First of all today, April 2nd is my step-son Mike's birthday, and so we wish him happiness, health and good fortune in the year's ahead. Thursday, April 4th is our grand daughter Alisha's 13th birthday. Happy Birthday darling girl - see you soon.
We have arranged for a private safari, for the next 3 days that will take us into Kruger National Park, the largest area in South Africa, where it is totally wild. This tour was to be the pinnacle for us on this trip, other than Macchu Picchu. It did not disappoint, and in fact exceeded our expectations.
I have fallen madly in love again - fickle you might say, but Africa, or at least, South Africa is outstandingly beautiful and I felt like I was home in some way. Maputo was on the other hand a contrast, mostly because of the obvious poverty. We, and others who had arranged private tours, had difficulty hooking up with our tours, as there was mass confusion, and absolutely no organization outside the port gates for meeting up. We had heard that our driver had walked into the gates to find us, and after 30 minutes, with some help from someone at the gate, who made a phone call, we finally found him. He had our name on a paper, all right, but it was left on the seat of his car, so it was no wonder we couldn't find him - no way to identify him and that he was looking for us. The parking lot was a melee of cars, taxis, buses and men trying to entice us into their vehicles. It was hot and we were dragging luggage.
Off we sped through the streets of Maputo - or should I say through the huge potholes of which the streets are made. It was still early morning and the street vendors were setting up shop on the sidewalks. No stalls were in use here, just piles of stuff, sometimes laid out on the bare walk-way, or left in huge piles. One huge long area consisted of shoes. Leslie told us afterward that she went to one pile and it was used clothing. Lots of large open trucks were full of people who were being taken to their work. Babies and children were either carried in front of their mothers or on their backs in large scarfs tied to make a sling. I got a shot of one little girl, whose head was peaking up and her legs were dangling down. The city is a combination of old colonial buildings, some shacks and some newer modern buildings. They had a war here some years ago, but now seem to have some stability.
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The airport was close by and we had about an hour and a half to wait for take- off - first to Johannesburg, then another one to Nelspruit, which is the city just before the southern gate into Kruger. Maputo has a very nice modern airport, and Johannesburg has a very very large, modern one, built for millions of passengers, with an elaborate system of moving sidewalks going up and down floors. Signage was not exactly clear, but we managed. Nelspruit airport is well suited to the African bush. It is a small thatched roof, but modern building.
Dive the Big Five, our transition tour company, picked us up at 5 and that is when we learned it was still a 2 hour drive into the park. The gate closes at 6 pm. so he could only take us to the gate, then the manager of Jock Safari Lodge would meet us at the gate and take us to the lodge. Nelspruit and its surrounds are typical of this country - beautiful mountains surrounding wide fertile flood plains, or what must have been the bottoms of lakes, millions of years ago, This area is famous for its fruit - papaya, pineapples, bananas, avocados, and macadamia nuts (originally from Hawaii), and sugar cane. The sugar cane fields look like fresh green lakes, planted not only in the valley, but extending up every arable piece of land into the mountains. The granite mountains are old, and rounded, with huge boulders perched precariously on top of each other. The setting sun cast a golden glow on the land, and we were entranced already.
We booked our safari through Perfect Africa, and the agent had suggested Jock Safari Lodge, because it was close to Nelspruit, inside Kruger, and it was the first privately owned lodge in the park, with long term traversing rights - which we would learn later were important to us being able to go places that the average person cannot. Louis is the manager, and he met us at the gate, where we had to sign in and pay a fee, and where we were given the rules for being inside. Louis said - " you are entering true African wilderness here unlike the private game reserves". The animals are not tended, tagged, or artificially fed - they just live true to how they have always lived. Kruger is 2 million square miles and the size of Wales. Within minutes we had our first animal sighting - a running warthog, then a herd of zebras, followed by a mother hyena emerging from her day time den, with her two cubs, one of whom was suckling, right beside the road, and the prolific impalas, those beautiful nervous deer like animal that forms the basis for most of the large carnivorous animals' diets. We had not expected this luck so quickly, but it was now sunset, and this is when the animals emerge from the hot sun to start hunting for food.
