End of tour

Last night I said goodbye to my wonderful group I spent the last 10 days with , travelling around South Africa. Since I last wrote we have travelled along the coast up to St Lucia, trough Swaziland to the southern border of Kruger Park and to Johannesburg where the tour ended last night and guest flew back home to Finland .
We had a relaxing stay at Salt Rock, walking along the beach, listening, and watching the waves, and getting a bit of a tan:)
When we left Salt Rock on tuesday morning we started the day with a glas of sparkling as we had a birthday ´boy´ among us, Congratulation one more time Jorma on you 60th birthday! ...and we all thought you where 50:)
We arrived in St Lucia, a small village named by a portugise explorer, Manuel Perestrello, in 1575 ,after a saint. In St Lucia we stayed 1 night and did a hippo tour in the afternoon, we saw quite a few hippos close by. Amazulu Lodge, where we stayed, is owned by Ingrid, a lady from Belgium, and it is really a nice place where to stay. From there our journey went on towards Swaziland, along the way we stopped at the Dumazulu Cultural Village to take part in some zulu traditions and dancing/singing, and enjoying local food( and a taste of zulu beer) before we got to Swaziand. Swaziland is a kingdom ruled by Mswati III, it has been a kingdom since 1968. It is a poor country and they are fighting for democracy, but it is a beautiful country, especially the western part of the country. We stayed 1 night in Ezulwini Valley in Swaziland, at Mwubu Falls, and the following morning we visited the Swazi Candles, and I think a few of my guest managed to add some more weight to their suitcases:) Beautiful candles in different shapes, and to a affordable price, well worth a visit if driving trough the area.
From Swaziland we headed back to the south african side, and as we where at the border post we heard some beautiful singing from one of the buildings , so we went closer to hear better. As a man walked out of the building I asked him what they are practising and we where invited to come and listen. They where practising for a funeral, one of the police officers had pasted away. The voices where amazing, one of my guest got tears in here eyes, and I think all of us where moved by the singing.
We arrived at Bongani Mountain Logde in the afternoon, our stop for the next 2 nights. To get up to the lodge one needs a 4x4 vehicle, and our safariguides where waiting for us down at the parking. We changed the bus to landrovers and drove the last 7km to a scenic place up the mountain, overlooking the bush and Kruger Park. During our days up there we went on safaris ,3 hours in morning and 3hours in afternoon and I think all my guest managed to see giraff,zebra,impala,kudu, elephants, rhino,and also lion on the last day, even if only the men went on the early safari in the morning, luckily our safariguides where kind and took us after lunch for a quick drive to the spot where they had seen lions and all of us could enjoy them:)
Today my plan is to start packing, as all our things is spread around everywhere.

Take care everyone!


Love,

Jannika