Arum Lilea - Mpumalanga

Hello Journeyers and Happy Friday!
Tomorrow we are already entering the 3rd month of the year. I am extremely excited about today's post. This is a brand new series to my blog! I will have a Guest "Blogger" (won't necessarily always be a blogger) that will share a destination or travel experience with all of you, my loyal readers. When I first thought about this idea it was very easy for me to pick my opening blogger! I have been following Leanne over @ Arum Lilea since I've started blogging. And I've had the privilege of meeting her too, what a sweet person! She is beautiful with such a kind heart. And she is one of those all in one packages. Brains and beauty. So before I ramble on and you guys start losing interest....without further ado - here's Leanne!

--------------------

Hi everyone!  I’m so honoured to write the first Guest Travel Post for Our Journey to Everywhere.  When Johlet first asked me to do this post, I sat wondering where in the world I most enjoy travelling.  As someone who is completely infected with the travel bug, I love to explore internationally but I also appreciate the extraordinarily beautiful destinations we have in South Africa so today I’m bringing you a little bit of love from home:  Mpumalanga.

Mpumalanga?  People ask me all confused.  Yes, Mpumalanga.  It is one of my favourite places on this earth.  More specifically, Blyde River Canyon and the Panorama Route.  In this particular part of the world you can expect forests, waterfalls and views that your eyes might not believe.

The Panorama Route comprises of various stops including Bourke’s Potholes, Berlin falls, Lisbon falls, God’s Window and the Pinnacle.  On route there are also two sets of caves; the Sudwala caves and Echo caves that are also worth visiting. 

This route requires you drive the distance between each stop which means you’re doing a lot of driving around but the route is circular so it does bring you back to your starting point.  If you don’t feel like doing the driving yourself there are travel shuttles that you can organise through your hotel or information centre that will do the driving for you.  We were driving ourselves so we decided to divide the route into two day trips which worked out perfectly.

I’d recommend you take a packed lunch as there isn't very much in the way of restaurants once you’re out there.  We stopped at Spar in the morning and bought fresh rolls and cheeses and popped them in the cooler bag with a few bottles of water.  This is also so lovely to do because it means you end up picnicking surrounded by the most beautiful views.  On your way back to the hotel, Harrie’s Pancakes is not to be missed!  It is right outside Graskop Hotel and it has pancakes like you've never tasted them before.  My favourite is the milk tart filled pancake – nom nom nom.

The first time I ventured out here, I stayed at Graskop Hotel which is a very sweet hotel very close to the start of the Panorama Route.  If you don’t mind staying a little further away, I've also stayed Casa do Sol, a four star hotel in Hazyview.  This is a very romantic hotel with lovely spacious rooms (the double villas).  Our room rate included breakfast and dinner which were both delicious.  I also enjoyed staying at this hotel because the drive from Hazyview to Graskop takes you through Sappi’s forests which are beautiful.  The hotel also had a wonderful spa and lovely pool area which are both worth visiting on the days you've chosen to relax all day.

If you’re planning on road-tripping out here, have a look for specials for Casa do Sol.  I found ours on mtbeds.co.za which was R5000 for 3 nights including breakfast and dinner.   Graskop Hotel was about R700 a night including breakfast.  Other costs involve small entrance fees into the viewpoints, majority of which are R10. 

Don’t forget sunscreen and lots of water and I can guarantee you will have an incredible time and make memories for a lifetime.

You can find her here:

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Blog

Pinterest

Bloglovin

------------------

Did you love this as much as I did? Then please leave your love at the bottom of the page and go share your love with Arum Lilea! After reading this I must admit I am even more confused on where to go for our mid year holiday break. As Mpumalanga is on our shortlist. And Leanne's photos just made me really jealous. 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Share your love. Even it's just with a smile! Brighten someone's day! 

Jackalberry Ridge

Hello Journeyers!
Halfway through the week, I know, it makes me so angry to think I'm wishing my week away like that. But it's only because I miss Mr. F = FRIDAY!!!! :)
As promised here is the first Part of my 2 Part July Holiday Blog Posts. Why 2 Parts you may ask? Well duh, we went to 2 places for holiday so each deserves their own post!

