An African Adventure

Hi RVators,

Well on the spur of the moment my good friend convinced me to fly to his house at Marloth Park next to the Kruger National Game Park in South Africa.

A quick check in with Weather Office, drop my little one of at the Grand Parents and fuel up the RV and we are ready to go. Take off and check in with ATC Flight Information and Radar, requested flight level?Scenic My wife has not seen this area from the sky so our RV treated her to some good views.

We Flew over Bronkhorst Spruit Dam, Loskop Dam Valley, then onto Blyde Poort Canyon:

Go here for my flight tracking, register and log in, look for ?Rv7? on 11 and 12 April, it is online for 30 days before expiring: http://www.vfrplanner.org/tracker/index.php

Coming up to Blydepoort I could see over the top it is clear on the other side, but the scattered puffy clouds hung close to the escarpment face. I know the area fairly well so after a quick chat to ATC, I decided to drop into the valley that run into the Blydepoort Canyon, just underneath the puffy clouds. My wife has not seen this area before from the sky so she had no idea what waited!

Coming up to Blydepoort Canyon just underneath the clouds.


The tourist lookout point for this area is on the flat mountain to the right:


The Blydepoort dam




More Blydepoort


Then we flew all along the escarpment cliff face, just below the clouds. To the right is the escarpment cliff to the left it drops away 3000 ft into the flatlands, and clear skies. We passed the ?God?s window? lookout point which was covered in cloud.



Then the cloud started to disappear and we could view some of the waterfalls at the Graskop area.


We followed the escarpment south all along to Sabie, then over Nelspruit airport before setting course east again to Komatie Poort.


to continue...

Continued....

Then Kruger International ATC cleared us for a maximum of 3500 ft VFR. I think I should email them this picture because 3500 ft on their local airport pressure setting was lower than some of the surrounding peaks on the way east. I hugged the N4 national highway because of the low altitude and ground proximity, to at least have some escape route traveling between the hills east. Below you can make out the river and road in the distance below me at given level.



Any case we arrived at Komatie poort, and my friend collected me. He has a wonderful house in the bush next to the Kruger National Park. The Wild animals walk freely between the houses in the park. Their area is actually over populated by animals and their veld does not have enough to sustain the animals. The ?bunny huggers? in the area don?t want to cull or catch out the animals, which means people have started to feed the animals to help sustain them. Be it good or bad it means the wild animals in this park come close to the houses now in search of food to sustain them. I was only a visitor, so I am not going to voice my opinion, but the animals up close meant good photo experiences right at the doorstep of your holiday home.

A Kudu:


Some Wart hogs:


Some Zebras:


We only stayed one night, and cut our trip short due to expected incoming bad weather the next day. Back at the airport we had another surprise waiting at the RV?

Africa is not for ?sissy boys?. A swarm of ?African killer bees? ;-) decided they liked my RV so much they wanted to claim it for their queen and themselves. They bunched up the size of a 2 liter soda bottle on my canopy cover strap that runs underneath the cowl.


A closer look:


With daylight running out, and we to fly home still we had to make a plan, and quickly. We parked the car 10 meters from airplane open doors. I loosened the canopy strap and I ran with the canopy cover, dragging the new bees nest and swarm for 10 meters, then dropped it and jumped into the car, closing the doors and windows shut. You should have seen the swarm disperse and looking for the intruder. They were all over the place?lucky we had the security of the car. After 5 minutes they started to relax and swarm again around the queen that got dislodged from the canopy strap and now laying ? way between the airplane and canopy cover on the grass. This meant I could salvage my canopy cover on the one side and push the airplane out of the way on the other side, clear of the swarm on the ground.

Wow what an African experience. I am surely glad the bees did not decide to make nest inside open area on the bottom of the cowl or at the wing root for instance.

Like they say Africa is not for Sissy Boys, and the adventure is there for anyone to be had!

I love my RV,

Kind Regards
Rudi

Rudi - Your trip write ups are the best!

Again you've inspired me to head to the shop and bring the day of that first flight a little closer.

Nice, Rudi! Great pictures, and definitely a different thing to watch for on that preflight inspection.

I have to go to South Africa! These pictures combined with your trip around South Africa are unbelievable!

Awesome

Rudi,
The pictures and story were a great escape from a morning routine in Mesa, Arizona. Thanks!
Dan B

Great pictures, thanks for posting!

I Feel Renewed

Thanks for the inspiration Rudi. I spent around 9 hours last weekend filing <1mm from the front of my canopy skin to eliminate binding with my front fuse skin. I had to carefully measure the gap along the entire length, mark it, remove the canopy, file a little bit, reinstall the canopy, try opening it, see if there was sufficient clearance, find that there wasn't, and start all over. I must have removed the canopy two dozen times. TOTALLY TEDIOUS. However, your photos make it all worthwhile. I am inspired and renewed. I especially enjoyed your aerial photos with a wing in the frame, demonstrating your handiwork. I can't wait for that view.

Amazing, incredible, one beautiful country!
Thank-you Rudi!
If I hadn't already started the -12, it would be a tough decision whether to buy the kit or 2 tickets to visit you.
Best,
Dave and Ellen.

It is My Pleasure!

Hi Guys,

Thank you, and it is my pleasure!

I know what it is like to build, very time consuming in your garage!

It helps to see a bit of RV adventure and pictures, OR take a RV flip with someone every now and then, just when your inspiration goes down. Glad I could help.

Keep riviting, all that effort WILL pay off!

Regards
Rudi