We had thought that Kruger and the Blyde River Canyon would be our end destination. Now we are on the long trek back to Cape Town. This part of the trip only has the destination of Cape Town, but not the stops in between. We packed up our tents in the rain and thought about where we would head to that day. Jack needed to gas up the van so at the gas station we looked at the map and he pointed to a town called Parys, just outside of Johannesburg. He said he had been there before and that would be driveable. Perfect! We have a destination.
Our drive took us through more banana plantations, fresh fruit stalls, citrus groves and very tropical, lush landscape.
We got into Parys around 4:30, stopped at the store for some groceries and went out of town toward a campground I had found online. This campground was found at the end of a very long, twisty, dirt road. A man came out of a shed as we approached the farm yard and motioned for us to go to the farmhouse. A woman emerged and told us the camping was down another kilometer by the river. There was no one else camping at the moment, but we could go ahead. Decision was it looked too remote and deserted, and us with basic camping supplies may not have enough light for the night ahead. Dark comes quick and we had a little of daylight left.
Heading back down the dirt road we accessed the highway and tried Umzumbi Animal Park. When I had googled it looked like an animal park, but what a find at the end of a long day. It had 3 swimming pools which Nate was anxious to try even in the dark.