We took on the long road the Friday night and decided to sleep over in Witbank at the Protea Hotel Witbank. I must say we were very impressed with how charming it was. The decor was modern and the staff was friendly. We were rather tired and decided to have the buffet dinner at the Hotel. WOW - the food was so good. From beef strips and boiled eggs with mayo filling for starters, roast and veggies to chicken curry for mains and malva pudding with custard (ok here I was sold) and mini tarts for desert.
We hit the road rather early again the Saturday morning. We arrived at Jackalberry Ridge around late lunch time. It was so nice going from freezing cold Gauteng to warm and sunny Mpumalanga! We did not pack the right clothing at all! haha. We came prepared for proper winter weather. Well Surprise! haha
Anyway, we got our Tent keys and went to unpack. We were really impressed with how neat and put together everything was. Someone came to clean the braai area, kitchen and tent every single day. Bonus! No dishes for meeee!

The one Tent with the Bathroom and Kitchen underneath it.

The Second Tent with a En-Suite Bathroom.

My Boo in front of our home for the next 6 days.

Each Tent Area has it's own splash pool, lapa and boma area.

This is the inside of the Bigger Tent. (One on top of the Kitchen and bathroom)

We spent most of our days driving around. We went to Komatipoort for a round of Golf and admired the wonderful views over the crocodile river from the Clubhouse. It truly is peaceful the bush.

We also watched the sunset 95% of the time. The other 5% we were either too late or was sleeping. haha. Nap time!!!

I ate myself to death, goodbye 4kg's that I lost before the holiday! Oops! But hey it was holiday and I enjoyed it! We went to some of the restaurants / lodges around the area for lunches/dinners. There are some really great places in Marloth Park and surrounding. We ate at Jabula Lodge where we had great service and was entertained by Dawn who is the owner (this day I also chowed down 2 Magnums and 3 Ice Creams and Chocolate Sauce - GASP), we also had dinner at Phumula Lodge, and again great food and service, people in this area really do not have a care in the world, no wonder you always see them with smiles on their faces.

Because Marloth Park borders the Crocodile River and Kruger Park, we could use that to our advantage and go sit next to the river and admire the beauty of nature and the wildlife. We saw loads of Elephants (One of my FAVORITE Top 5 animals), Buffalo, Crocodiles (Crocodile River so makes sense) and Hippos. And inside of Marloth lots of Zebra, Giraffes, Monkeys, Birdlife and Warthogs and don't forget Impala. Seeing as there is a fence between Marloth and Kruger (I would hope so, wild animals roaming freely in the Kruger = not safe when roaming between houses) I had to use Mo-Landy as my stepping ladder. haha.

Cedric really wanted to make a Potjie one night so we literally drove Komatipoort to shreds to find one. And we did!

Just look at how cute these cold drink bottles are!!! They are mini ones!

But most important of all. We loved spending some great time together without the hustle and bustle of the City. Then before we knew it we were hit with a 10 ton hammer and we were already packing our bags (sob) and ready for the last part of our holiday! You could say we were rather emotional. But we sucked it up and Friday morning at exactly 06:15 we were packed and ready to go. We decided to drive through the Kruger Park as not one of us have been there before. Shocker I know, especially for me! So we entered at the Crocodile Bridge gate and had to exit from the Orpen gate. That = 175km's. It took us 5 hours to drive that! Why you may ask? Well the speed limit is 50 in the Park, and the people pile up if they see a animal. My honest opinion. I can now say "I've been there, done that, and got the t-shirt"! Never again. Unless we stay in a secluded camp. All those people around the animals just drives me insane!

But anyway, I think that was also just the irritation levels talking because our holiday was nearing an end.

So yes, that is a round up of our first 7 nights holiday.

Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow!

--------------------

Disclaimer: All expenses were paid for by us for our trip to Jackalberry Ridge. As always all comments and opinions are my own. All of the content and images posted are my own unless otherwise specified / linked to the original source. Please feel free to share photographs and material from this site but please link back to the original image or post.