Deb's Rwandan Adventures: South African Safari- the real thing!

Kruger National Park in South Africa is larger than the country of Rwanda or the state of Rhode Island. Obviously we couldn't see the whole thing but our three days in the Range Rover were really cool. We flew into Johannesburg (Jo-burg as it's known locally) South Africa late Friday night and met up with Adeline, Caroline and Emi Ellis, friends from NY that we often travel with. A harrowing 15 hour flight brought them to Joburg and the Protea Hotel early Saturday morning. We got them settled in and then set out to explore the town for the afternoon. Zoe had done a little research with friends who went to school there and we had a short itinerary of local sites on our agenda. Unfortunately the receptionist told us that those areas were unsafe and we would surely be mugged/throats cut if we walked around.

Nelson Mandela square

Not taking any chances, we took their advice and jumped on the Gautrain to Mandela Square for lunch and a quick walk around. Aside from a giant statue of Nelson Mandela it felt like a NJ mall. We walked a bit, had delicious Thai food for lunch then hired a taxi to take us to one of Zoe's recommended areas. Enough of Forever 21!

We had a rather questionable taxi ride through areas that were nothing like a mall and ended up in Maubonneng, the artistic section of town. We walked a bit went thru a few galleries and stores then took the train back home in one piece.


The girls and Nelson

Papa elephant

This bird has 13 colors

Same As above

Up close in the wild, so cute these giraffes

Next morning bright and early we zipped over to the airport, spent a little time buying Zulu jewelry in the shops then flew to Nelsbruit, where we were picked up by our So. African guide, Dave. Our safari began.
We spent the next 3 days in and out of a big Range Rover tracking anything we could find. First night we gave Dave the night off from "home-cooking" and opted for the great looking menu in the restaurant in our camp ground. At a table overlooking the river we saw elephants, hippos and rhino's as we ate dinner. Dave was a scream and we had lots of fun with him. After a drink or two we confessed that we weren't really animal people and if we missed anything on the list we would not be crushed. Pressure off he turned out to be a a nice guy, well traveled, spoke perfect English and was well acquainted with the American political climate.

When we weren't thrilled by the sites we spent time discussing the upcoming election and teaching Dave a few choice American expressions. His favorite had to be "why buy the milk when you get the cow for free?" courtesy of Paul, followed by I'm "jonesin" for a cuppa coffee and "We're off like dirty shirts". The scenery was incredible, the animals beautiful to see and the 4am sunrises spectacular. Enjoy the photos.

female lion guarding 2 dead buffalo

Dead buffalo waiting to be eaten by the lion pride

Dead buffalo at 7pm, here vulture covered carcass at 4am

Rhino crossing

Baby elephants were so cute

Hyena lying about in the sun

Dead hippo surrounded by crocodiles waiting to feast

A view from the big Range Rover starting night tour

It was nice to see herds of animals roaming the park together/zebra and buffalo

We saw so many elephants but they were great to watch.

More elephants

Still blurry but beautiful

A little blurry but spectacular iridescent blue

The whole group preparing for another day looking for animals

Hyena by night using powerful flashlights

sunset over South Africa

Close up of rhinos- one of the "ugly five"

The time to see animals is early morning so Dave had us up at 4am each day to start the tracking. A few sips of instant coffee and we were on our way. The banana bread he made was delicious but we couldn't eat until 7 at least! We saw everything on our list except a leopard. Oh well, Nat Geo Wild can fill in for us! (we saw one in shadow, I'm sure)

Meet Dave our South African guide, we told him leave shirt on next photo

My beautiful Zoe getting ready to head out

Dave preparing breakfast after a 4am start looking for lions

Famous monkeys with blue genitals, my personal favorite!


Sunrise in Kruger

Elephants drinking and bathing

We saw a herd of elephants and watched them eat, bath etc. for about 30 min

Dave's breakfast: steak, eggs, sausage, bean salad and bread/butter

The park was beautiful and the scenery changed all the time. Sometimes lush, sometimes desert, sometimes rocky. It's was great driving through and watching the animals change with the scenery.

We saw herds of buffalo - they are huge!

a view from the camp range rover on night track

We went on a tracking adventure one night on a big RR bus with about 20 people. We were told to look for "yellow eyes" as we shined 2 lights out in the darkness. We could see shapes and were told to call out stop when we found something. I swear I saw a leopard but by the time the bus stopped and backed up so we could find the yellow eyes I saw, it was gone. Oh well. We did see 2 lions stalking, then chasing a kudu but they crashed into the brush so we didn't see what happened. Just a well, the chase was enough. We also saw 2 hyenas going after a baby hippo but again, have no idea if the hippo got to the river first. We were all rooting for the hippo.

view from our bungalow in camp

spectacular gold and black

rhinos in the wild

After almost 3 days in the park we spent our last afternoon visiting the Grand Canyon of South Africa and having lunch at a local well known spot- Harry's Pancakes. We had bacon and cheddar, shredded pork with apricot chutney and a traditional beef "pancake". We were expecting a crepes like pancake but they weren't kidding, real pancakes with meat. The scones were unbelievably delicious.