After 6 fab days at Royal Natal NP relaxing and walking it was time for a change and on down to the southern Berg and a timeshare apartment at Bushman's Nek (S29 50.945 E29 14.037), not far from the town of Underberg, for a mid week break. What a drive it was. Mostly on dirt roads, and totally stunning scenery. We say it to ourselves all the time that the native Africans have some of the best views that money can buy where they live out in the sticks. Why they would want to find a 'better life' in the big city is beyond me!
The resort at Bushman's Nek couldn't be described as one of the most exciting places we have stayed, but it was more than ok. We were only in a small studio apartment but with all mod cons and satellite tv for an out of season special that cost barely more than we would pay camping, who could complain!
What did we do for 4 nights there? Sleep, eat, read, watch the odd movie on tv, eat and sleep. There were great views of the Berg from the grounds around the pool area but with some construction going on we just put feet up back at the room.
Our stay was not without its problems though. We tried another braai with the rubbish wood we had left from the hopeless braai at Royal Natal, hopeless again! We also had some dvds to watch on the laptop, not easy when my aging computer wants to crash every now and then! Worse still the power pack decided to die too. Thankfully we can still run it on 12v in the truck if needed for now. Going to have to buy a new one sooner or later, sigh.
From Bushman's Nek it was into the unknown at Highover Wildlife Sanctuary (S29 54.907 E30 05.700) east of Underberg towards Richmond. The last part of the drive was a steep decent down to the Mkomazi river that Highover sits on. Sadly with all the burning that was going on the view wasn't half of what it could have been. What a 3 nights we had. The only ones in the campsite with stunning views of the steep rocky hills around us. Still clear blue skies and warm sunshine, cold evenings and nights, but with plenty of free firewood available we had great fires to keep us warm. The land that the owners have is vast. The campsite is big enough on its own, but there are also twenty odd beautiful bungalows too. All set beside the free running river. Apart from the the odd glitch with the donkey boilers heating the showers we would recommend it without even thinking.
All good things have to come to an and and with a week or so down at the coast as the next stop with family we vowed to return one day.
