Sunday, 23 July 2017

Sunday 23rd July - Blyde River Canyon


Today we started the day by getting some groceries from the supermarket for our evening meal.  Trying to accommodate everyone’s tastes and come to a consensus was a challenge to say the least. We then set on our way to Blyde Canyon, stopping on the way at Harrie’s Pancakes for breakfast, yum! Everyone was very happy with their choices and the sugar overload.  We had a look in the shops afterwards, the African wares are colourful and fun. After dragging Molly out of the shops because if left to her own devices she may have bought everything in the shop, we got back into the minibus - although we must say she is very good at haggling.

Back on the road we headed for The Pinnacle which is a 100ft tall pillar of granite; the views were fabulous. Next, we headed for God’s Window so that we could look out from the top of the escarpment across the surrounding landscape in all its glory.  We had to climb quite a lot with the help of hundreds of steps. This was great though as we could burn off all calories from the pancakes and milkshakes. The views were spectacular and the camera does not do it justice.


Next on our tour, Brian our tour guide for the day, took us to the three Rondavels that are at the other side of the canyon and are three natural round formations which look like the traditional Africa huts. Finally, we headed for Bourke’s Luck Potholes, these are a series of natural geological formations and are made up of inter connecting pools.  The potholes occur where the Treur River joins the Blyde River at the start of Blyde River Canyon.  Jack, Harry, Molly and Ryan bravely paddled in the very cold water, although Ryan did manage to split his shorts in the process.

Sadly, the road trip came to end all too quickly and we had to set off for Mercy Air to cook the evening meal and wash up.