SOUTH AFRICA: 1-4 February 2018 Mahai Camp, Royal Natal, Drakensberg Mountains

The Mahai Camp at Royal Natal in the Drakensberg Mountains is very large and we had to drive around for a while to find the best place to camp. We set up camp on the side of the camp where many other campers were located near a row of tall pine trees.  Throughout the four nights we stayed at the park we had some terrific thunder and lightning storms.  We felt a bit vulnerable under canvas but despite the very heavy rain, inside the tents stayed dry.  Luckily our site near the trees was safe as a few days later after the storm one of the pines came crashing down across the campground fence.  We intended to stay three nights but ended up staying four as Graeme and Oliver were sick.  This was our first real experience of camping in Africa and we set up the awning which gave us shelter from the rain and hot sun when it appeared.

On our first day we met the security guard, Lucky, who aspired to be a tourist guide. He gave us lots of information about the various walks. We chose to walk to the Cascade Falls for a swim which are a series of pools where the river water runs over smooth rocks between the pools like a natural hydroslide.  The path was paved for much of the way and was a very gentle gradient.  We passed a small rock overhang with some faint rock drawings.  The path crossed the river over a bowed bridge which Lucky had described as a ‘banana’ bridge.  We all had a swim in the chilly water along with several day visitors.

Royal Natal is not a national park where you go on game drives but we still had some great wild animal encounters.  Guinea Fowl were regular visitors.  Bushbuck also came right into the campground.  Sophie and Oliver would stalk up to them with Sophie getting right down on her stomach.  When she held out long grass they would approach her and take it out of her hand.

One day, Oliver came running back to our site yelling ’ The baboons are at the gate’. We grabbed our cameras and raced up to see them. We found a large troop with everything from young babies clinging to their mother’s backs to juveniles play fighting and a huge male who was clearly in charge.  They had come to the gate to eat nuts from one of the European trees near the camp.  When one of the park staff approached on a bicycle they all scattered.  The staff often chased them away from the camp to prevent them from causing trouble and getting into the rubbish bins.

Oliver has a nickname for Sophie – Dolly Dassie – it started at home in Christchurch… and continues now…

The day we left Royal Natal was fine so we were able to dry the tents out before packing them away. We drove up to Oliviershoek Pass on the border between Kwa Zulu Natal (KZN) and Free State.  We had lunch at the picnic stop on the pass and had a good view back into KZN.  On the Free State side we soon passed Sterkfontein Dam and diverted briefly to Harrismith to do some shopping.

We decided to try a real South African butcher shop and bought chicken, chops, a borworse and a sausage meat mix for a meatloaf. It all looked a bit fatty but we thought we would try it out as supermarkets did not always have a great meat selection.