S1 - Ep 378 - Pongola - Treated us to Breathtaking Wildlife Encounters!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2023
- Our trip to Pongola was an absolute delight! The journey itself was filled with excitement as we witnessed the harvesting of sugar cane in the fields, and an unexpected drive through the Pongola Nature Reserve on our way to the Swaziland - South Africa border. We were treated to breathtaking wildlife encounters, featuring giraffe, impala, Nyala, warthog, and the icing on the cake, a majestic rhino sighting that left us overjoyed. Our route also took us through the picturesque village of Ntonga, where the sugar mill workers reside, a beautifully well-kept community. In the town of Pongola, we explored streets with charming houses and gardens, and stumbled upon a mysterious caravan park that seemed to be inhabited permanently, leaving us curious and intrigued. All-in-all, our trip to Pongola was a fascinating adventure filled with memorable moments. #DustBugs #adventuretravel #southafrica #southafricavlog #travelongravel #kwazulunatal #pongola #ntonga
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Now I have seen Pongola!!!!!
Wow! The animals 🤗
Thank you so much!!!
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Oh wow that nature reserve is spectacular. I could just sit at the side of the road watching the wildlife for hours. I think planning another trip for next year is on the agenda. I'm already trying to think which will be the best Airport to fly in to. I'm familiar with Durban but I've never flown in to J'burg, my friends told me J'burg is chaotic. Looking on a map they both seem to be about the same distance to Pongola, so Durban might be an easier drive.
Thanks for taking me along on this amazing trip.
Stay safe and drive carefully. Cheers from the UK, Phil.
Those trees are beautiful, perfect for outdoor classroom 😊
Indeed! Even I may have paid attention then! 😁🌴📚
Wow that was awesome seeing those animals.
Ok now you are really far from home. I never guess you would go up this far on this trip.....wow I feel so grateful to you for doing this.....thank you and safe travels ❤❤❤❤
We were really far away from home on this trip, but exactly for that reason, we had to make it worth it and visit as many places as we possibly could! 🚙😁 It was great fun though. Thank you so much for joining us on every single leg of this trip, we so appreciate that!
A trip down memory lane for me, Jozini Dam my old home town and Golela where I started to work.
Wow that was another show stopping trip, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would see so many free range animals. Thank you both curtis & Sonja, I have NO sense of direction so even if we got lost I would feel totally safe with you driving & Sonja being navigator . Till the next one 🚙😁🥰
Yes, the wildlife was absolutely stunning to see, we just couldn't get enough! 🦏🦒🐗🦌 We often take a wrong turn, but normally quickly realise it and turn around! That's part of travelling and part of the fun! We'll always eventually find our way, so you never have to worry! 🚙😁
Hi guys really enjoyed and appreciated the wonderful trip with you guys to Pongola ❤❤❤❤❤👍👍💪💪💪💯💯💯
Thank you so much, I'm glad you enjoyed Pongola with us. This first-time visit to the town and the area was a great experience for us as well. 🚙🤩
That was an amazing trip Wow 👌 Thank you ❤ Sonja I loved your excitement on seeing Neil The Rhino 😂🎉❤
Sonia, and I for that matter, couldn't believe our eyes when we saw the rhino! 😍🦏 It was big excitement in the vehicle for quite a while! 🚙😁 I'm glad you had a good time with us!
Wow....that is nice to see a white Rhino just like that. Amazing. You are now very far from home and the trip back will be a long one...enjoy
It was fabulous to see a rhino on that random road with no fences! 🦏😍 It was a super long trip home, but it was great to have seen KZN again! 🚙👌🏻
South Africa my best.👍🇿🇦💯
We will be visiting soon from New Zealand and have planned trips to virtuall all the places you have shown us.
Hopefully, you will be doing the Drakensberg aswell.
We are staying at Cathedral Peak Hotel and slso at Drakensberg Gardens Hotel.
Thankyou so much for sll these videos of your trips, they are sure to warm the hearts of all expats.
Safe travels and baie dankie.
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Thank you for watching our videos, we're happy to hear you enjoy them. You must be super excited for your upcoming trip! 🇿🇦😍 This was very far from home for us and we were at the tail end of this trip. We had to get back to work sometime, so we didn't get visit the beautiful Drakensberg area this time around. 🚙⛰ Safe and happy travels to you!
That Rhino go's by the name of Neil
We ❤️ Neil, he looks like an old guy! 😍🦏
Granny and grandpa's beautiful vlogs😅🎉
Very interesting to learn that Pongola, one of many towns my grandad worked for Standard Bank, had the 1st nature reserve in Africa!
