Preparing for the new adventure

After the 2013, 2016 and 2018 flying adventures in the southern part of Africa, we decided to return to Johannesburg, South Africa for another 2 weeks of flying adventures.

Werner, my long time flying companion, joined me again on this tour.

During this trip, we exclusively toured South Africa, leaving from the Pretoria area (shown as START / END on the map below), heading South / West towards the Northern Cape, then South to George, on the Indian Ocean, which we will follow North/East bound, over Durban, to the Mozambique border, and from there overflying Swaziland from south to north towards the Kruger park and back to base in Pretoria.

The aircraft we flew, a Cessna 182, ZS-FJF

NOTE; all photos were taken with my iPhone, therefore no zoom or other approaching telescoping equipment was available for photographing, the only exception being the photo below taken by a photographer on the ground, who emailed me his photo.

Our trip took place from April 26, 2019 when we left Pretoria, until May 9 when we were back in Pretoria.

Below you will find about 100 photos summarising these 2 weeks of flying fun

After landing in Johannesburg, we went to the Wonderboom (Pretoria) airport to prepare for our tour

It rained heavily as we got to Wonderboom, but soon after the sun was out again and stayed with us the whole 2 weeks.
In a hangar at Wonderboom we found this old swiss military fighter jet.

BushPilot Adventures rented us the C182 we flew for 2 weeks.
The following day we were on our way to our adventure overflying the suburbs of Johannesburg

Our C182 did not include the most modern cockpit instruments, but with our portable GPS on our iPad we had no trouble to find our way.

We overflew some heavy mining operations, as well as rivers bringing life to valleys. 

There are many small airports scattered across the country.

Our first stop was Upington (below), close to the Namibia border, where we refuelled.
Upington is the longest runway in the souther hemisphere, and was built, among others, as a back up emergency landing strip for the Space Shuttle, should it need to land unexpectedly and not be able to reach home in USA.

The size of the 5 jet aircrafts parked on the right side of the runway threshold gives a good indication of the magnitude of this airfield.

On one side there are 2.650 meters of runway, on the other 2.150 meters, totalling 4.800 meters or about 16.000 feet.

Obviously I took off from the intersection....

On take off from Upington, the runways are visible under the wing

We stayed in Dundi, by the Augrabies water falls, not too far from Namibia.
Augrabies are among the highest falls in the world, after Niagara, Iguassu and Victoria falls.
We had the luxury to park our bird under a hangar, protected from the sun.

Overflying the falls, we proceeded south west towards the Indian Ocean.

During the whole trip, we had nice clear skies

This is our landing strip at the Zandvlakte Guest Farm, a few miles inland from the Indian Ocean, surrounded by high hills, making it a challenging landing.
We actually had to do 2 "Go arounds", as twice the runway was occupied by 5 ostriches and 2 donkeys.
The owner of the lodge, at the left end of the photo, hearing us circling, came with his pick up truck and cleared the runway for us, as the animals did not want to leave the runway, despite very low and noisy fly-bys over their heads....

We had quite an experience while at the Guest farm;
Spanish tourist travelling the neighbouring national Reserve got a little too adventurous crossing a river bed.
They came for help and our host pulled them out of the river, but the "Spanish" car, after having stayed a few hours in the water, did not want to restart.

We kept flying along the coast North East bound.......

........until I reached "home", at my "private" airport

Strong head winds slowed us down. Typically we should be flying at about 110-120 Knots/Hour (about 200-220 Kms/Hour), but the GPS installed in our bird was showing speeds of 70 Knots/Hour.

The majority of our destinations were grass or gravel strips.
As we already had an experience with the ostriches and donkeys, before landing, it is always HIGHLY recommendable to do at least 1 if not 2 low passes to make sure the runway is clear of obstacles.
Landing at the strip below would have been challenging if we had not chased the giraffe from the runway.
(Look at the center of the grass strip, the giraffe and its shadow clearly recognisable)

Wavecrest was our next destination on the Indian Ocean, were we stayed at a nice lodge by a river flowing into the ocean.

We had each a small cabin, right by the water.

Lots of activities were offered at Wavecrest

Horse back riding in shorts and flip flops...

The runway was just walking distance from the lodge, visible on the photo below, where it faces the ocean, on a downhill slope, on the right side of the green bush.

