2 November Road trip day 1 Sudwala Caves and Sabie

It's 5am and we're walking off the boat at the start of a seven day road trip. Our friend Gary is going to be looking after Polly and checking on Jackster.

The drive north is a long one, about 500 miles, taking us up the west side of Swaziland. (Later I discovered if we' d brought our passports we could have taken a crafty short cut through Swaziland to Crocodile Bridge entrance to the Kruger Park.) The further north you go, and past the vast open cast coal mines, we found the more scenic the drive becomes.  This part of South Africa has the largest man made forests in the world - pines as far as you can see in every direction.  Timber production and processsing is Big business here.

With a couple of journey breaks we reached the Sudwala caves mid afternoon. These caves are at the top of a steep road in Pre Cambrian rock and reputed to be the oldest caves in the world. They are big too. You could fit a bus into the entrance and drive a car inside. Our learned guide, with no others on the tour, was able to give us a personal tour. We stopped at a stalactite which is hollow and when struck with a rubber mallet echoes through the depths. Back in history a tribe lived here while their enemies roamed the tops looking for them the entrance concealed by vegetation.

for whom the bell tolls

is it a gorilla?

in front of the entrance

Bride Veil waterfall

The ceiling is vaulted and hung with small bats. 700M in and there is a purpose built stage and seating which is used for music performances and presentations, behind the seating steps lead to the Devil, a stalagmite form bathed in red light.

Sudwala Caves were certainly worth a visit and half an hour later we were at our first stop; Merry Pebbles Cottages and Camp site nestling in a crook of the Sabie river. A good place to stay and the Wild Fig restaurant in town centre serves excellent food (it's number 1 on Tripadvisor).

Next morning we were away so early we reached the entrance to Bridal Falls before they opened. The chap unlocking the gates let us is for R10. It was nice, a pretty spot, but we've seen many spectacular falls on our travels we're picky about what we rate as worth-a-detour. These were the only falls we paid to see.