What a nice drive and the wild animals were stunning. Sugar caine mill excellent to show us that as well. Wow the trucks are lined up to deliver their loads. The mill grounds are huge. Thanks for those huys who make sure that we may put sugar in our coffee and tea! Another tow with a rich history. Thank you so much for this trip it was fun and very nice. A very nice town. My seat is booked and i cant wait for the next one. Well done
The wildlife on that road was superb, we were super excited as you probably heard! 😁🦏🐗 The sugar mill is huge and we were completely fascinated by it. I do love my sugar, so I'm as grateful as you to those folks who produce the sweet stuff! It was fantastic, as it always is, to have you tag along. Do so again on Friday! 🚙👌🏻
Hi guys amazing video love the mountains bushveld and sugarcane. I had to stop the video at the game reserve and get some biltong lol .absolutely mind blowing game reserve with no fence giraffes wildebeest zebra just at the side of a tarmac road I nearly jumped out of my chair when Sonia said rhino and how great for you Curtis to see your favourite wild animal! Now I'm definitely on safari so much wild life to list wonderful it almost brought tears to my eyes. Over the last few weeks I've had some young guys helping in my garden and have been telling them about South Africa also gave them some biltong they're hooked the farmers son whose into weight training can't get enough of it. I'm going to see him in a day or so and I'll show him the video!!! I'm glad you found the border and didn't get stuck behind the trucks. The historic was fascinating it just goes to show how attitudes have changed. Pedi Kruger must have been a visionary to make this a game reserve back then first in Africa amazing.!!! Always like to see the industry massive sugar mill stacks of trucks lovely grounds for the workers sports fields church private school no wonder the lady has lived there for 17 years. The town centre was busy with med centre postoffice golf club and super busy liquor store also a big mall love driving through the suburbs superb property and it is amazing to me apartments. The caravan looks great but sadly not used except for the semi permanent people. Loved the video thanks for taking me on safari to Pongola cheerio till the next one
You made me laugh out load when I read you had to stop the video to get your own biltong. Too funny! 🤣🥓 I hope you munched on it for the rest of the video and that every bite was as good as ours was! The wildlife on that road without any fences, was incredible and of course the rhino was the cherry right on top! 😍🦏🦒 I still can't get over it that we were happily driving along and we saw all those animals. Few things get us so excited, as you very well know by now! Thank you for sharing our video with folks you get to meet, that means so much to us. So many people don't know about the sheer beauty of our country. 🚙🇿🇦 I don't blame them for getting hooked on biltong, I think I've been since birth! The sugar mill and the village where the workers live, were both fascinating to see and we were surprised at all the trucks fully-laden with sugarcane lining up to drop off at the mill. 🎋🚚 We were super happy to have taken you on safari in Pongola!
Sjoe, it became such a big place. We slept over at Pongola Motel in 1979 on our way to St Lucia for our honeymoon.
That's quite a long time ago already. I'm sure the town has seen many changes since. You must have some happy memories of your brief visit to the town though! 🚙😊
That was another wonderful trip. Beautiful scenery. We loved 'travelling' with you. Thank you.
Thank you! Beautiful Bushveld scenery indeed! I'm so glad you enjoyed this area too! 🚙🌳⛰️
Nice game on that reserve on the way to Golela!
(The Jozini Dam had some or other geological problem, I think. If you one day visit the wall, you'll see it's an enormous arched - or double-arched - dam, but that the water surface is way down below the top of the dam. I don't think it's more than 1/3 full, ever. What I've been told is that it's built in unstable rock, and could never be used as designed. I think it was meant to be a hydroelectric dam.
I once went there with some friends who were hoping to catch some Tiger Fish. We launched the speed boat from the camp site on the N2-side bank, got all the way into the gorge on the other side, and then the engine packed up. Some of us got paddling for the shore, while the owner of the boat got back to work on his engine. It took a while, but we didn't have to walk back a very long way to organize a recovery, because, in time, the engine came back to life. There was probably a bit too much discussion of the fact that in addition to Tiger Fish, the dam also has crocodiles as we bobbed along.
Doesn't stop the carp fishermen from rowing out their bait a long way, and wading in. I suppose until someone gets eaten. They possibly don't allow fishermen any more. More dangerous game was introduced, I think. Dangerous terrestrial game, I mean.)
They burn the sugar cane before harvesting. I'm surprised you never came across that down the South Coast, on holiday. Maybe it's the wrong season. Sugar cane is just a "mega grass", and the leaves are inconvenient. The stalks are so thick and juicy that they don't burn. It's a bit of a nuisance when they burn. Little "flakes and feathers" of black ash keep falling on everything. If you had the washing out to dry, you get to wash it again. It's a bit stinky, too.
