.: A wonderful week at the Kruger Gate Hotel, Kruger National Park

We flew with Lift airline (very efficient and comfortable) and spent the weekend with family and friends in Johannesburg

We collected our rental car, a VW Polo automatic, in Sandton

and set off on the 440 Km ride to the Kruger Gate Hotel on the edge of the Kruger National Park

stopping at Milly's, near Dullstroom, for lunch

Millys is a part of very popular Trout farming enterprise

that has developed into a whole stopping area of its own, about half way to the Kruger Park

Not only are there a restaurant and café, but a shop selling trout in many guises and other products

You can fish and catch your own and even stay in their accommodation

There were many people of all nations having lunch; tour guides obviously have this as a lunch stop

The menu is very varied and you don't have to like trout. They do breakfast as well
We hear that Millys Famous Trout Pie is delicious
So many choices of trout, so we opted to order the trout platter and enjoyed it very much
You might recognise some of the products if you shop at Woolworths

MILLYS SMOKED TROUT PLATTER at R275 (serves two)

A selection of two kinds of smoked trout fillet, roulade and pâté, with a fresh green salad, coleslaw, croutons, dill mustard sauce and home baked bread

You can buy trout fresh or frozen - or many other different products

Another couple of hours through the very varied countryside got us to the hotel

You drive through the Highveld, the coal mining area, with many large coal trucks,

the Lowveld and some very pretty mountain areas

Luckily most of the road is double carriageway, so not too many delays on our trip

And then a long, dreary 20 Km drive at a speed-limited 60 Km/h through Hazyview before reaching the hotel

The Kruger Gate Hotel is about 500m from the entry gate to the Kruger Park

The entrance corridor leads to the reception area

with very welcoming staff who checked us in and took us to our room

The hotel is mostly made of wood and is built over wildness, so you might encounter animals on the way

Not very wild ones; they are used to people moving amongst them. You need to be vigilant.

A large shop full of things you might need or want to buy

The coffee shop

and a shop selling high end Kruger Gate hats, bags and clothes; very covetable, in case you left yours at home

Hotel Manager Miguel Farinha with Executive Chef Burton Leo welcomed us

Sarah Watson, Guest Relations Manager, was also very friendly and helpful

Nkateko, who was our very friendly and helpful butler for the duration of our stay

and we had lots of chats about wine over dinner with Sommelier and Butler, Lawrence Moyo

Our room was light and airy and very comfortable

When we opened the curtains and went out on our patio, these two bushbuck ewes were grazing on the grass

Later in the week, we had a family of warthogs here too

Lots of roomy cupboards and case storage near the door. The room has a fan and air conditioning

and a very comfortable seating area with a complimentary welcome platter and a bottle of wine

You can watch TV from the bed

... we never turned it on; there was so much to see during the day

and after dinner we usually collapsed into bed with our books

A compact but very functional bathroom, well supplied and with a separate toilet

The hotel is on the bank of the Sabie River and we walked around to discover what the view was like Superb

Thee are many wooden walkways to get you from a to b and c to z. Any animals are below on the ground

apart from the occasional monkey, which is chased with a catapult if it becomes a nuisance

There is a seating area where you can relax, have a drink

and a snack or a pizza overlooking the river,

enjoy a drink

a beer, a coffee or a juice, or something stronger

Monkeys on the roof of one of the private dining lapas

and a large rim pool which Lynne tried out. Swimming lengths and watching for game...

where we sat and enjoyed sundowners of Sauvignon blanc for John and an enormous G&T for Lynne. Those glasses are as big as a swimming pool. Just go easy on the ice, gin doesnt like being diluted much...