23 Nov Wednesday Margate to Eland

It was still rainning when we left Margate and our next stop , would be Gonube area; which would have been over 650 KM away which in the country is not abtainable in one day due to the road conditions and the small towns that had to be navagated and I use that word loosely. The small towns are more like an obstacle course with the traffic and the people.
So we ( mostly Carroll ) decided to go to a Nature reserve and then launch real early the next day for Gonube, a place also mention by another camper. As we were motoring along , in the middle of nowhere , we passed two huge mines. One mfg Cement and the other was mining Limestone.
Shortly , thereafter we happen to see a sign that read " Coffe Shop Now Open ", at Leopard's Rock. This caught our interest and since it was only 10 AM, we could use a coffee so we did an about turn and drove about a 1/4 of a KM up a tree lined lane until we reached the coffee shop which was more like a resturaunt. We seen two other cars in the lot so we figured we would not be alone. Surprise... they were just leaving but what the heck; we decide to check the place out. Too our surprise this " Coffee Shop " is built on the edge and high above a beautiful Gorge. The owners, retired from the Two mines I mentioned, also built several beautiful Chalets overlooking this Gorge. The owners gave us and another couple who happened to drop in out of curiosity,a tour of the chalets and they are gorgous. We were surprised to hear that the chalets are about 90 % booked on the weekends. We also got the " picture tour " of the area and the story behind the name of Leopard's Rock. I makes this story brief so bear with me; many years ago a man came to this area and lived near the gorge. Apparently, and the picture bear the truth, he domesticated a Leopard and it became his pet. A picture shows him laying on a Rock , suppositly 1000's of feet above the Gorge, but only 10 feet, with the pet Leopard laying on him, hence Leopard's Rock.
To futher our story , we decide to order breakfast, Carroll a small breakfast and me a large English breakfast. The other couple had a coffee and a muffin and low and behold two more couples come in and I'm thinking this place is 30 KM off the road and already, in the middle of the week, 8 couple have showed up. They don't even advertize the place as a coffee shop.
OK, we got to get going so travel another 30 KM thru , what is mostly sugar Cane area or wild game reserves and then we see a sign we did not want to see. It said " Only 4 more KM of gravel road" and you will be at the Eland Game reserve. I'm thinking this better be good.
It looked pretty dam good as we drove in ( as if we had a chose now the morning was shot ) so we waked in to the reception area and met with man, who I think, wrote "History Book" on the area. I really expect to write test when he finished explaining everything. All as I said or think i said was " so what have got for me to see here".
Anyhow, we stayed the night, althought we were the only campers, there were others in the chalets; we did a self-drive to see the animals but I'm not convinced a Zebra, antelpoe and Warthogs qualify as a Wild animal. We then went to a suspension bridge above the Gorge and too pics of the gorge from the bridge. They also have 3.3 Km of Zip line but it was closed as a result of the rain and foggy weather. I may have tried the Zip line if it was open.
Later, I went back to see " Mr. History Book " about my travel plans for tomorrow as we had to go about 550 KM to Gonube, our next "Planned" stop. I also said I needed one fuel stop. So he gave me very specific details because we were travelling , for the most part, thru any area that was not; to coin a phase " White freindly " It was OK during the day but not to stay overnight.
So we decided to leave at 7 AM the next day and to heed his directions.