank the water and breathed this air, it will for ever, be part of you. It sim­ply refuses to let you go. Wel­come to my heartland…

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Almost ready…

Dec 132011
 

Christ­mas is fam­ily time and this year the boys and I are going back to our roots, so to speak.  Sadly my daugh­ter Laeti­tia only returns from the USA in Jan­u­ary, so she won’t be join­ing us this time.

Back to our trip: we plan to under­take an epic 2000 km jour­ney (roughly 1,242 miles) which will see us cross 6 of the 9 provinces in South Africa and feast our eyes on some breath­tak­ing scenery.  From trop­i­cal Pieter­mar­itzburg, the Mid­lands of Kwa-zulu Natal and majes­tic Drak­ens­berg moun­tain range, over the grass­lands of the Free State, the city life of Gaut­eng, to the bushveld of Thabaz­imbi (to visit the in - Law’s).  And then all the way to the town we grew up in and where our par­ents still live to cel­e­brate Christmas!

It all starts here - This is the kloof (at the edge of the botan­i­cal gar­dens) and the view from my back yard… my own paradise.

I will post photo’s of our jour­ney and share our beau­ti­ful coun­try with you.  I do hope you’ll join me.

Come… take a road trip with us.

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