Sunrise at Wavecrest, and low level flight

Along the coast, we fly by Durban, with its new soccer stadium which was built for the soccer World Cup in 2010.

This swimming pool does not need water treatment equipment, it is fed by sea water.

Proceeding further North East, we spent another 2 days at our next lodge, Ubizane, where for the first time we could start viewing wildlife. 

Ubizane Tree lodge, in the Hluhluwe National Park, was another nice lodge consisting of elevated individual small round cabins in the middle of a superb environment.

Entering the Hluhluwe park, we were welcome by a few dancing children

Every evening, at each lodge, there is the ceremonial of a "Sundowner", where the driver parks his car on a nice spot, presents drinks and snacks on a small table while we enjoy the sun going down in the distance.

On the mornings, when we leave with our "flying car" to our next destination, we do thorough preflights making sure nothing happened to our aircraft while it stayed 1 or 2 nights on the ground.
The wings of the Cessna being quite high, and difficult to climb to, the driver usually comes close to the aircraft allowing me to stand on the bumper and to inspect the fuel tanks and its content.

Although this parking was reserved for a Fokker 27 or a DC3, we could stop for a short while for refuelling.

Manzengwenya was our next stop, just short of the border with Mozambique, close to the coast.
An asphalt strip hidden in between eucalyptus plantations

Another nice lodge, a small bungalow, just by the ocean

The water was perfect for swimming.
Breakfast was served on a small deck, overseeing the beach.

Playing with the waves was fun.

Inland from the lodge, a few miles, was a very large sweet water lake, to where we drove to in the evening to watch the usual Sundowner with its drinks and snacks.

Leaving the shore, we fly inland over Swaziland, which took us about 1 hour to cross from south to north, heading towards the Kruger Park.

We stopped at the large Kruger International Airport to "feed" our "bird"

Our last destination for 3 nights on this trip was the Klaserie Camp, at the North end of the Kruger Park.
The runway is rough turf, and as can be seen, layered with elephant dunk

At every lodge we stayed, we were each time the only aircraft on the ground.
We only met other aircrafts at the larger airports where we had to stop for fuel, as at the lodges this is not available.
Here our bird is parked next to the runway, with some more elephant "left overs" on the runway.

Klaserie Camp only has the name of a "camp", it is actually the nicest lodge we stayed at during the whole trip.



It consists of 5 bungalows around a main building.

The main building at night.

A total of maximum 10 guests can stay there at any time in the 5 bungalows, the main house being used for kitchen, meals and lounges.
On the 2 first nights we were the only 2 guests occupying 2 bungalows.

"Frikkie", our host, drove us twice a day on photo safari tours, once early in the morning, before breakfast, and once late afternoon, each time between 3 and 4 hours

This jeep is different from the others we drove in as much as it has on the front left side (remember, it is right hand side driving) a seat just over the bumper, where an assistant to the driver sits, named the "tracker",.
His role is to "read" the tracks animals leave on the ground and therefore helps in finding them.







The actual tracker did a much better job than I did...










At some point we heard lions fighting. The tracker could find 8 lions who had just killed a zebra, and they were having dinner as the sun was going down.
The driver could not get too close to the dinner table of the lions, but the stripes of the zebra are still visible as it is being divided by the different lions for dinner.

Every afternoon safari tour extended into the night during 1 or 2 hours, giving the opportunity to view some animals in a different setting.

The tracker sits on the front left seat

Private breakfast when returning from the morning safari....

...while viewing elephants and giraffes walking by the water hole.

On each safari tour, short breaks in the bush for a coffee or a refreshing drink.

The aircraft is protected from animals by surrounding it with bushes.

A family of lions comes to drink at night

Back from the evening safari, on the 3rd night, a family of 4 persons joined us.
Dinner was served around a camp fire......with the camp manager and his wife joining us.

....and in the morning breakfast in the garden

The Klaserie team wishes us a safe return. The cook wanted to see the aircraft we flew in.

 Back in Pretoria for the last night, the lodge has a specialty I never saw in any hotel; a double shower

Back in civilisation and in traffic, direction Johannesburg airport, but before we leave, we visit the Nelson Mandela square and its famous statue.... and its famous steak house.

 After a fine late lunch of beef filet, flight back towards home.

NOTE; all photos were taken with my iPhone, therefore no zoom or other approaching telescoping equipment was available for photographing.