South African Airlines flight from Cairo was about an hour late leaving in the end. It was an okay flight - meals awful - ate the cheese and bread roll. Slept a while I think. We were on the ground at Jan Smuts Airport in Johannesburg by 9.30pm, but by the times I'd cleared customs and immigration and all that rigmarole, it was gone 11pm when I reached my hotel - the Airport Holiday Inn, Jo'burg. The restaurant and bar were deserted - so I ate my burger, washed down by a beer in an empty and silent restaurant - save for the three waitresses who stood at the bar watching me eat. As soon as I put down my knife and fork the plate was whipped away and the bill presented. Happy days! Upstairs I watched some TV for an hour or so, then turned in, getting a decent nights sleep in a big comfy bed.

This morning took a long hot bath, scooped the complimentary shampoos, soaps and lotions into my wash bag and headed back to the airport to collect my hire car from the good people at Avis. This process took at least an hour, lots of things to sign, several deductions/deposits taken from my credit card and photocopies of my licence and passport - began to think they might not trust me.
'Any tips for driving in South Africa?' I asked the toothless black guy who brought the car around.
'Don't!' was his one word answer.
Suitably filled with confidence, I edged the snazzy little red VW Chico (in the UK it's a Lupo) away from the kerb and into the busy traffic. It only took me three circuits of Johannesburg Airport before I found the exit I was looking for and at a steady 60 clicks headed up the highway to Pretoria. I'd not wanted to stay in Jo'burg - partly because of the bad press - but mainly because there seemed very little of interest there. Pretoria on the other hand is rated as one of the most beautiful cities in South Africa, with a long and involved history - at least according to my guidebook it is, I have to say that I found it rather dull though - it's also supposed to be a far more relaxed and quiet city than its often chaotic neighbour - this is certainly true. I drove into the city, did a quick circuit and then parked up to take a look around. There were long leafy boulevards lined with trees full of purple blossom - very pretty, must find out what they are someday. I spent the afternoon at the Transvaal Museum, South Africa's Natural History Museum and home to Mrs Ples - the 'World Renowned Huminid Fossil' (Australopithecus Apriunas) - the oldest human remains ever discovered, the rest of the museum offered little in the way of distractions. I rounded the day off with a poke around the Kruger House (old SA Prime Minister), very dull and dutifully went up to the parliment buildings and government offices - equally dull. Dinner was ostrich steak - very nice, washed down with a bottle of SA red. Slightly startled to realise that it was only a month ago that I booked this flight/trip - 3 weeks ago I left home - seems a lot longer.

Yesterday I headed northeast out of Pretoria under sunny skies, through Mpumalanga province, pausing at the historic town of Pilgrim’s Rest - a small mining town that has now turned to tourism - but claims to have maintained the 'excitement of a gold rush' and to be 'perfectly preserved' as it was during the heady days of the 1860s when Alec ‘Wheelbarrow’ Patterson, pushed his barrow into this valley and began panning gold in the stream running through the valley below. Upon hearing of his success he was soon joined by hundreds of others and within a year there were 21 stores, 18 canteens and 3 bakeries. Some extraordinary gold nuggets were found, including ‘Breda’, which weighed in at 214oz, and ‘Lilley’ at 119oz. One reef, found after the main rush had died down, yielded over 5,000,000oz of gold in 50 years of continuous working. I strolled around town, past the tin-roofed miners huts and into the main square with its courthouse and town hall - it was pleasant enough I suppose. After lunch I drove up through Robber's Pass (where miners in Pilgrim's Rest were routinely relieved of their finds) and on past the pretty Mac Mac Falls before arriving in Graskop, where I spent the night. This was another former mining town, now a 'mountain resort' town - presumably mountains come here to get a little R&R. That evening I dined on savoury pancakes, followed by sweet pancakes - the town seems big on pancakes - every other business on main street sells them.

This morning I drove out to Lisbon Falls, where high above (92 metres according to a sign) three seperate plumes of water plunge over the edge of the escarpment and into the colbalt blue of the deep pool below. It was pretty. Next, I headed along the rim of the Blyde River Canyon - part of the Great Escarpment. I was on highway R532 and every few miles I was pulling off into one of the viewpoints along the road to take in the fantastic views - it really was something to behold. At Bourke's Luck Potholes I looked out across the canyon to a sheer granite rock face opposite covered in thick forest, further on the inland plateau just fell away, abruptly and steeply and opened up with fantastic views of the plains of the Lowveld a thousand metres below. At the Three Rondavels you could see where millions of years ago erosion caused by the whirling waters of the Blyde River and created surreal cylindrical rock sculptures and left a series of dark pools which contrast artfully with the streaked white and yellow of the lichen-covered rocks.

This evening finds me in the world-renowned Kruger National Park - with promises a wildlife experience that ranks with the best in Africa. I'm staying at the Malelane Sun Hotel in the very south of the park and nestling in the foothills of the Drakensburg Mountains. I'm happily installed in my own little bungalow in the hotel grounds - I've got a king-sized bed, a marble bathroom featuring a huge sunken tub - room for at least two, the room opens onto a terrace with views of the grounds and Kruger NP beyond. Leafing through the hotel literature they told me the park was established in 1898 to protect the wildlife of the South African Lowveld, that Kruger is nearly 350km long, and is the flagship of the South African parks. It alos boasts an impressive number of species - as you might expect: 336 trees, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals. The “Big Five” – lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo – are all found. Just about to head out now on an early evening safari - I'm very excited!