SOUTH AFRICA Continued
Kruger
National Park
Monday,
May 14, 2001
Work up early in Jo'Burg. Ate another wonderful breakfast and
then walked across the street to the Woolworths for food. Turned
out they had great food for camping & soon became a favorite
store of ours, very different than the one in the USA. Walked
the food back to the hotel and then walked across the street
to the Hyatt to pick up our rental car, very convenient. Loaded
it up and took off for Kruger. Ate at a rest stop called Ultra
City, had burgers and fries. It was kind of like Little America.
Ate the mediocre burgers and bad fries on the road. The landscape
looked a lot like the States. It was very exciting just to be
driving through such a remote place. We realized once we saw
the little villages on the sides of the road just how poor the
local blacks are. Looked a lot like the USA until we saw a baboon
on the side of the road and the "watch out for Hippos"
signs. Pulled into Kruger gate and then drove to Skukuza. Just
made it inside. We didn't know that the camp site gates closed
at sundown just like the main gate! The camps are fenced in,
so it was like we were in a zoo and the animals were free. Aweome
to hear the roars of wild animals around. Lots of hippos making
noise. As we were driving in, we saw a rhino cross the road.
we had no idea we'd not see another rhino the whole trip in the
park. Loved the setup, five star camping, kitchen with sinks,
hot and cold water, sets of burners, and boiling water in a little
container. Luxury camping. Had fun cooking our first dinner in
the dark and we ate right in the kitchen area. No tables or chairs,
though! Had to set up the tent quickly when we first arrived.
No instructions, but we figured it out. And we missed our mats,
the ground was a little hard. After dinner, we walked and watched
a great documentary, "The Long Night of the Lion",
in the outdoor ampitheatre. Went to bed early because we had
an early walk scheduled for the next morning.
Tuesday,
May 15, 2001
Woke up early in Skukuza, went on a 5:45 am morning walk. Loved
it. Was pretty wonderful to walking around in the bush. Came
back, cooked lunch - packed up and then drove to Lower Sabie
and saw tons of stuff, just driving from one campground to another!
Turned out to be the best day. Saw a female and mail lion walking
down the side of the road and we saw 2 female lions eating an
impala in the shade. We had an elephant right next to us who
wanted to cross the road. I stalled the car (you drive on the
right and shift with your left hand you know!) and it got exciting.
Saw a huge giraffe and we saw many groups of babboons and we
even saw hippos! We got into Lower Sabie, set up camp quickly,
just in time for a night drive. Didn´t see much, but near
the end we saw a pride of lions walk right by us, 3 large females
and 2 large males, and that made it worth it. Quickly ate a late
dinner, just some sandwiches, and fell to sleep.
Wednesday,
May 16, 2001
Woke up early again in Lower Sabie and went on another morning
walk at 5:30 am. There was only us and a British couple. We had
a lot of fun chatting with them. We got to the place where we
were going to walk and the fog was still very dense. Our guide
hopped out and said, "Well, we can go for the walk, and
either we won´t see anything or we´ll die."
Of course, we all decided to go back. By the time we got back
to camp, the air had cleared. They got us all coffee, we four
chatted some more, told some funny stories, then we headed back
out. It was still foggy when we arrived, but not so bad. Walked
for about two hours, and we had a nice time. The Brits were hilarious,
and told us about TV show back in England that made fun of everything
and everyone. It was all done by puppets, and in one skit, there
was a South African character and the other puppets would sing
about how "I´ve never met a nice South African."
Another skit had the South African character saying, "It´s
not gray, it´s black, black I tell you!!!" Hilarious.
We thought our guides in the bush looked like Nazi SS soldiers.
They were terribly blond, tall, and they had on this khaki uniform,
shorts, shirts, and long socks. The Brits were viciously funny!
And the SS soldiers, I mean, our South African guides were very
well trained and we had a good talk on land management and the
different kinds of grasses. I must say, the bush walks were one
of the best things we did, even though the only animal we saw
was the sound of a rhino running away. The smell of humans causes
them to scatter quickly. For some reason, humans in a car don't
bother them so you can game drive from a car but not on foot.
We
drove back to camp, rested a bit, took showers, ate lunch (Aaron's
creation, Lower Sabie Cabbage, was born), and then did our own
game drive. Got close to a giraffe, saw many birds, and had a
great time driving around. We got back to camp just before sunset
when they close and lock the gates. We don´t know what
they do for people who are late because it seems like when the
gates close, that´s it! The evening was dinner (more Lower
Sabie cabbage), laundry, and sleep.
A
walk in the
Bushweld of Africa as the sun rises. A great experience!
Our protection during the morning bush walk
Elephant getting up close and personal
