From the Karoo to Bloemfontein in the Free State

This morning we woke up, had breakfast at the rest camp restaurant and at 7.00am we went to see the map where the ranger mark every day the position of some animals inside the park; they are all too far away and we do not have much time before we leave.

We then decide to go along a part of the Lammertjiesleegte's path, take some photos and then head to the gate to get out.

Bye bye Karoo National Park, we will definitely return because it deserves to be explored more, despite its somewhat extreme climate.

We take the N1 in the direction of Johannesburg.

We are stopped several times by the local police, the cops at first seem very tough but, as soon as they discover that we are Italian, they start joking with us and tell us the few words they know in Italian, they are also curious to know where we're going and if we like South Africa.

As we continue along the N1, the rock formations that remind us somehow of the Monument Valley in the United States and that have accompanied us to here, become increasingly low to leave the place to immense prairies where there are several herds of livestock; the landscape we see does not really reflect the common image of Africa, it seems more like being in Texas!

Here several villages are of clear Dutch or German origin, and this is not only seen in the architecture of houses and churches but also by the names such as Hanover, Nelspoort or Edenburg.

We have planned these last days from Cape Town to Johannesburg almost as a forced transfer to return the car to Joburg before we leave, but we are discovering a South Africa that we love and is out of the usual routes of tourism and therefore also very genuine.

We arrive at Bloemfontein, our destination for today, at mid-afternoon; we are in a property that has a series of cottages inside a very large park that hosts wild animals and in fact, when we go out on the terrace for the last sunset aperitif of this trip, we see some curious giraffes, some elands, the beautiful nyalas, the roans, the zebras and the impalas.

We also hoped to see the black wildebeests, they are very rare and are found only in South Africa and in this farm they have them, but unfortunately, this time, we were not lucky.

The saddest moment has come, we have to pack our bags, tomorrow evening we catch the flight to go back home; the suitcases are not very full, we can eliminate one, many things that we have brought we leave them on the car, while the hand luggage are a bit more bulky because we bought some African art objects.

We had a wonderful trip but now that it is turning to its end it is impossible not to be sad on the one hand, but on the other we are happy for the wonders we have seen and that our beloved Africa has given us once again.