Kruger Park Adventure

Kruger Park:  An amazing experience I would highly recommend to anyone! (due to his work schedule my friend C. was unable to accompany me).  I flew from Jo’burg on a short 45 min flight to Nelspruit airport (one of the largest thatched roof buildings in the world I was told), near a town called White River.  Again I found my name on a small board being held by a wonderful  informative guide from Thompsons who managed to make the 2 hr drive to the park entrance go very quickly.  I saw lots of sugar cane and pawpaws growing along the way. 

We entered at the Southeastern corner of Kruger Park at Crocodile Bridge.  Apparently there are over 15 different entrances and the acreage of Kruger Parks is massive, over 2 million hectares  (over 5 million acres)which makes it larger than some countries, Israel for one.   As soon as we entered the park, and crossed the bridge I started seeing animals and was delighted to see elephants and impalas, and a group of 5 giraffes just off the road about 20 feet away!  Took my breath away to be that close to these tall creatures!  My first night was spent in the big lodge as there was some problem with the small chalet I was to stay in at another site in the reserve.  The next day I was driven the ½ hour to their Shawu camp, a setup of 5 chalets on a lake.   Very nice, with a small main building where we ate, with short “boardwalks” to the chalets.  The term “chalet “ is used, but my idea of a chalet was one in Switzerland with a peaked roof… these were actually  a good sized one room cabins with 1 solid dung wall and 3 walls of heavy screening, with a flush toilet area, a lovely claw footed bathtub (yes, hot water!!), an outside shower (I didn’t use) and its own wooden deck overlooking a lake made by a dam.  Once ensconced on the deck, I didn’t want to leave.  Using my “new” binoculars, I just sat and watched (and listened to) the parade of different animals coming down to drink.  It was magical!...  I had to move at 1pm to have a lovely lunch served to me at a table that had a similar view of the lake.  I sat there with my binoculars on the table beside me constantly picking them up to scan for new arrivals.  Then it was back on the deck, to do more viewing until time to leave for the evening game ride around the reserve at 3:30.  I was listening to the hippos and then all of a sudden realized I was making a noise as I’d fallen asleep in my chair!  Hoped the neighbors thought it was the hippos!!

  I loved sitting on the deck of my chalet in a deck chair just watching the animals thru binoculars comedown to the water to drink. First a herd of zebras, next impalas, then elephants, cape buffalo, it never seems to stop.  There was always something to see and it was really neat!  And at night, before I went to bed, I could hear the hippos walking in front of the deck area about 10 feet away (a 3’ electric fence in between) grazing.  Every now and then they’d make a rumble / grumble noise.  The chalet tenants next door (a South African couple) said that the noise at night would get very loud but for the two nights I was there it seemed to be just fine with a few hippos complaining periodically.  I didn’t hear any hyenas or lions or if I did I didn’t know that’s what they were!  

The game rides, are scheduled for early in the morning, leaving at 5:30 or 6am and returning around 8:30 ish… upon return there is a 2-3 course breakfast at 9am.  Lunch is served around 1pm and the evening game ride starts at 3:30 and goes until about 7 when dinner is served.  During the game rides there is always a stop (in an open area) with tea /coffee served off the back end of the vehicle and in the evening you get to watch the gorgeous African sun set while enjoying a glass of wine.  Really roughing it!!!

Must go as time running out will give more on Kruger later!

