So now we plan a quick quiet romantic weekend to the Kruger
National Park Africa....... what happens next? Ooh three friends would like to
come along to make that a raucous, abusive and drunken visit to South Africa. So
the planning starts and we end up in having to go on two Safaris.
The first! Kruger National Park Africa. We could have gone
and hired a car and driven all that way but why do that when it is a lot easier
to call up super guide Bradley at XSTREAM Safaris and an xstream weekend
we had.
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Bradley does all the nasty stuff like finding out where the animals are,
doing all the bookings deposits and payments, plus worries about catering and
those ever so nasty to carry around TENTS!
We were woken up early on a cold crisp Johannesburg morning, fed coffee
(nursing a few strangely only mild hang overs) and off we were. |
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By 4 o’clock we were crossing the Crocodile River
(with LOTS of crocs) and entering the kruger national park africa. It was not
long and we were spotting game, late winter is always a dry time of the year but
this was particularly dry, but that is good for spotting game as the grass is
not too tall and the trees are bare, plus most of the animals are dependent on
drinking water everyday. So in the last remaining hours we leisurely drove until
we got to our camp Pretoriuskop.
When The Lions Feed
By sun-down we had already seen some sleeping rhinos and a
pride of lions feeding on the carcass of a male rhino, which had been killed in
a territorial battle.
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Up at the crack of dawn and out looking for game again, our expert guide
knew all the spots to take us to. We saw buffalo, giraffe, zebra and luckily
some more lions.
With the day drawing close we were beginning to despair- NO elephants.
Where were they? We just could not find them.
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Then Bradley said "I know a place" and in that brilliant
late afternoon light there we found a breeding herd of Elle’s. The matriarch
gave us the sign to STAY! where you are which we did and slowly they came out of
the bush both mums and babies.
That evening we went on a night drive to look for some of
the nocturnal oddities but unfortunately we didn't see leopard but we did find
many of the antelope nervously trying to catch a bit of rest, but it is not easy
with all the big hunters preferring the cover of darkness. As we rounded a
corner there was a magnificent lioness laying lapping up the last of the warmth
from the warm sun baked road. She got up and then snuck into the grass
disappearing within feet of the road. She moved and then started to roar!!!!
WOW.
Rhino Charge
Early again! This time for a game walk. With the bush in
the kruger national park africa as dry as is was I knew that the animals would
see us long before we could see them UNLESS they have poor
eyesight----rhinos----we spotted the first one before he saw us but the second
one spotted us first and decided that he was threatened and we knew we were in
trouble. Our ranger had emphatically said NEVER repeat NEVER run but we knew
there was trouble when our ranger screamed RUN!! The rhinos tracks covered ours
in the spot were we were, it is amazing how fast tourists can actually run. This
was an xstream adventure.
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Our late afternoon drive was rewarded but the spotting of a young leopard as
he crossed the road in front of the vehicle, but that spotting had a price, we
were late and the gates to the rest camp were closed.
After some kruger national park africa negotiation we were allowed back in
but would be fined, only a small price for the opportunity to see such a
beautiful leopard. |
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That night there was much talk of being charged by rhino,
seeing leopard and the prospect of having to endure a full night outside the
protective fence of the rest camp, not a nice thought especially having seen and
heard lions already. Grub was a fantastic potjiekos (pot stew) and there ain't
much better than the African night warm company and a few easy G&Ts.
Luxury Lukimbi
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Lukimbi: on our journey out of the kruger national park africa we were very
lucky enough to be able to visit one of the special new luxury camps in the
Park, and after camping boy did luxury have a bit more of appeal!
We dined for lunch on the chefs special menu and sipped our drinks while
overlooking the African Veldt in pure decadence, the same thought going through
all our minds, ‘just a night or two or three, next time’. |
THE SECOND SAFARI
The Fairest Cape was next on the agenda after the kruger
national park africa and it was a shock to be back in a city again.
Our first sight see was a new one, A VERY large container
ship had beached by one of the Cape's notorious storms. The captain of the
vessel ignored all warnings and needless to say he was promoted to captain of a
cell in less than 6 hours.
Cheetah Contact
The true fairness of the Cape is found in the winelands.
Our tour of the vineyards was short but oh so sweet and the cherry on to was
going to Spier Wine Farm and visiting the cheetah centre. There is little that
can be more rewarding than experiencing contact and interaction with such an
animal.
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Round about the mountains we go looking for the Jackass of Cape Town. They
can be found at Boulders Beach (the penguin kind of course) and we took the
scenic route around Camps bay over the neck and through Constantia to Simons
Town and on a cold and miserable afternoon.
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We saw the Jackasses climbing over the rocks and trying to
hide from the weather under the coastal vegetation and some peoples gardens
(leaving evidence of their overnight stay). After an especially nice day we
treated ourselves to dinner at the famous Brass Bell, and it was sooooo good we
could hardly walk out.
Whale Spotting
Leaving Cape Town we went in search of South Africa’s
largest mammal -WHALES. We went to Hermanus and De Kelders to find them as they
had recently arrived to breed and calve in the calmness of Walker bay. Eighty
whales have been counted in the bay.
The sedateness of the huge whales seemed a little too tame
so we booked to go on a shark dive.
Gansbaai (Goose Bay) has a famous island whose waters are
inhabited by very large (and non-vegetarian) GREAT WHITES. After weeks of
physiological hyping up our day was around the corner and everyone was a little
TENSE.
The gods however had thought we had had more than enough
adventure especially after the rhino charge in the Kruger national park Africa
and we awoke to a sea with swells of 5 metres, the boat ride alone would have
killed us and we would have been the shark chum for the next intrepid
adventures, so we will return and thank our lucky escape.
We spent our extra time relaxing in a little town called
Stanford! Our Kruger national park Africa safari had nearly reached it's end.
