Travel Tuesday - Hoedspruit

Tee hails from Hoedspruit -  about a 6 hours drive from Johannesburg.
They are situated in the Limpopo province - and are predominantly a farming town specialising in mango and citrus.

In 2009 we decided to take a break and visited her family for a long weekend.

I had been under a lot of stress at work (as usual) and the best part about the mini-break was that Tee brought me coffee in bed every morning!

I had no cell reception and got a few hours to myself every day just to read or relax. I needed the time-out and Hoedspruit is a perfect place to visit.

Tee took me around to see some of the sights and 1 of the best was the gigantic Glencoe Baobab tree. It is the 2nd largest tree in South Africa, but sadly seems to be dying.

The trunk diameter was 15.9m (with a circumference of 47 metres) before it split

Here is the tree taken from afar:

This is closer with me in the shot to give you some perspective:

Baobabs are found only in South Africa, Madagascar and Australia and are not the prettiest trees. Bushmen legend has it that God was angry with the Baobab tree and pulled it up and stuck it back into the ground upside down. It's a clever story as the limbs do look like the roots of a tree in winter.

A walk at Dusk

Gorgeous view of the lake

We went on a hike through some beautiful forest and came out at this waterfall. I have always had a thing for waterfalls - they make me insanely happy.

Pretty waterfall

We visited the Silkworm factory where you can buy something pretty.

The wildlife rehabilitation centre was also a great outing. Sadly there was a sick little rhino there. He ran around amongst the people just like a tame dog. It was very sweet.

His tummy would not work and they had tried everything. They feared that he would not survive much longer.
I'm not sure what happened to him...

Little baby