Just About Africa

HIKE:  Saturday we drove north of Pretoria about 70 k to hike around the Tswaing (Soutpan) Meteor Crater.  The crater is the result of a meteortic impact about 220,000 years ago and is 1.1 km in diameter.  Apparently it is comparable in size to the much better known Barringer meteor crater in Arizona, which the boys and I actually visited years ago!  It was an amazing ride just to get there and then the actual hike took us between 1-2 hours as we stopped for photos along the way.  We were hoping to enjoy the museum there besides having a good hike but it had burned down due to a recent bush fire.   What I did learn was:  “Tswaing is one of the youngest, best preserved, bowl-shaped impact craters known.  It is also one of the most accessible impact craters on earth.  Tswaing has a saline crater lake containing commercial deposits of soda ash.  It has the best preserved climatological history of the past 200,000 years in the crater fill.  Today all eleven language groups of South Africa are resident around Tswaing and their cultural contribution has added to the significance of the meteorite crater development”.  www.hartrao.ac.za/other/twaing/twaing.html

Tswaing Crater

SAFARI:  OK… we’re booked to go for a 3 day “safari stay” in Kruger!!!   We will take a 45 minute flight from  Joburg (Johannesburg also abbreviated Jhb) to Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport northwest of here.  There’s been a purchase of binoculars at my urging so we can see animals when we get there.   Well actually so I can see them, he’s got his camera with a telescopic lens but my little camera won’t really show things too far away.   Apparently we’ve two “game activities” scheduled.  I’m looking forward to seeing lots of game and hopefully get close to an elephant!

BOOK:  I’ve been reading an amazing book called The Last Rhinos and I highly suggest it to anyone that’s interested not only in rhinos but Africa in general.  The author Lawrence Anthony (with Graham Spence) is a conservationist from South Africa, who started out trying to save the last 15 northern white rhinos that existed in the wild, somewhere in the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo) near the Sudan border.  In doing so he also ended up becoming embroiled in peace talks between the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army – Joseph Kony’s army ) and the Ugandan government (which had started in mid-July 2006 in Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan).  It’s very well written and totally enthralling with both insights and stories on animal, cultural and political situations.

TRAFFIC:  As with any large city, they also have traffic jams.  I saw a few in Cape Town, luckily from the other direction, but I hear they can also get bad here in Pretoria and Johannesburg.  Fair enough as South Africa has over 50 Million people!   The freeways are big and most large highways are labeled in the English fashion with M1, M2, or N1, N2.  But I'm told that the local street names can change quite often... see the photo with the red line through the old name. 

The traffic flow is set up with driving on the left side of the road, like in England and New Zealand and when there is either a right or left turn you can do so ONLY when the arrow lights up with a single green arrow at times for just going straight.   No automatic turns on RED here.  And at times you will see the word ROBOT painted in white on the road ahead, which is a bit disconcerting.   Will we encounter robots ahead????  But it is actually to let you know that there is a traffic signal coming up as they call their traffic signals Robots!  Took me back at first!  Traffic accidents “seem” to be more prevalent here but I have to keep reminding myself that I’ve been living in a small town.  On Friday C. got news of someone working in his office that had been injured badly in an accident that day.  Then on Saturday, driving back from our hike we had to drive around an accident that must have happened just minutes before we got to the very snarly 4 way stop area and when we stopped at a local shop to pick something up, one of the owner’s workers had been involved in an accident that day and couldn’t work.  Since I’ve not lived in or around Chicago, LA or NY in ages, hearing about 3 accidents in 2 days seems “a lot”.  I love their traffic signs that warn of Potholes ahead.  We could use a few of them in AZ!



FIRES:  I’ve seen quite a few small to medium fires burning on the side of the road or away from it a bit.  As we drive around the area there always seems to be a patch of blackened ground somewhere looking very barren with only its larger rocks scattered around looking lonely.  Apparently it’s the small grasses that catches fire very easily and seems to soon burn themselves out, so mostly no one seems to pay much attention to the fires unless it happens to be near homes or offices.    C. said when there was a fire across the street from his office building the fire trucks arrived, but other than that he rarely sees them.  There are a few large houses with thatched roofs around so I would imagine they get a bit worried! 

C.’s office is moving to new quarters so he brought home a large map of South Africa which I am going to take a picture of.  Olga, the housekeeper has been giving me lessons on the names but my tongue just doesn’t seem to want to wrap around them!  It looks like this new office space will be near a shopping center so I’m hoping I can go to work with him some days and spend longer at an Internet Café than just the short time we have on the nights we eat out.  And of course a bit of shopping wouldn’t be declined!