The wildlife sightings were incredible and not even inside a fenced National Park or Game Reserve. Absolutely awesome! 😍🦏🦌 I'm not sure when we'll be back to the area, but the Jozini Dam wall certainly sounds interesting. We may have seen sugarcane fields being set alight along the way and I remembered something I heard about the burning a long time ago, but was just not sure. Interesting info, thank you. 👌🏻🎋
What you're showing us I'll never be able to go and see for myself.
Is so great to virtual travel with you, I appreciate showing more details of our beautiful country 🇿🇦❤ watching from Acornhoek, Mpumalanga
Oh my WORD!!! How lucky you are to see a Rhino!!! I lived in Pongola 39 yes ago so I'm very surprised about the Nature Reserve. It was a dusty very small town. So I cannot edit to watch the rest of video to see how it changed
We were indeed super lucky to see my ultimate favourite animal, we were so excited about that! 😍🦏 You lived there a long time ago, I'm sure there would've been many changes in and around the town.
Fever trees always make me think of the Elephants Child, story by Kipling from his Just So Stories.The great grey green greasy Limpopo all set about with fever trees. Just love the Bushveld scenery, so beautiful!, especially the umbrella shaped trees. Im sure that biltong was amazing. So enjoyed the giraffes, unique animals! And a magnificent rhino! Well done! So many beautiful antelope, you dont know where to point the camera!🤣I feel as excited as you just watching. Could easily drive up and down here all day, and at night with a night vision camera, just imagine! 20 km speed limit should apply here. Sugar mill? No place for me, too fattening, I would put on 5 kilos just watching! I think it is the trash that they burn? The leaves from the cane? Pongola looks a lot like Bellville, my hometown.
If we had the time, Sonia would've had me travel up and down that incredible road with all the wildlife quite a few more times. 😍🦏🦒 A few viewers said that the sugar cane leaves and foliage are burnt in a controlled burn before harvesting so that the stalks are clean and ready for the mill. 🎋 Give me the sugar mill any day of the week! I love my sugar just too much to live without it, especially in my coffee. 😁☕
Hi Guys….I just love your videos. You were wondering why the sugar cane on the ground was so dark. It gets burnt in a controlled burn before harvesting. This removes all leaves and foliage from the stalks which makes it easier to harvest.
Thank you for the info on the sugarcane! 👌🏻🎋 We're so happy to hear you enjoy our videos! 🚙😁
@@DustBugsTravel Just to add to that about the burning of the sugar cane. The black ash that comes down is referred to by the locals as Zululand snow.
I remember smelling smoke in Durban every year when they burned it.Would last for weeks on end. Apparently they've changed that practice in other countries because of environmental issues.
Just heard Sonia's reaction to a rhino, You really need to go to Pilansberg National Park, all the animals cross infront and next to vehicles, same as in Kruger. But enjoy it, this is a wonderful park,😊
Few things get Sonia quite as excited as wildlife! 😍🦏 She was born in Limpopo, just 50km from the Phalaborwa gate, and virtually grew up in Kruger. She introduced me in my late twenties and I fell in love immediately. We live so far away now though and don't often get the chance to visit. We hope to plan a longish trip in the next year or so. Pilanesberg is great too, but we will choose Kruger every single time! 🥰
The clumping palms are called areca palm, very popular in Hawaii, as well as the stand-alone larger palm which is called the Royal palm.
What a treat for you to see that wildlife!
Thank you for the info on the palms! 👌🌴
The last time I was in Pongola and Jozini was in March 1983
That is a very long time ago! Perhaps time for another visit! 🚙😁
What a wonderful trip you are having. My brother lives in Mtunzini, just before Richard's Bay. It was so exciting to see the animals, especially the rhino. As you probably know, you are not so far away from the Kruger Park!! 😉
I lived in Ermelo for 45 years. Apparently there are lots of trucks on the road between Pongola, Piet Retief and Ermelo. Please be careful if you are going that way. You are very far away from home now... 😮
Thank you for the ride with you!! It's so enjoyable!
The wildlife was unbelievable and a fantastic experience! 😍🦏🦒 This trip was last month already and we're long back home. 🚙😁 We were all too aware of the fact that we were close to Kruger, but when we visit Kruger again, it will not be for an in-and-out visit. That's the one place on this planet that we need at least two weeks to enjoy properly. 🥰 Our trip was fast coming to an end and it was time to get back to work, so there was no way we could extend it by so long. Sadly. 🤷🏻♂️ Thank you for the heads-up about the trucks on the road, we've kind of become used to them. They're absolutely everywhere these days! 😨🚚 We appreciate you travelling with us! 👌🏻
@@DustBugsTravel I am so glad to hear that you got home safely. I agree, a trip to the Kruger for at least 2 weeks, should be a holiday just for you. I love the KNP. 🐘🦒🦏🐿️
Normally they burn the low dryer leaf growth of the sugar cane to make harvesting easier as well as reducing the plant material left after taking the canes.
