Friday, February 25, 2011
Africa - Day 2 & 3
4:45 wake up this morning, pick up at 5:15. What a difference a few hours sleep make! We pick up 3 Germans from the treehouse resort down the road and we're off for Krueger National Park for 14 hours of safari. Day breaks as we make the 45 min drive over in what is basically an extended jeep with sides and front that roll down. Pete and I take the first of about 1000 pictures of the clouds and sky - it's pretty vast and finally really starts feel like we're in Africa. The weather is perfect, the sun is shining, and thank goodness the jeep has a roof today.
Highlights of the day... Young elephants playing on the road, tussling with each other by ramming their heads together, giraffes and zebras (both my personal faves), lots of impalas, kudus, warthogs, lots and lots of birds, vultures. I was making fun of all the birdwatchers (seriously, staring at birds when a herd of zebras is passing in front of you?), but I realized by the end of the day, chances are good that I'll be one of them soon. So pretty, and a lot bigger and more varied than back home.
We had a late lunch - Pete didn't realize his kuduroll was basically a kudu sausage dog until after he got it - I couldn't take a bite (they've been so cute all day!), but Pete says it was pretty tasty. And then began the 4 hour search for a lion.
--Stef
The day did get a bit long after lunch. It took us the rest of the afternoon to find any lions and even then, we only saw them for a few seconds before they dashed off into the bush, so no pics. We finally got back to Thornhill around 7:30 PM, making it a very long 14 hour day. Thank goodness we were in a covered vehicle, and didn't get too much sun! At dinner, we met up with John and Leslie, who had just arrived from Johannesburg. We stayed up after dinner and had a few beers with them before heading to bed.
On Day 3, we finally had time to sleep in, though still lacked the ability (not sure what time zone we're adjusted to at this point). I was up around 6, and decided to finish reading "The Road". Really enjoyed the perspective its given me, my discomforts are minimal and my experiences are literally extra-ordinary.
After our first breakfast at the lodge, we headed over to the Maholoholo Rehab Center. Amazing place. They take injured or problem animals in and help house, heal, or relocate them. In the span of a few hours we managed to pet a cheetah, feed a vulture, and give a mud bath to a baby rhino. We also got within 2 feet of a pair of lions, some leopards, hyenas, a pack of wild dogs, and a pair honey badgers with escapist tendencies. The guides were really funny, though definitely scripted. It seems like there are a lot of problems living in such proximity to these dangerous animals, but no easy solutions. We also meta nice couple from Jerusalem (Israel). The man was wearing an '08 WS Champs t-shirt, so we asked him about it. Turns out he was originally from Bethlehem (PA)!
After a delicious plate of steak and chips for lunch, we took a little siesta before departing on our final game drive of the trip. The Israeli couple was on the drive, along with their guide, who managed to talk most of the time and lean his head into several of our photos. Other than that, it was a very pleasant afternoon. We didn't see any new / additional animals, but I think we got some better shots of the lions, rhinos, and elephants. We also got some video footage, so we'll see how that comes out.
Another early evening as we have a 5:30 AM wake up call for the bush-walk we are taking tomorrow.
--Pete
Sent from my iPad
Africa - Day 1
Just got back into wi-fi range (it's Friday the 22nd), should be a couple posts coming...
We left for SFO at 5:45 AM Pacific Friday morning, sat on the runway a bit to let the Pres. pass through, ran between two terminals in Minneapolis and hopped right onto our connecting flight, then watched 3 movies on the way to Amsterdam (in decreasing order of preference: The Other Guys, Red, and Going the Distance). In Amsterdam, we had a cup of coffee and a Danish before departing for Johannesburg. We both slept a lot on the 10 hour flight, but we were still exhausted when we checked into our hotel at 11 PM local time on Saturday. 31 hours door to door. Sitting on planes for so long (doing nothing but eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom) makes me think of the Matrix.
We got picked up from our Jo'burg hotel at 6 AM to start the drive to Kruger National Park. Our driver, Collin (sp?), and I had great discussion about South African language, African borders and colonization, and even US politics! Beautiful scenery the whole way, from the highlands outside Jo'burg to the low veld outside Kruger. I'll let Stef tell you about our lodging and our evening game drive.
--Pete
A few people may recall me saying I wasn't that excited about going on safari. Yeah, that was stupid. Safari, even while driving in a roofless land cruiser in the sometimes pouring rain, going on 4 hours of real sleep over the last two days, immediately after flying across the world on three different planes... in coach... is... AWESOME! I see what the hype is about.
Our first game drive started a couple hours after our arrival. I was so jet lagged, I was literally cursing at Pete as he dragged me out the door to meet our ride. Colin drove us up the road to the entrance of the Thornybush private game lodge, where our guides, one a driver, the other a tracker, handed us ponchos and said, it's probably too late for you to see anything. Oh, and wear these, it'll start raining soon. Great, I thought, climbing into the truck with no roof. We should've kept napping.
So... that was a family of lions, rhinos, water buffalo, wildebeest, a giant pack of deer-like things with horns I can't remember the name of now (Pete says they're called kudu), impalas, a bunch of birds, including a big family of Guinea fowl running in front of our truck for ages (apparently thy don't like to run into the grass when it's wet because it makes it harder for them to fly), a jackal, and a hyena ago. Driving around in the truck was so fun and the rain definitely added to the sense of adventure. We wove in and out of the brush, over trees, way off the main, ducking under and to the side or branches whipping past. When the tracker found the lions laying in tall grass about ten feet away from us just 20 minutes or so into our three hour drive, I remember thinking, okay, we can stop now, that already made the trip out here worth it. And then our guides found some rhino prints and literally tracked them (I've only ever seen someone like Crocodile Dundee do that in, you guessed it, Crocodile Dundee) to where they were scratching themselves with some trees, a mom, dad and two kids. It was very cute until it got a little terrifying the couple of times they got within a few feet from us and I realized they were bigger than our truck. And a couple of zebras crossed in front of us on the way back to the lodge - and adult with a much smaller one. So adorable.
I can't wait to see how Kruger is tomorrow, especially on a full nights sleep. Oh, and since we've been here, everyone's been telling us an elephant likes to hang out outside out room and we may see him peering in our window in the morning. I think I might be more excited about that prospect than Pete is.
Okay, time for bed. 5:15am start tomorrow.
--Stef
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