On the way to the airport Sunday morning I saw a couple of interesting signs. It has been eye opening just looking at signs in all the countries we have visited so far. Alcohol, aids, domestic violence and rape are a huge problem here in South Africa. Here are a couple of examples of signs I have seen in South Africa.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“ We Were Drunk”
Use a Condom
How about NONE for the road
If you Drive and Drink
You’re a Killer
Don’t Look Away
(A picture of a child was here)
Act Together
We left for the Cape Town airport early Sunday morning for a 2 hour flight to Johannesburg where we picked up a connecting 1 ½ hour flight to Hoedspruit. They still serve meals on planes here and our breakfast consisted of meatballs and omelet or pancake and cheese. These two entrees sounded strange to me but I had the meatballs and omelet and it was very tasty. At this airport we were picked up by our guide to be transferred to Kapama, a private game reserve. We stayed at the Kapama River Lodge the next two nights which was a real treat. This reserve isn’t too far from Kruger National Park. Waiting right outside the gate of the resort stood three giraffes to greet us. I couldn’t believe my eyes. They are my favorite animal and there they stood tall in their own environment looking at us as much as we were gawking at them. All of our cameras came out and we started clicking away. Once we reached the lodge we were ushered to our rooms where we couldn’t believe our eyes at such a beautiful place. Right outside our balcony were two mother warthogs and their five babies. So cute but so ugly too. Then some impalas came wandering into view and nyalas (looked kind of like impalas but darker color). They were all eating grass right below our balconies. Again our cameras were clicking away.
We were told we could have lunch from 1:00 to 3:00 PM and high tea would be served at 4:00 PM. Next we would head out for a drive in ten person tiered jeeps at 4:30 PM. It was hot and humid (probably about 90 degrees). But just about the time high tea was served we started to hear the roar of thunder and then started to see lightening. Our guide said they hadn’t seen any rain in about two weeks. It is the end of summer and the rainy season. The rain started coming down just as we were about to get into our jeeps. Ponchos were handed out to each of us and then we hopped into our jeeps and we were off down the dirt roads to see what animals we could find peeking through the hood of our poncho. We saw more giraffes, impalas, nyalas, antelope, lots of beautiful different types of birds, termite mounds, tortoises, and lots of spiders. There were spider webs crossing the roads one after the other. A student named Oliver was in our jeep and he is deathly afraid of spiders. These spiders would be poisonous if irritated enough to bite you but our guide didn’t seem bothered by them as he put his arms up swishing them out of the way. Oliver was in the last and highest seat of the jeep and was a wreck as we wound down the roads getting hit by webs and branches as we rolled along. He was so embarrassed but couldn’t help gasping at the sight of every spider that came along. We started calling him Spiderman. Not very nice of us. I don’t think he saw any of the animals because he was so petrified of those spiders. We were out for three hours and toward the end of our ride we saw a female and male lion. Our guide drove right up beside them and turned the jeep off. I don’t think those lions were even 15 feet from us. The guide pointed out a zebra looking over the hill at the lions. Richard, our guide, told us he thought the lions were hungry and that they would probably kill a zebra that evening. That sure made me uncomfortable. I’m thinking, “Why not eat us?” There was no top on the jeep and any bars or sides to speak of. After 3 hours of riding around we were drenched and cold. The poncho didn’t quite do its job and it cooled off so much that I couldn’t wait to get a warm shower. Dinner was served at 8:00 PM and then we were off to bed to rest up for the 5:00 AM wake up call.
Coffee, tea and rusk were served at 5:30 AM the next morning and we were in our jeeps by 6:00 AM for three more hours of game viewing. This time we saw elephants. What a sight to see in the wild. There were four or five standing off the road in the bush. It didn’t take them long to wander into the road just in front of us. There was the cutest 4 month old elephant following his mother. He didn’t have control of his trunk yet and it seemed to just flop around. Our guide said every day these elephants push trees over to get to the roots and leaves more easily. We also saw a rhino this morning. He was as big as our jeep. We also saw lots more giraffes. One was eating leaves off a tree and our guide told us to watch him swallow. We could see the food sink down through his neck and then come back up again for him to chew once more. They have more than one stomach like a cow. I think any of these animals could have easily pushed our jeep over if they wanted to.
At 9:00 AM we pulled back into the lodge where breakfast was waiting for us which was a wonderful buffet. We had granadilla juice that tasted so good. I heard the juice comes from a from a cactus fruit. We walked around the resort and looked at the pool and spa area where you could be getting a massage while looking out the window at elephants, hippos, or whatever decides to come for a visit. We didn’t have any spa treatments but John and Carol had massages and said it was great even though I don’t think they saw any animals during their treatment. After our walk Dave and I headed to our room for a little nap. We had gotten up at 5:00 AM two days in a row and were exhausted.
At 4:30 PM we headed out in our jeep for more animal hunting and viewing. Our guide had heard there was a leopard sighting and he was determined we were going to fine it. The leopard is one of the hardest to view. Two of the other jeeps had seen it cross the road a few times. He wanted to say he had showed us the big five animals which are the elephant, rhino, cape buffalo, lion and leopard. We saw lots of cape buffalo on this trip and he was bent on finding that leopard for us. He started driving off the road through the bush up and down ravines knocking over bushes and swatting at spider webs as we flew by. It was a crazy ride and after about 2 hours of this he finally gave up and took us where he thought we would see lions again. It was a beautiful evening with a clear sky and so many stars. We ended up finding a male lion following a female. Again we went through bush following on the tail of the male lion that was right on the female’s tail. Finally they went out onto a road and the female laid down in the middle and the male laid down on the side of the road about 50 yards behind her. Our guide pulled our jeep up right next to the male and turned the engine off. There we sat in the dark with a spotlight on the male lion. All of a sudden the female started to roar and when she was done the male started in with his deep roar answering her. I still can’t believe that wasn’t a dream. It was truly one of the most amazing things I have heard or seen in my life. Then we came across three more lions on our way back to the lodge that night. This is a night I will never forget.
The next morning we got a wakeup call again at 5:00 AM. Today we had to make sure we were packed before heading out at 6:00 AM for another jeep ride because we were getting picked up for the airport at 9:45 AM. Again Richard was determined we were going to find that leopard. We looked and hunted but never saw it. But we did see lots of cape buffalo, zebras, impalas, giraffes, and a couple of jackals. So we had a great safari experience and saw lots and lots of animals.
After breakfast at 9:00 AM we were picked up for a two hour ride to Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport which was a different airport than we arrived at. But we were able to fly straight through back to Cape Town and got there just in time to check in before our ship pulled out for our next port which will be Mauritius on Sunday. The countryside of South Africa is beautiful with lots of rolling hills and mountains in the distance. We saw lots of banana plantations along the highway and I saw a highway sign that said “Hippo Crossing”.
I don’t feel like I saw the real South Africa. There are lots of problems in this country and we only did the tourist stuff. I’m glad we did what we did but I would like to come back here someday and have the opportunity to visit a township and talk to people about their situations. A lot come from other countries where they can’t find work . If they are able to find work here they live in a township and send the money back to the country where their family is. Much like people from Mexico working in the US. That’s it for now.
Sounds amazing!!
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