First impressions remained for the other safari excursions, which are an instant feeling of being stunned by the sudden appearance of wild animals right beside your vehicle, that results in a thrill, and an inability to speak because you are so excited. Especially this is true, when they are large animals.
After another hour or more, (lots of stops for pictures), we arrived at our lodge, which is surrounded by a high wire electrified fence (thank goodness). We were warmly greeted, and taken on a tour, and shown the ropes, before being taken to our won private compound of which there are 12. The lodge was built at the confluence of two major rivers which attract animals for drinking. The river beds were mostly dry, and sandy, which would change the next day, with the rain that descended during the night. The safaris are conducted in open Toyota Land Cruiser 4 wheel vehicles, built to carry 9- 12 passengers, with a roof overhead, starting at 5:45 am. till 8:30 am., then from 4 till 7:30 pm. in the afternoon.
In the evening everyone gathers in the bar for drinks at 8, then dinner is served at 8:30 pm. We were to meet our Ranger, Mica, at the bar, after washing up, as he was out on safari. Dinner was to be outside, African barbecue style, with long tables set up with kerosene lanterns. Our rooms were inside a solid thatch roof building and consisted of a large king bed draped in mosquito netting, a huge bathtub, all overlooking our own private area overlooking the river, with a small plunge pool, and covered walkway and sitting area. After the small cabin on the ship, this felt like an enormous amount of space. We also had an outdoor shower.
The bar is below with a fire on.
At dinner, we sat with a family from Scotland, who were leaving in the morning, who raved about what they had done, whetting our appetites even more for the morning safari. We even decided to bravely try all the game meats laid out for us, which turned out to be some of the most delicious meats we have ever eaten - Kudu, and Elant. Little did we know we would meet the magnificent Kudu in the morning, an animal highly prized for his delicious meat - which is my personal favourite. Attie, the cook, hails from Zimbabwe, and his meals were stellar. We just couldn't figure out how we would eat all this food - breakfast at 9, lunch at 1, high tea at 4, dinner at 8:30. There was a group of 10 Canadians, from near Kingston, which is about an hour or more from where we live. Exhausted we retired.
I was so excited I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and never got back to sleep. It had rained very hard in the night on our thatched roof. Mica woke us at 5, and we went to the dining room for coffee and a muffin. We had expected Africa to be unbearably hot, and we didn't bring the warm clothes which we really needed. I had planned on wearing shorts, but Mica said longs were in order in case we had to walk out… ok that was a bit daunting, given what we had seen the night before. There were just the 2 of us in the Land Rover, and there were thankfully heavy blankets in the vehicle.
Since the day was cool and overcast, it turned out to be extremely fortunate for Barry and me, as our morning was outstanding in the way of sightings. Within 15 minutes we were sitting beside a pride of 4 lions - a young male, seeking cover from the older mature males, and 3 females. They were lounging in the grass, quite unconcerned with us, after what must have been a successful hunting night. The lodge's traversing rights allow them to cross right into the bush on small tracks, and they are not confined to the main paved roads where the others must drive. At first this is quite scary, as the animals are obviously not sitting beside the roadside, and the bush is wild, close and rough, but then once you settle in, it is thrilling. We did go on the main roads as well, in order to cover a lot of territory and gain the chance of seeing animals. All told we saw White Rhino, Lions, Elephants, Hyenas, Giraffes, Hippos, Kudu, Cape Buffalo, Wildebeest, Jackal, Impala, Duiker and Water Buck- which included all of the Big Five list, except leopard. Some of them we had multiple sightings and we enjoyed many baby elephants and giraffes. Just as we returned we stumbled on a family of two mother giraffe and 3 babies, that Mica estimated were 3 months old. He said - " don't imagine that you get to see this every day". The babies were suckling too - quite a feat when your neck is so long. We were elated.
