Day 16: June 23, 2026. White River to Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Well, we were getting to be old hands of getting up so early. Another day that we needed to be ready to pick up our breakfast at 5 AM. Both of us had gone to bed so early that we were awake more like 3:30 and got up in time to go up and pick up our sack breakfast and our second lunch . It wasn’t reasonable to think that hotel staff would have a hot breakfast ready for us when we were hopping on the truck at 5:15. So we consolidated our breakfast and lunch. Some of it was delicious and some we held in suspicion, including perhaps meatloaf sandwiches, and some other dried beef of some kind. We were uncertain how some of these things would hold up over hours being out of the refrigeration. But we definitely had enough food to munch along on that. We were not hungry while we were out on another day's hunt searching for animals.

Today we consolidated to two pickup trucks rather than three from the day before since several of the group were doing something different. Dick and Patti hopped on one with a delightful crew of people from Europe and Canada. Our driver today was a 20 year veteran guide, Derrick. He told us at the beginning that he doesn’t make promises of which particular animals he can find for us, because he said that breaks peoples hearts. He did guarantee he would find us some animals as well as point out a lot of trees and birds which he did.

It was a little less novel and breathtaking to arrive at the park after about 45 minutes and then head off on some different dirt and paved roads that we were not on yesterday. We all had hoped being in the southern area of Kruger Park that we might see some rhinos which we had not seen earlier. Derrick shared with us that they used to see rhinos basically every day, but due to terrible poaching 10,000 rhinos had been killed in the park in the last 10 years. There are some Asian cultures which hold that the horn of a rhino had strong medicinal or magical powers. We learned that just one horn cut off of a rhino could ultimately bring $50,000 worth of profit. In this land where there are many people living in poverty, one can understand how people can be swept up in this poaching , even though the poor people who did the killing and cutting off of the horn would receive only a small fraction of the money. It used to be that poaching elephants for ivory was the big money, but that is no longer in fashion. So it is the rhinos who are now suffering.  

During the course of the day we saw quite a bit of rhino dung and evidence that there were rhinos in the area. But not a glimpse of a rhino in person. Disappointing and in some ways, it became a running joke when we would see anything that perhaps this was a rhino. But, as our guide said, he believes the rhinos know that they are being killed and that they have turned much more elusive and hiding from people.

A highlight of the day was lots of elephants, including a troop of probably 20 elephants with lots of babies and teenagers and moms. And we saw several large bull elephants. The elephants are just magnificent and such a joy to see them.

There were also lots of zebras and giraffes. And then sometimes it would be something small such as dwarf mangooses. And there were a number of really, really interesting and glorious birds.

It is clear you have to take what you get when you are on a photos safari. Even the most experienced guides cannot make animals appear on command. There’s a lot of camaraderie among the guides and when we would pull up on a jeep that had been stopped, there would be lots of conversation in English and in Zulu about what people are saying. All of them wanted to have their guests have a good experience.

And one of the areas we saw a couple of young hyenas who were tucked away and probably waiting for their mom to return with food. It is just so amazing to see all of these animals to know that there were ever so many more of them for so long before they were mercilessly killed.

After a late lunch break, everyone was tired and ready to head back to the resort. We felt like we had had a very positive and wonderful experience in Kruger National Park

Because we’ve been waking up so early, both Dick and Patti took a good late afternoon nap, and then got up and had a lovely dinner talking with a number of people from our trip. We were the only ones from the United States and we are known as the people from California. But everyone was friendly and lovely with us.

Time to head to bed early early again. We wondered if we’ll ever be back on a normal sleep schedule but sound asleep by 9 PM. Tomorrow will be another traveling day at this time. Will take us from Johannesburg to Cape Town.

Day 15, June 22, 2026 White River South Africa to Kruger National Park

So we managed to stay in bed until 4 AM and then got up and did our best packing for our 11-hour safari today. We were instructed to be down at the lodge at 5 AM for some coffee and to pick up our huge snack breakfasts which we would take along in our open air safari jeep.

Dick was feeling well enough to do some chatting with some of our compatriots, which hadn’t felt very realistic yesterday when he was just trying to hold it together. After some coffee and tea and signing some more releases, we headed off to our three different jeeps.

We drove in the one of the modified pick up trucks kind of like a jeep that had seven people in it, and we climbed into the back row. It could be open air, but their sides were down as we were driving the 45 minutes to get to Kruger National Park. This park is one of the biggest places in South Africa for sighting of amazing wild animals. The group in the truck was congenial and helped people to get settled in. 

We had all heard this was the perfect time to come and visit the animals in the winter in South Africa. Because we are in the southern hemisphere, yesterday was the winter solstice rather than the summer solstice back in the Northern Hemisphere. So rather than it being the longest day of the year, it was a very short day. The sun appears to be rising somewhere around 7:00 in the morning and setting a little after five at night. All of the safari’s apparently get started about 5:30 in the morning to take advantage of particularly the diurnal animals who are moving mostly at sunrise and sunset.

As we were getting ready for the day, we were enthusiastically predicting we would see the following animals: elephants, rhinos, zebra, giraffe, Impala, and other antelope, maybe warthogs, and perhaps lions. All of those animals are in this area. We have seen basically all of those animals at zoos in the past, but never in the wild. This was the number one reason why we came to South Africa and traveled so far so that we could have the opportunity to see these animals.

After we moved into the national park, our driver,  introduced himself by saying "my name is Saint, but you can call me, Angel because I’m about to make your dreams come true." The day would be spent moving around portions of this very large wild park on the lookout for animal sightings. We understand that the tour guides share information by radio and cell phone about where animals have been seen to try to give us the best experience we can. It also is critical that everything is very respectful of the animals. So there is no chasing them down with a vehicle, trying to scare them up, or taking the truck off the paved or dirt roads. We’re reminded back in the old days as safari meant looking for animals to kill. We are much more excited, looking for animals to see and take photos of.

There are animals that people are hoping to see when you go on safari, the so-called big five: elephants, giraffes, lions, leopards, and Cape Buffalo. