Sunday 27th September 2015 - Blyde River and Moholoholo

Today we headed off to the third biggest canyon in the world - Blyde River Canyon. We stopped at first at Graskop which was very well set up for tourists.  Jill, Jennie and Wendy were accosted by a man selling nuts and dried mango.  After buying some they were then approached by a woman who offered 3 bags of nuts (instead of the two from the man) for R50 (about $5). She assured them that the man was doing the right thing with his price but she was hungry so was selling them cheaper.

Graskop

We had coffee in a pretty fancy coffee and pancake shop (the latte came as warm milk froth with the coffee in a separate jug which you poured in).  Coffee was OK but nothing to write home about.  Graskop also had lots of silk shops and galleries.  We called into the information centre and although the lady wasn't open yet she was quite happy to ring the Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre for us.  She got a recorded message to say that there would be a tour this afternoon at 3pm.

Our first look at the Canyon was at God's Window- looking down from a lookout over a very fertile valley (lowvelt).  

God's Window

From there we drove onto the Three Rondavels lookout - very spectacular round mountains across the canyon.  The lookout also overlooked Blydepoort Dam.

Three Rondavels and Blydepoort Dam

 

Moholoholo Animal Rehabilitation Centre was then a pretty long drive and we just made it for our 3 o'clock tour.  Well, we had a few minutes to spare for a bite to eat (which we had brought with us) - crackers, cheese, tomato, avo and oranges.

Moholoholo Animal Rehabilitation Centre 

Inside there was initially a bit of a talk about the animals - they're here because they have been poisoned, injured or orphaned.  After a close-up encounter with a Cheeter (which we could actually pat), our guide took us to several cages of birds - the Southern Ground Hornbill and then into a cage of vultures.  Some of our group fed some of the vultures.

After that, we were shown the lions, leopard and a number of smaller cats, as well as African Wild Dogs (now almost extinct).

The Honey Badger we then saw was a bit of a celebrity.  He kept getting out and picking a fight with the lion.   Initially, he climbed up cracks in the wall,  then he pulled up rocks,  made balls out of mud and piled them up, even climbed on his partners head.   There's now an electric fence around the top of his enclosure.

From Moholoholo it was a bit of a drive back to Sabi River Sun.   We had dinner at the resort and very nice it was.