Kruger National Park, South Africa 8/22-25, 2006

We're up early and actually had checked out the night before, giving the Lonely Planet book on SE Asia to the clerk at the Sandton.  Faxed info to the calling card company that night too.  They never returned the call.  I had to call again and Customer Service is closed till tomorrow.  Will have to call from Kruger or en route.  Elaine picks us up and we head out of Joberg.  The bus is full and Sonny is driving.  We pick another 2 girls up in Johannesburg and head out of town.  I see the first zebra en route grazing in the countryside like you would see a white-tailed deer in the States.  AMAZING!  We stop for breakfast at a Steer, chain somewhat like McDonald's or Burger King.  I get a cappuccino and fries.  Elaine will call the phone company for me and let me use her cell.  We head for Kruger, the drive is about 4 hours to the north of Johannesburg.  Half way there we switch vehicles.  They transfer all the stuff to another vehicle.  We finally arrive at the park and go to the campground where some of the people are staying and we all have lunch.  They put out a spread with some lunch meat, bread, veggies and fruit.  We all eat sitting around on camp stools, some people in the covered room where there is a refrigerator and the food and utensils are all laid out there.  Now we're off to our first safari ride about 3 p.m.  See lots of impalas, zebras and watch the giraffes up close.  There is a baby with the huge male and female.  The male is trying to mate with the female.  We go back to the entrance because we're going on a night safari thru the park with the Park's guide, Dingaan.  We are in an open vehicle and Janeen and I are up in the front.  We do see a lioness, a cub and 2 huge males.  One of the males is limping.  They came out of the bush and crossed the road in front of us and are apparently a pride of 12 and evidently we saw the last 4 lions.  They are using spot lights on either side of the vehicle and the guide has one up in front too.  We go on from here and see some cats using the lights and some other night creatures.  Overall, I enjoy the day rides much more.  We're back to the gates and Elaine is there to pick us up in her vehicle.  The couple with us are Luis and Erica, he's from Spain and she is Swedish.  They have been together for 11 years living in Madrid.  She had gone there to study Spanish and met Luis at a club of some kind.  He spotted her and wanted to know who she was and that started the whole relationship.  They are a very nice couple.  Elaine takes us to the Timbavati Safari Lodge we'll be staying at for 2 days.  It's a very nice place and we have the cutest African hut that we are staying in.  It's circular with a grass roof and inside the ceiling is white with dark logs in a pattern.  I took a pic of the ceiling.  It has a small room where we have our luggage, the bath off this larger room with 2 twin beds.  It is a very nice room with a small sitting area outside but we would come back late and in the dark and leave early in the dark, not allowing us to enjoy it much.  Spent most of the time sleeping.  However, the purpose of the trip is to see animals and not relax in a lovely room.  Elaine makes us dinner and I have a couple glasses of wine at the bar while waiting.  They also put on a show for us and I get up with the kids and dance.  They put a silly full grass skirt on me and I attempt to shake my hips as these young girls do.  It's all pretty silly.  For dinner it's a campfire stew with ground beef and macaroni noodles that are not too bad and retire to our hut to sleep.  We're up early to get coffee at the larger circular stick building where there is hot water all the time for coffee, tea and biscuits.  We go for a ride in the park looking for animals.  It's still dark when we leave Timbavati.  Dawn is breaking when we enter Kruger.  We see a bunch of warthogs, more impalas and zebras.  We also see 5 lion cubs and watch them for a bit.  See a herd of wilder beasts, some birds and then find a picnic area to have breakfast.  Lots of birds in the picnic area.  Skeleton heads of buffalo and antelope that I take a picture of hanging nailed to the trees in the picnic area.  There is a small owl in the tree, actually 2 and I don't know the name.  I take pics of it but not sure they will be able to be seen.  They are very well camouflaged.  Elaine makes a good breakfast and we go on to some more game drives.  See more zebras, birds and elephants, lots of impala and giraffes.  We stop at the national park gift shop and I buy a caftan that I use and enjoy all the time today, kids socks, a woven basket and a book on the animals in the park with a map of the park.  So glad today to have that book to identify some of the animals in my pictures that I am just putting together today as I write this.  Back out to more game drives.  We spot a lone baboon and photo him.  He's in the grassy Savannah and it's very strange that he is alone.  He tries to hide from us behind a bush.  Now a group of elephants approach us and cross the road.  It's all very exciting watching all this wild life activity.  The elephants cross right in front of us.  Stop now at another picnic area in the park for lunch.  An antelope walks thru the picnic area and right by our picnic table.  I get some photos of him or her?  We go again on another game drive thru the park.  This time we pass a group of elephants wanting to cross the road.  There is a car parked and we pass it and stop past the group of elephants.  We're watching them approach the road and the big one starts to charge the car, stopping with a thunder and kicking his leg forward as it to give us the "finger".  