Leopard’s Rock Game Reserve🐆
Friday morning we packed up our stuff and drove from Phalaborwa, out to dad’s friend’s house. Rich’s house was in a private game reserve and game breeder farm, named Leopard Rock. They specialise in breeding Rooibok (Saddledback Impala), Sable Antelope, Black Impala, Cape Buffalo, Nyala, Kudu Golden Wildebeest, and Livingstone Eland.🦌🦬🐃
During the drive we passed the western side of Kruger National Park and glimpsed a rhino!! We sadly didn’t manage to get a picture of the rhino. We also passed by a huge road reconstruction, an entire part of the road had crumbled away.🏞🦏
We finally got to the game reserve entrance and had to trample in this sponge soaked in some type of chemical. Our tires were sprayed down with the same chemical, so we wouldn’t bring in this germ that affects animals with hoofs. Then we were allowed through. As soon as we drove through the gate, we were met with a cross roads, and managed to pick the wrong road. If it wasn’t for the guy at the gate yelling we were going the wrong way we would have driven all over the reserve to get to Rich’s house.
While we were driving we saw a lot of nyalas. We eventually got there and were greeted by the cutest fat dog, named Ebony! Then we went inside and their house is amazing! They have a walk in closet! And super nice bathrooms in natural stone and with a view on the bush.🏞
Dad obviously got right into chatting with Rich, and his wife Petra offered to take me and mom on a quick game drive. We gladly agreed and Ebony came along. Their car was like a golf cart with a large back part for Ebony. So I sat in the back with Ebony and got trampled over quite a bit because Ebony wanted to show us everything and paced up and down in the process.🐕
We saw some warthogs, giraffes, nyalas, waterbucks. Sadly no leopards though. The only leopard we managed to see was on the security camera at Rich’s house, prowling around their house a few nights before we arrived!
Then later after we came back, the guys had started to prepare the braai and I was inside keeping Petra company, when I saw water bucks right outside.🦌
I told Petra and then she took me to feed them veggie scraps. I was feeding a youngster, when one of the “alpha” male bucks decides that he needs the veggies more than the teen. So he chased the younger one off, and insisted on eating the entire bucket of scraps, that greedy buck. He is so well known at the house that they named him Georges 🫎.
Then later Rich threw out the rest of the scraps into the “backyard” and guess who was found eating it 5 minutes later? None other than Georges!?!!
We braaied for dinner-duh- we are in South Africa after all! But Petra is vegan, and she had vegan steak! And it was actually convincing, it had a similar texture as real steak. Turns out it’s made out of gluten?
Besides Ebony they have 2 parrots, the grey one, is quite sweet, but the other one, a green parrot, named little girl, is a biter and would bite anyone except for Rich.🦜🦜
Hazy View banana farming
Saturday late morning we left Rich’s place. Another long car drive later, we get to Jaques and Adele’s farm outside Hazy View, only to have to drive way further to get to the house. This showed how big the farm is, and we heard it stretched even further. And again, a really nice old farm house in a beautiful setting. Only thing is they have 7 german shepherd looking dogs who were all looking for attention. Especially the one who always had to carry around the biggest ‘stick’.
Other than growing bananas and macademia nuts, they also have meat sheep (sheep bred for their meat not wool).
Jaques and Adele’s daughter, Margit, was there for the weekend which was amazing. She’s 16. We managed to relate to some books, and telling stories. I was just happy to have a conversation with a peer.
We braai-ed again, chickens made mozambican style.
That morning we got to watch the sheep being fed ‘sweeties’. So they feed the sheep the bananas unfit for sale. Turns out sheep love bananas! They all came running and the ones that didn’t get any sweeties were blering their heart out!
Then we got a tour of the farm, very interesting to see how it all works from baby plant to banana in the box. And then we were treated to the biggest breakfast ever. It was like the thing considered normal in some movies! Bacon, eggs, toast, fruits, fruit juice macademia nuts snack.
Long Tom Pass
On our drive back to Pretoria we took a different road back through the towns of Dullstroom and Leydenburg. We had to go over the mountains.
We used the Long Tom pass, which gets it’s name from it’s Long Tom cannon (in the pictures) which was one of the last of it’s kind on that mountain during the war between the Boers and British, and came upon a view point. There was a cannon and the view was amazing! I was feeling a bit queezy though, from the snaking roads, and it was chilly up there.
Back to Pretoria
Guys, guess what? We’re back in pretoria, not a lot happened while we were there, as we had to get back to school and work. And we only had a couple of days before we’d fly to Cape Town.
Steyn took me and Marna on a game drive in Roodeplaat Dam Nature Reserve. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures to show you because Marna asked me to take pictures with her phone. You’ll have to just take my word for it. We saw lots of kudu, zebras (which Steyn called Felony horses)
Sorry guys, trying to play catch up!
-Gitane💜