One of our favourite eateries is the Brass Bell restaurant in Kalk bay. Their website is: https://www.brassbell.co.za/
The ambience created sitting virtually surrounded by the sea is amazing. For an experience like that the food doesn’t even need to be that good. However, as it happens, the food they provide is excellent & very definitely worth the drive out to Kalk Bay. If you do decide to go take the following tip from me… reserve a table next to the windows a day or so ahead of time for an amazing treat of the waves crashing just a couple of metres away from you.
Unfortunately as per the title of this blog, I cannot guarantee Calm seas… but who wants that anyway – the waves are so amazing!
Here goes with chapter 2 of my Kruger National Park series… featuring Pretoriuskop Rest Camp
First off, when we go to the Kruger we camp. In a tent. We have twice in all our visits stayed in one of the bungalows and that is ok. But just OK. Being used to a tent we have gotten accustomed to the ambience of tented life. The bungalows are too quiet. The thick walls and thatched roofing blocks out most of the sounds of the bushveld.
In a tent you can hear the owls hunting and communicating with their partners. You hear the occasional yip yip of the Hyenas, the trumpeting of the elephants and the roars of a lion. When there is a storm you see VERY clearly through the thin roof tent the lightning. You experience it… you feel it… it is all alive around you.
We have a few camps which are our favourites. In no particular order they are:
Shingwedzi Rest Camp, Letaba Rest Camp and Pretoriuskop Rest Camp. These 3 are where we choose most often to camp.
Pretoriuskop is the southern-most camp of the 3 and we usually stay there last. We start off with Shingwedzi which lies in the northern half of the Kruger. We would then move on to Letaba which is just above the middle section of the park.
Secondary Rest Camps which we like to visit are: Mopani, Olifants and Satara. Mopani & Olifants does not have a tent campsite. They only offer bungalow accommodation. Satara does have tent sites available, but is within reach of Letaba for a visit. I will discuss these camps in future blogs.
Things to do around Pretoriuskop:
Visit the tree section. There is a large section of the Rest camp where they have planted indigenous trees of all sorts. They all have plaques naming & describing the trees. It is fascinating. There is also a man-made waterfall leading to a huge swimming pool. In the heat of summer this can offer some respite.
There are a number of dams / water sources for the wildlife nearby which provide very suitable wildlife viewing points. Wildlife we have seen here are:
Lion,
Leopard,
Elephant
Crocodile
Wildebeest
Rhinoceros
Hippopotamus
Numerous types of antelope
Cape Buffalo
Rich assortment of Birdlife
There is a very nice restaurant as well as a camp shop where one can stock up on meat, veg, drinks, fruit as well as purchase souvenirs and other merchandise.
Using Pretoriuskop as a base one can quite easily explore the southern piece of the Kruger in a day, visiting camps like Berg-en-dal, Malelane, Crocodile Bridge, Lower Sabie and the very popular Skukuza main camp.
Laaiplek on the West Coast. It is a peaceful little town that hosts a place to break away from the rat race. Laaiplek Hotel.
With friendly staff and situated facing the Berg River as it runs into the ocean the hotel provides marvelous views coupled with good food. The rooms are few but quite comfortable. It is one of my favourite get-away places and never fails to satisfy.
Check out the slideshow of photos taken during our last visit here in March 2019.
In early 2001 I was privileged to visit America on a business trip.
At the time I was chairing an IT Architecture Committee representing my employer, a large Life Assurance Company in South Africa. The committee was tasked with the implementation of the OLIFE data model later known as the Acord Standard. I was to attend a conference on the subject in Omaha, Nebraska.
The bustle of New York was amazing to see. My highlight (especially in hindsight) was the famous Twin Towers. I also got to see the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island ferry.
When I got to Omaha, there wasn’t much time for sightseeing as we were ensconced in the conference centre most of the time while a blizzard was raging outside. We did however get a chance to go out for an amazing meal to a restaurant called Omaha Prime.
Something interesting I noticed was the Nuclear Bomb Shelter signs reminiscent of the cold war displayed on many of the older buildings. Apparently Nebraska was one of four states in the then Civil Defense Region 6.
Something else that caught my attention was the way that walls of big buildings were used for advertising. It was obvious that that was not a current practice but from former years as the ad’s were of an older nature and in contrast to New York’s flashy light show.
As you will see from the photos I also got a chance to visit the Strategic Air Command Museum. See this website for more info: https://sacmuseum.org/. This was fantastic. I remember entering the museum to see the huge SR71A “Blackbird” suspended from the ceiling in the foyer. Totally amazing!
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