In the meantime Luis yells "go" to Elaine, Janeen says "no" and I am about to strike Janeen for her comment when the elephant stops.  Elaine was confident all along but we are hilariously laughing in the vehicle over the whole incident.  I just recently saw a documentary on African animals and in Kruger park that are killers.  If the elephant had charged us our vehicle would have been rolled over and who knows what could have happened.  People have been killed in the park by lions, elephants, rhinos and most often by hippos, surprizingly enough.  We continue on thru the park and see more animal life.  Back to the lodge and get ready for dinner.  We are now joined by a couple from Holland who are disappointed so far by their trip.  hey have been waiting around most of the day to join a group.  They booked the safari on line so it appears just showing up and booking the safari is the way to go.  Very nice couple but I have forgotten their unusual names.  Elaine makes dinner of chicken camp stew and rice and we eat in the restaurant area of the resort.  Then to bed as we're up early again tomorrow.  Next day off again in the dark and into the park early.  View many animals again.  I'm writing this page in Crete and can't remember too much of that morning.  The only clews are the notes I've made on the tablet keeping track of the money spent.  This is the morning we take the walk with the park service.  We do stop for breakfast and Elaine makes another nice breakfast for us again.  It's a different eating spot but I think it was the one we had lunch as yesterday.  There are several of these areas in the park with cooking facility buildings that have sinks with running water and top ranges to cook on.  Elaine uses the grills by the picnic tables.  I don't have the photos to refer to anymore either as the Cd's have been sent home and that was my help.  The walk is fun.  There are 2 guides, Dingaan and Rodney, both with big game rifles and it is impressive to all of us.  Dingaan tells us not to talk and to follow in one straight line.  The 2 guides are at the head and Janeen is so pushy she always positions herself to the front near the guides.  I am at the very back and taking pics.  We see the Giant Vescoux Eagle Owl and White faced Scops Owl on the walk with Dingaan and Rodney.  We stop first by a tree where an elephant has rubbed the mud off his body.  The whole lower part of the tree is covered with this mud.  They roll in the mud to coat themselves and when they rub it off it removes parasites that are on their skin along with the mud.  We go on and he shows us dried fecal from the elephants that they use for different purposes that I can no longer remember.  Also shows us the dried fecal from impalas pellets that as boys Dingaan and his buddies would take in their mouths and spit in a game.  The one shooting the pellets the farthest is the winner similar to people spitting watermelon seeds.  The pellets resemble deer fecal pellets.  We see giraffes and zebras grazing and try to keep out of the wind so they will not smell our scent and run off.  They will think that we are stalking them.  We get to the river bed and he identifies footprints from an elephant and a rhino.  The elephant's is oblong and the rhino's is shaped similar but you can see the toe they have from the print.  We sit on boulders in the river bed as there is not water at this time.  Just sit there talking and enjoying the experience of being out where the animals live.  He shows us how to dig in the sand to find water and where an elephant has used his trunk to do this very thing and then he drinks the water from the hole he has dug.  We walk on to another part of the river were there are elephants and we get near to observe them, taking care for them not to pick up our scent.  The line of humans bent over trying to hide from the wild life is amusing and fun.   We get quite near them.  There are 3 and they are crossing the river bed towards us.  They pass fairly close to us which is exciting and we watch them walk off in the Savannah.  Hike back thru the Savannah observing more zebras.  We see many birds that I cannot remember the names of.  Back to the open-air truck we have arrived in and all climb in for the trip back to the Kruger camp.  Here we join Elaine again and go out on safari to look for more animals.  We stop at a camp for lunch and again after lunch, safari for wildlife.  She takes us to the river to observe hippos and crocodiles from the truck and then a shelterd observatory building above the river.  We see a couple crocs and several hippos both in the water and a few lying on the riverbed edge.  The hippos stay in the water most of the day because their skin can burn from the sun.  The leave the river at night to graze in the foilage alongside the river.  We end the safari earlier today and head for our most wonderful primitive-elegant campsite.  It is on the private land outside and bordering up to Kruger Park.  It is owned by an older couple.  The ground is clear and there are many cactus that are quite large and very beautiful.  Like a shrub.  There are tents all about and all are names of snakes.  Ours is Mamba Tent.  In front of the entrance to our tent is a picnic table, stacks of wood for a campfire or to cook with in the iron grill which stands near the picnic table.  To the left of the tent entrance is a stand holding a wash basin with a large pitcher of water below and an oblong mirror above hanging from a tent pole.  To the right of the mirror is a hook holding an oil burning lantern.  We have a lantern in the tent and an extra one to use for finding the toilets, showers and wash basins in the bathroom.  