BIRDS:  There are strange birds (to me) the size of a large duck with long thin beaks, called a Hadeda that seem to be ever present pecking at the ground.  I think they are a type of Ibis.  They have a very odd “call” which never seems to vary and tend to “echo” around the place constantly!  What’s neat is that at first glance they look like they have a non-descript grayish brown body, but once they step into the sunlight their true beauty emerges as they show off their beautiful iridescent body feathers.   I was thinking that they looked kind of ordinary until one stepped in the sunlight.  I was pondering on that thinking that we actually are a bit like that… we all think others are normal and then you find something intriguing about them and they “glitter”.!!  

FOOD:  The food has been delicious and I’m really being spoiled with different restaurants almost every day/ night – luckily he doesn’t like to cook that much!!  Food is fairly inexpensive here maybe even a bit more than USA.   Much more so than in New Zealand as eating out there was really expensive.  I’ve been trying to eat “African” food but broke down and had a Quesadilla last night.  I’ve had wonderful sea food in Cape Town and even here… prawns, fish, and some delicious lamb curries.  I did have an African lamb breadie (kinda like a stew), and although it was good, the meat was bit too fatty for me.  C. is not much of a dessert person so I rarely have it but managed to get a chocolate mousse the other night which I took home ½ of to have the next night!  And…. even with my walks in the morning around the area for an hour, I can’t say that I’m losing any weight!! Darn.!  They of course have the usual fast food places and I’ve only eaten at Wimpy’s and KFC, but MacDonalds is ever present!  I’ve spent a lot of time in the Mugg & Bean café which has WiFi.  I understand they started around San Francisco.  Good food and excellent service.

Service is usually VERY good.  At Mugg & Bean the waitresses come around often to see if you need anything and usually at fancy restaurants they whisk away your dishes almost before you are finished.  We did have one or two places where they seemed to forget about us but we just won’t go back to them.   Tips are usually about 10% but I‘ve been giving more.  Partly because at first I couldn’t figure the money out!  Now, I kinda have the knack… Just need to keep reminding myself that 50 Rand is about $6.00 and 100 Rand is about $12.  Of course it changes daily but I go by rounding off.  Once you see things labeled with prices of 200R, 300R, 499R, it startles you (not used to the 100’s part!) but when you figure it out it’s not so bad.  I have managed to make “a few purchases”… mostly clothes but also managed to buy  some amazing chocolate in Cape Town and a cushioned case for my computer.  THAT was more expensive than I had realized but putting things on credit cards does that!  It was 449R… about $50-60.  Parking at the malls costs but you get a ticket as you go in and then have a machine in the mall read it before you leave to see if and what you need to pay.  Quite a good system really.

Aside from the occasional Wine Tour, and glass of wine with dinner (had one with a strawberry in it last  night),  I’ve mainly been drinking lots of tea  and quite like the local tea called Rooibos… red and flavorful, a bit like Redbush tea in New Zealand.  Their water here is delicious and very clear and pure as the air is too.

Back In Pretoria

Hi, am at a Mugg & Bean using their internet and waiting for a quesadilla for dinner!  Sometimes I have to pinch myself to realize I'm in South Africa.  Am using my days to go through some computer "stuff" and taking lovely walks around the estate.  It's SURE to have me loose SOME weight.   On Sunday, we were able to visit a local Nature Reserve and it was super!!  One drives around until you spot animals.  You're not "supposed" to get out of the car.  Missed the hippos but did get to see 3 rhinos just laying about, along with a few ostriches just walking around and loads of birds and herds of antelope of one sort or another.  When we stopped for tea we even had a water buffalo come to visit!  Oops, C. and our food has arrived so must end.  Catch you again soon.

