Friday, we ended up with a later start than expected. Jackie got bumped off her flight and was delayed until 4:50pm. We finally hit the road at about 6:00pm. Jimmy and I had our first Steers burger, a South African burger joint. It was good, but it wasn't a Texas burger (or P Terry's). I must admit, though, the meat here is fantastic in comparison.
What's better than a country filled with wild meat? With our bellies full, we drove as far as we could until we were tired. We stopped just past Nelspruit at a bed and breakfast lodge called Duma. We must have picked a good spot because it happened to be Afrikaans karaoke night. It was the happening spot for locals, clearly. We joined the fun for a limited time but had to head to bed early.Saturday, we awoke before the sun and headed to Kruger. Once inside the park, on our way to our camp, Berg-en Dal, we made our first sighting: Rhinos! Throughout the first day, Jackie, who wonderfully volunteered to drive, drove at a top speed of 20km/h. We spotted almost all of the big five, including two leopard sightings in one day! After our exhausting adventure throughout the day, we made it back to camp by 5:30pm and then ventured on our night drive with a guide named Rasta. Feeling rather successful (and maybe a little too full of ourselves because of our luck), headed home to catch some Zzz's before our second early rise.
Sunday, we weren't as lucky, yet we still spotted quite a large amount of animals, mostly repeats from the day before. As Jackie would like to say, "We are spoiled: 'Just another rhino, just another Kudu.'" Our eyes were weary from their almost over use from the previous day and we zoomed along at a higher speed, seeking out lions to complete our big five sightings. We drove to a near by camp, Skukuza. We had to make a necessary visit to the doctor because Izzy had apparently caught a tummy bug or food poisoning from the food we had at the Afsaal rest stop the day before. Although she had to sleep the whole tour that day, Jackie, Jimmy, and I kept our eyes peeled.
We were only able to add a few more animals to our list, such as: hippos, crocodiles, babboons and different kinds of buck. That night Jackie, Jimmy and I had a nice dinner at the camp restaurant. We three ordered the burger. This one was not as good as the one at steers. In fact, it tasted just like boerwors (a South African sausage). The night ended with a conversation with a man and his son that Jimmy initiated and then quickly wanted to end. Jacki and I were continuing to talk with him, as there seemed no appropriate time to end the conversation yet, and the initiator took it upon himself to become quite restless. He jumped up to pay our bill, walked around looking as if some one were telling him to leave, constantly motioning his desire to leave, and pretending that the area was already closed and that the wait staff was merely waiting on us. Eventually we left when Jimmy declared, "Yea, I think they are ready to close. They are just standing back, not really wanting to tell us to leave." But in reality, it was hardly 9:30pm and the area closed at 10:00pm. Poor Jimmy. He was so tired and knew not what he was getting himself into, when all he wanted to do was give the man some simple advice on where to view a particular animal.Monday was much of the same.
We drove outside the gate to quickly hop over to Crocodile Bridge camp area and to drive up to the Lower Sabie camp. In order to start here, we had to drive through a small town (the last town before Mozambique) named Komatipoort. Funny enough, Jimmy's dad used to get on to him when he was little, saying, "Jimmy, if you don't stop, we are going to drop you off in Komatipoort." Jimmy never knew this was a real place, or what it was, until now. So, Jimmy has finally been to Komatipoort and decided that it's not so bad. :) So, on with our day, we had one thing on our minds: lions. We found no lions, but plenty of hippos and crocs. That evening we had a braai for dinner with some traditional South African food to go along. The night ended early. Although it may not seem like it, searching for animals all day is quite exhausting.Today, we woke up, packed up, and headed to Wimpy's. If Jackie is to have breakfast, she prefers Wimpy's breakfast. It was alright, similar to a fast food Ihop with less options and no pancakes. The drive back to Joburg was enjoyable, especially since it was daylight and we had the opportunity to view the beautiful landscape. The mountains were gorgeous. The many plantations and farms were bursting with oranges, bananas, papaya, and sugar cane. The closer to Joburg we got, the flatter the land and the more smog filled the sky. It was a nice getaway.
Now we've been back to Joburg and will not even spend 24 hours here before head off to another nature lover's paradise: the Wild Coast (their families camp at Ntafufu). We will be on the road by 4:00am and hopefully arriving there approximately 10 to 12 hours later. The next update will be on the 25th or 26th.
Cheers for now! :)
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