Find our hometown – III

In our last blog we told you how excited we were about Grietjie Private Nature Reserve. In May 2017 we went back to South Africa, but this time with a very clear goal: looking at several plots in Grietjie. Maybe we would see the place where we would like to live for the rest of our lives!

It was an interesting trip from Amsterdam to Johannesburg. From Amsterdam to Paris we had a delay which made it difficult to catch our connecting flight, but we made it. Happy that we made it we discovered (it was not that hard) that our direct neighbour on the plane smelled like, well I don’t know exactly, but something awful. You can imagine that it was not the best flight, but we survived! By the way, we fly with Air France, because in that case you arrive in the morning instead of late at night when you travel with KLM. We recommend it.

When we arrived in Johannesburg we got the car and drove for 7 or 8 hours towards Grietjie. Wiebe is an excellent driver and somehow driving left is not a problem at all for him which is double great for Melanie, because she gets carsick pretty fast which didn’t happen and she could enjoy the lovely views. Our favorite part is through the Drakensbergen. It makes you feel so tiny and humble. Love it! It was already dark when we arrived at Grietjie.

As it turned out two plots were off the market! Of course those two were on the top of our list so we were a bit disappointed, but to make up for it there was this other plot where we could take a look at. But first we had diner around the fire and enjoyed a nice deep sleep.

We woke up and guess what: a beautiful group of giraffes passed. It sounds too dreamy to be possible but it is the real wonderful truth. After breakfast we went to the first plot. It had a cute little house on it. However it was located opposite of the Baboon Sanctuary. It could be pretty noisy and that is something we do not want.  The house itself was ok and we could really make something of it. However the ground was mainly rock and that was not what we had in mind. Afterwards we met our broker and she showed us a plot with a house on it, but it was over our budget, so that wasn’t really an option. Afterwards we went to the plot next door and it was gorgeous. A light slope, a dry riverbed, a perfect (we think 🙂 ) leopard rock. However: no water, no electricity: nothing. We saw all the possibilities and on top of that we got ‘a sign’ from an elephant we met on foot. We completely fell in love with it. It would mean that our plans have to change a bit, because we would have to look for water and get electricity before we could build a house. A lot to think about. Then we went to the other side of Grietjie also a plot on a slope, but this time with a small house on it. The vegetation was different and we were not thrilled. There was also noise from a generator from one of the neighbours and we want absolute peace and quietness for ourselves but also for our future guests. If you want noise you can also take a trip to New York ;). At the end of the day we went to the last plot. It was a nice landscape with two small hills and a house between them. A lot of possibilities, however the previous owners thought it was a great idea to put a bus in the ground with cement and bricks around it as an extra room. It is creative, definitely creative, but not for us. After this exhausting day there was a lot to think about.

We decided to think and talk everything over during our trip through Kruger. We did and we came to the conclusion that we were madly in love with the third plot we saw. The one without anything, but with so many possibilities. We made an offer and went back to The Netherlands. The long waiting started. We need a lot of patience and there is not much we can do. So we kill time together with a boardgame or two.

Wiebe & Melanie