Thank you for the info! 👌🏻🌾
De 8e dag op reis, aha fijn dat jullie dit keer iets langer de tijd hadden.ik dacht al, het lijkt wel alsof er dit keer meer uren in een dag zitten 😄. Sonia de gamespotter was wederom zeer alert, daar had die neushoorn niet van terug ook al stond Neil goed ‘verdekt’ te grazen tussen de struiken. Leuk dat een van de kijkers de naam vertelde van dit imposante dier. En sowieso mooi dat hij nog rond loopt, gezien wat je eerder vertelde over stropers. De talrijke impala’s blijven schattig en de giraffen lopen eeuwig elegant. Swaziland was ik tijdens mijn reis, het groene landschap deed mij denken aan Oostenrijk. En de opmerking van onze gids bleef ook wel ‘hangen’, dat je hier geen autopech moet krijgen en je auto even alleen laten om hulp te vragen want dan is bij terugkomst je auto gestript 😮. Leuk dat jullie ook nog door Piet Retief reden, de man is Afrikaanse geschiedenis ten top, je zou juist hier een groot standbeeld van hem verwachten. De gemeenschap lijkt er op zich wel geld voor te hebben, gezien de zeer luxe villa’s in town. Jammer dat die mooie camping ter ziele is, op het verwijsbord staat dat ze ook een ‘indigenous nursery’ hadden, wat zou dat zijn geweest? En kwam het door tijdsgebrek dat je dit keer de kerken niet rondliep op zoek naar hoekstenen? Inderdaad Curtis, op deze toer is er enig gemis aan monumenten, van Voortrekkers / Wereldoorlog/ grafstenen etc …. Enfin, dat komt vast wel weer goed tijdens een volgend avontuur door eigen land, iedere streek heeft zijn eigen charmes 👍. Mijn vrienden gaven jullie het volgende mooie compliment:”We twijfelden of we nog eens op vakantie konden naar Zuid-Afrika vanwege de (politieke) situatie daar maar gezien hoe de Dustbugs nog door eigen land toeren, durven wij het als toeristen uit Nederland ook nog steeds aan!”
Although we love churches very much, I don't always get out and walk around when we get to one. 💒 We like to switch up the content in our videos, so no two videos will ever be the same. One day when we've slowed down and we watch them back, we want to be surprised all over again by all the wonderful things we got to see and experience. 🚙😁 We had to be on the road longer on the KZN trip because it was just too far from home to be back in seven days. The indigenous nursery would've had all the plants and trees which occur naturally in South Africa and aren't brought in from other countries as aliens. Indigenous plants are very important in a water-scarce country like ours while aliens need way too much water, putting extra pressure on our already-compromised resources. 🌳🌱💚 The wildlife was absolutely phenomenal on that road, we just couldn't get enough. 😍🦒🦌 And of course the rhino was our ultimate highlight! 🦏❤️ Please thank your friends for their kind words and tell them we encourage them to come and visit our beautiful country. ✈️🇿🇦
Hi there, in Wartburg and surrounds sugar cane gets burned and then cut, the following day. Dont know if that's how it's done there. If your on WhatsApp I can send you photos. Thank you, hope you are flying home!!!!🙃🙏❤
Thank you for the info on the sugarcane! 👌🏻🎋 You're welcome to send pics to dustbugs1@gmail.com if you like. We drove home, we just travel with too much stuff to fly! 🚙😁
My guess is those are Lala palm trees. And just as well you didn't go to the town of Jozini. It's a nightmare to drive through!
Thank you for the name of the palm tree, we'll try to remember that! 🌴😁
Pongola caravan park is permanently closed
It sadly looked like that to us, yes. 😒
I think it's brown because it has been burnt, the sugarcane, not because been dried out
Thank you for the info! 👌🌾
Are you on Tiktok?
Because thats the platform companies are most active on. This content is so unique I'd be surprised if companies won't want to come aboard as sponsor
I recently started making short-form videos for TikTok, but I could do a lot more there. We have been approached by quite a few companies regarding sponsorship, but I'm not keen to adapt our videos to suit them and their products and / or services. Authenticity is what we build our channel on and we'll never compromise on that. 🤷🏻♂️ Thank you for watching, I appreciate that! 🚙😁
@@DustBugsTravel Definitely, I've been binging your KZN videos this week and I find the drive-a-long parts of yours vids oddly relaxing. They should fit into your format as seamless as possible. You know your audience better than they do at the end of the day
Het julle vergeet om vir ons die monumente van die Angloboere oorl8g te wys😢
No-one was able to tell us where to find them. We mentioned that in our video. 🤷🏻♂️🏛
Save the rhino! And the "wit ou"!
Nope. The latter can look after himself just fine, the former unfortunately can't. 😥🦏