After breakfast, as I came through our gate, what do I see across the river, but a herd of Cape Buffalo, one of the most dangerous animals to man - they will charge a man and kill him. They are truly magnificent beasts, with huge horns draped over their heads, and we had seen one old guy, whose horns were damaged from lots of fights, but this whole herd was right across from our room. They stayed there for 3 hours, in what was now rainy weather, staring across at us, keeping a good eye on us, and we on them. At lunch, I came into the dining room and spotted a White Rhino on the bank of the other river - no one else had seen him. You have to have good eyes as these things blend into the surroundings, or are extremely camouflaged in the grasses.
We napped, read, and I had a hot stone massage at the spa, waiting for 4 o'clock. By now the rain was obviously socked in, and the wind was up, and the temperature had dropped. It was cold. Luckily we had brought our ponchos, a last minute thought, which we had not used in Macchu Picchu. I had everything on I owned to layer up, and the lodge had more ponchos. Another couple from Australia joined us, and we spent 4 hours mostly traversing the bush, way off the beaten track, even going for many many miles down a dry river bed, looking for animals, especially leopard. The animals don't like rain either, and it was not a very successful evening, except for lots of White Rhino, a huge Bull Elephant, impala, and an eagle. Mica really tried to find everything for us. We were cold and wet to the bone, but still exhilarated by the adventure. Another fabulous meal was had, after a drink in the bar, where we learned that the night before, just before we all arrived, a Viper Python was found in the bar and removed !!!!!!! Yikes that is one terrifying snake. We also had found a baby squirrel in our room, who was probably there since our arrival, and he was running over the mosquito meeting frame, making baby squeal noises. He was also swiftly removed.
Although we originally planned on going on the early morning safari, our good senses took over and we decided that it would be impossible to pack wet clothing, for everything we owned was draped all over our room trying to dry out for packing already. We reluctantly made the decision not to go, as we had to leave at 10 am. to catch our 2 flights back to the ship, which we were meeting in Durban, South Africa. This was a wise decision, and we had a wonderful breakfast, hearing Attie, the chef's stories of how all his farm property which had been handed down several generations, and a city house in Harare, were taken by Mugabe's thugs. One morning they showed up at his farm, in 1994, with machetes, and simply announced that the farm was now theirs and he left with 2 garbage bags, broke and bankrupt. They told him they liked his house in Harare, and they were taking it, and all the contents, and his two cars, and he left on foot to walk to South Africa. His father had died in the Rhodesian war, but had enough foresight to send him to school in SA, so he had dual citizenship. He warned us not to buy any diamonds in Namibia, on the beach or street, as it is illegal and these are usually sting operations run by De Boers. He had a friend whose wife spent 2 years in jail, before they got her out.
Dive the Big Five, picked us up and we left for the 2 hour drive to Nelspruit. Fortune shone down on us, for we saw several herds of elephants ( some about 5 miles in the distance climbing up the moutons), hyenas, and impalas on the return trip out, and then many hippos bathing in the Crocodile River just outside Kruger.
We cannot say enough positive things about the lodge, the people who serve the guests there, Kruger, the countryside, outside, and most of all the animals. We drove away from this magical land looking at purple hills in the distance, wishing we could return. Maybe the Serengetti needs to be on our bucket list.
Durban seems a beautiful city as well, but all we did was drive through it. More hills and valleys of sugar cane are everywhere, and modern freeways lined with lush vegetation. The soccer stadium that was built for the World Cup is stunning and I am sorry I didn't know about it before we passed it, because I missed taking a picture of it. I t is a huge basket like architecture designed to be transparent. It is worth looking up on Google.
We reunited at 6:30 in the Lido with our friends. Karen and Jonathan had done a day trip to a large private game reserve from Richards Bay, SA. We were all glad to share our separate experiences. Barry and I ended our day, by seeing Out of Africa on the big screen in the Queen's Lounge, underlining why we so love this land. We fell into bed, but the wave action after we left port kept me awake for hours. We are in rough waters around this tip of Africa.
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