Vryheid Fly-in

It's always fun flying with our buddies Marc and Lee, and Louis and Jeanette, who both own Slings, so we made a trip for the night to Vryheid for a fly-in and party around the campfire with the locals.

Lee, Llewellyn, Marc, Jeanette and Louis at the Vryheid Airport

I flew there and Llew flew back in our Sling ZDL

Selfie at the Vryheid fly-in

There were 7 Slings at the flyin

Land transport ha ha

ZDL in the moonlight

The Vryheid Church

We found this shop amusing

Selfie with the crew

Llew flies us home

The Tugela River

The home stretch

Umhlanga comes into view and then we are home

Weekend away to the eastern Free State

Amazing flights past the northern Drakensberg mountains as we winged our way around Lesotho and the Maluti Mountains to the eastern Free State province and the vibrant little town of Clarens for a weekend jol. Here's a short You Tube video clip.

4 Slings met up at the Ficksburg airport - ZDL, FRP, SAA and Jal where we bedded them down for 2 nights, being picked up by the lodge owner to stay at Shumba Farm

The town of Clarens from the air, encircled by mountains

Sunset over the koppies as we head back to the farm after a day of eating and drinking in Clarens

Lush green veld surrounded by little mountains and rocky outcrops

On our way home the clouds were hanging over the mountains as we skirted them

Clouds to the right were a but hectic so we kept left then dived below to get the gap between the clouds and the land which was now falling from 8500 ft to below 5 000 ft.

In the cockpit of ZDL - Llewellyn (left) and myself Dave (right)

This was a painting we saw in Clarens which looks like home

A view of home - Durban's Bluff, harbour and the northern beaches

Back to Clarens.. photos got mixed here.. Dave posing on a tractor

We did some beer-tasting at the Clarens micro Brewery

Windmills, farmhouses and yummy food and drinks.

In the back-seat of the handy 7-seater that Bob, the farm-owner took us back and forth in

A scary storm we passed on the way to Clarens - 8500 ft up and the staorm system sucked the planes up another 1000ft in a few seconds.

Well organised airfield at Ficksburg where we landed - privately owned, beautifully kept and with an enclosure of lions alongside the asphalt runway.

Horses and animals living happily together on Shumba farm where we stayed for the weekend.



A welcome dip in the reservoir to escape the afternoon heat.

Fly-away to Clarens end January

We're planning a fly-away to the Clarens / Golden Gate area of South Africa from the 24th - 26th January weekend which should be fun.

The stunning scenery around Clarens

The destination is the Shumba Valley Farm near Clarens which is one of South Africa's treasured places to visit: incredible mountains and scenery and a quaint town that has become a place that artists have made their home!

Details of the destination are on the Avcom website at this link.

To get there from Durban we need to fly around Lesotho and the deadly Drakensberg/Maluti mountains to the Free State Province and the airfield/lodge is situated in the eastern Free State.

Here's what the route looks like from Durban. It's an easy two hour flight from the coast and the mountain scenery I have only passed by car is breathtaking. This should be a fun event and whet out appetite for our bigger mid-March trip to the Botswana Okavango Delta and to Zimbabwe to see the Victoria Falls.

If you want to join us on the Clarens fly-away, click on the link to the Shumba Valley Farm and book your accommodation direct with Bob. Let me know as well so we can maybe co-ordinate departures.. slingfans@gmail.com - all aircraft types welcome. Dave 083-7033329

The planned flight from Durban around Lesotho to the Free State Province of South Africa's Golden Gate / Clarens area

 There is also an EasyPlan route file downloadable off our Facebook group. The lodge owner is also willing to take us into nearby Clarens and this could be perfect for Saturday morning shopping, restaurants or even white river rafting, although some scenic flights around the area would also be great.

 

 

Mkuze for the weekend

The best part about flying is being able to choose a destination which would be far to drive to and then get there in a zip! Also great to have good mates who fly and can share these amazing experiences. We are so privileged to be able to do this and explore some of the incredible parts of our country. Mkuze area to the north of our Province is home to several huge game reserves and dozens of safari lodges. We chose Zebra Hills Game Reserve which is a game lodge and reserve home to the big 5 and collectively the group saw 4 of the big 5 in 2 days... lion, buffalo, rhino, and leopard. We saw about 10 giraffe and loads of Nyala, Impala, Kudu, warthog, a croc, Zebra, and Wildebees and had a few days of chilling and drinking!!

 

Beautiful sunsets, hot days and freezing nights

The clouds had formed over the Ubombo Mountains to the left when we took off from Mkuze for home. Fortunately the sky was clear ahead.

Runway 35 Mkuze

In the skies over KwaZulu-Natal, our home Province

North coast coastline

The three planes bedded down for the nights LPL, ZDL and SAA

Richards Bay from the air

The view from Zulu Hills over the reserve

Sunset whilst on game drive

The waterhole at our lodge

Louis and Jeanette were Robert Redford and Meryl Streep in our Out of Africa adventure

Cheers on the game drive as we stop for a wine-stop!



On the game drive

Lee and Marc in the front seats



Wine stop

The baby croc at the waterhole will be moved when he gets a little bigger and wants to eat everything within reach