This is all across the camp from our tent.  To the right of our tent is 2 big picnic tables by a huge campfire the owner has already going for us.  There is no electricity in this camp.  Outside the bathroom area is a huge stone structure they call "the donkey".  It is elongated in shape and at either end  is a steel door.  This holds the water and the doors are used to fill with wood to heat the water for the showers and wash basins.  On the donkey side of the bathroom building is a double sink for washing dishes, clothes etc.  To the left is the boys, to the right is the girls individual bathrooms, from either side of these wash basins.  As you walk into the individual bathrooms, to the left is the wash basin and 2 toilets each in a separate room and each with a lattern that is lite all the time.  To the right of the wash basin also hangs a permanent lantern.  To the right, as you enter the ladies bathroom, is an outdoor shower with another hanging lantern.  The half walls around the shower and the structure of the entire building is a local beautiful limestone mortared together.  The colors are incredible of aqua, burnt red, browns of every tone and maze.  There is no roof to the shower area of the bathroom.  I am in seventh heaven !!!!   I take a shower before it gets dark but use my lantern from the tent and the one in the shower.  The water is very hot and you must use cold to regulate.  It was the best shower since "Pine Trail"!  For those of you who don't know this terminology, Fred and I had an outdoor shower at our home in Ogden Dunes, IN, outside our bedroom and below the deck above, that we used from early Spring till before the frost in October.  Now the tent has very comfortable twin beds, chest at the end of each bed for your stuff, a table in between the beds with the permanent lantern.  At each side of the door was open cabinets holding utensils, pans, dishes and glassware.  The glassware was made from old wine bottles.  The wine glasses being the top half of the wine bottle turned upside down and bases from another bottle heated to the neck to form the base of the glass.  Very elegant.  The drinking glass was the lower portion of the wine bottle and all edges grinded to perfection.  I had wine with me and immediately poured a glass of wine into this fabulous glassware, taking the wine to the campfire and sharing with my safari mates!  We have a wonderful meal this night that Elaine prepares of steak on the campfire, sweet potatoes in the campfire coals with some squash and a salad.  It was a wonderful evening with Elaine, our guide, Luis from Madrid, his partner Erica from Sweden who have been living together in Madrid for over 10 years, and this wonderful couple from Holland.  He is an architect and I can't remember their unusual names.  We go to bed full of good food and great wine.  Fall asleep listening to the lions roaring outside the fenced area of our elegant campsite.  Up with the daylight and have a wonderful breakfast at the campsite.  There is a band of monkeys trying to steal food while Elaine prepares a great breakfast.  We pack up our things and leave this wonderful campsite I will never forget!  We go to the Hoedspruit Research and Breeding Center for cheetahs, before we have to leave for Johannesburg.  It's interesting how they are studying and raising these animals.  They behave quite different than Cheetahs in the wild and are calm around humans.  There is also this big area the center uses for throwing the carcasses of animals they have used to feed the Cheetahs and other resident meat eating animals.  The call it the "vulture restaurant" because the vultures and other meat eating birds finish off the carcasses clean.  I buy some things in their shop, a black strap top with embroidered big 5 heads on it, some wooden spoons with carved zebra and giraffe heads on them and Zulu love letters.  Sonny will drive us back.  The Dutch couple have another day but Janeen, myself, Luis and Erica are returning to Johannesburg's airport.  We are all going on to Capetown.  Janeen and I are on a flight leaving at 9:30 p.m. but Luis and Erica still need to ascertain their flight. We drive thru the mountains past this beautiful waterfall and Sonny starts having some problems with the van.  We stop in Lydenburg to a garage and he finds out he must call the office.  They are sending another van for us and Sonny will have to stay in Lydenburg the nite for the garage to fix the vehicle.  The poor guy will sleep in the van.  We shop here using up our time.  I buy a blouse in a store for $26 and also 2 cotton halter tops, one orange and one black for $3.85 each which I use alot today and are very inexpensive.  They are very cute.  We wander thru the town here and basically kill time.  The town is very black and we seem to be an attraction.  We buy some candy and also have dinner here while waiting for the van to arrive.  The van finally arrives and I think we may make the flight.  We're headed now for the Johannesburg airport and the guy makes a stop to eat as I guess he doesn't understand that we have a flight to catch.  We tell him we need to go on and can probably catch our flight.  We're all back in the van on pins and needles and get to the airport about the time the counter will close.  We run in and they check our cases, give us boarding passes and we amazingly make the flight.  Luis and Erica stay another night in Johannesburg and catch a flight in the a.m.  We arrive in Capetown early in the a.m the next day.  Get a taxi to St. Paul's and Melvin, who is expecting us,  lets us in......Capetown, South Africa........