Cape Town Ends

Last Night In Cape Town... Ugh...am full!!   I thought I’d splurge on a big dinner my last night in Cape Town... and boy did I do it!   Shared dinner at Mama Africa’s Restaurant in downtown Cape Town with one of my “new” Australian friends.  Took a taxi to her hotel and then to the restaurant.  We ordered the multiple grill platter of:  Ostrich (odd texture but tasty), Kudu (good), Springbok (the best), and Crocodile (very fatty) plus a non-alcoholic beverage called Ega (from grapes, pomegranate, and South African Rooibos Tea).   

The day turned out to be a very full one.  First with a look at the District 6 area in downtown Cape Town, that was where they demolished people's homes at will and displaced over 60,000 people when apartheid began.  Which as I understand it was the beginning of the creation of the townships.  We then were driven to Langa, and Nyanga - 2 of the nearby townships (areas of the city like our shanty towns but with immense populations... anywhere from 250,000 to 400,000 and more!!!).  We actually walked around the areas and met some of the people living there. 

 At the end we were taken to a “township” pub and given a taste of home brewed beer (from maize). 

 It was in a metal bucket and we all took a sip from the bucket.  I even met the lady that had brewed it for us, who said she'd been doing it for more than 16 years.  I think we all had the same "hesitation" in trying it, but after the first fellow was game we all were and it actually was quite good after you got through the inches of froth.  

Later that same day, after lunch our group had a 45 minute ferry ride to Robben Island, about 12 k off the coast.  This is where Nelson Mandela was held as a political prisoner for the majority of his 27 years imprisonment.  Part of the tour was given by a gentleman that had actually been imprisoned in that very prison for more than 5 years.  Conditions were VERY harsh.  They didn’t even have beds, only mats on the floor for years.  Some had no shoes only shorts, no long pants.  Believe me it gets COLD here.  Even today with the sun, there was a chill in the air.  Amazing how he manages to do the tours now.  He said it took him quite a while before he agreed to do them, but in some way it has now helped him to heal.  

Nelson Madella's Cell for 17 years  

There is also a type of shrine relating to a Muslim leader that died on the island in the 1700's, so there were a number of ladies along in dark burkas.  There is a large Muslim population here.  Apparently the early slaves that the Dutch brought in were from India, Indonesia, and Java.

On Boat to Robben Island with Cape Town's Table Mountain in Background

 It's been a bit rainy off and on while I’ve been here, but today was a brilliant sunny day and I got lots of pictures which I will share when I can get them out of the camera.  Seeing Cape Town from the water with the mountains as its backdrop is quite impressive.  Yesterday after taking a RED BUS (a double decker city bus)  tour of the city on my own  in the morning, I was driven to a nearby town about 45 minutes outside of Cape Town, an old, quaint Dutch settlement called, Stellenbausch after which we had yet another stop at a winery (had done one the day before after I walked around the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden ), only this time we got a tour of their cellar and how the wine was made  along with special CHOCOLATES!  A truly interesting way of presenting their wines!   It was the Lanzerac Winery.  They set out 5 wine glasses with 5 pieces of specially made chocolate to compliment the wine and you were to drink and nibble... don’t have to ask me twice!  It was super and the last one was big surprise... a liqueur / wine (?) made from honey... amazing. 

So, now it's pack up time and head back to Pretoria.  Tomorrow I fly back and the difference in the amount of freedom one has to move about will be even more striking to me now.  Walking around Cape Town in the daytime is quite safe.  Not necessarily so in Pretoria, and especially not I'm told in Joberg.  Sooo... we'll see when I can get my next post done, as I cannot easily get to the Internet Cafe, even though it's in the mall just across the street.  I am not to walk by myself outside the compound, and he's not even sure I can leave without his say so.  Once out, I can't get back in unless they call him at work, (they use a biometric scan each time - he scans his fingerprint upon entry and leaving)  which means he has to be available to take the call or I stay out until he does.!!