The view from God's (Basement) Window

Our 1st venture off asphalt on the way to Blyde River Canyon

We left our campsite at Indabushe and headed for the Panorama Route along the Blyde River Canyon. Our first stop was at the highly anticipated God's Window viewpoint. I had read about this before we left and was really looking forward to it. Now, if you're going to name a place "God's Window" the view better be pretty freakin' spectacular. I'm talking puffy clouds, dolphins, and unicorns barfing rainbows or something. Well, in fact the view was....nice. I'm pretty sure this wouldn't be the view from God's upper floor balcony window or anything. This would more likely be the view from a lower floor utility closet window or something. Anyway, on to the Three Rondavels. 

Michelle got tired of Rick's use of the windshield wipers and took over driving duties for awhile

our first perspective of the Three Rondavels. South Africa is seriously beautiful.

A rondavel is a traditional African building. Round and typically with a thatched roof. The viewpoint looks like three rondavels stacked up against the mountain, hence the name. This really was quite impressive. A small entry fee and we followed the trail to the view point. Blyde River Canyon is billed as the largest (deepest?) green canyon in the world. And it really is fantastic. All you can do is sit and stare at the view and try to etch it into your memory. Pictures don't do the view justice. It is just so LARGE and grand. You don't want to leave, you just have a feeling of wanting to be immersed in the landscape. And then a tour bus shows up, spews out a bunch of noisy tourists and you get the hell outta there.

The 2nd perspective of the Three Rondavels from the resort. We had the view to ourselves and no tourist buses!

We camped at Blyde River Canyon Resort. This is a large resort with private cabins, conference centre, gym, activities etc. etc  and tucked away in one little corner 14 fully serviced campsites. As this was the winter season there were no other campers and we had our choice of spots.  The resort also had a spectacular view of the canyon and the three rondavels We lingered at the viewpoint for an hour trying to take it all in.

Our camping was in tents. Also, we avoided card games the whole time in africa. Why? Too many cheetahs! 

This being South Africa the campsite was in impeccable condition. As dusk arrived somebody came along and turned on all the little patio lights. For some reason ours was the only one that didn't work. No matter, in no time at all an electrician showed up to diagnose the problem. We had finished dinner and invited him for a beer. Super friendly guy and we eventually piled into his truck, back to his place, for a tour of his "chalet" on the grounds of the resort. He dropped us off about an hour later and we fell fast asleep. 

Night comes early in South Africa and we often were cooking to the light of our headlamps

 Monkeys! Vervet monkeys in the campground the next morning. We had missed them the night before but they were swinging in the trees, chattering, eyeing us suspiciously and, I'm sure, looking for a handout. 

Vervet monkeys, superior in every way to the large, scarier, more aggressive baboon cousins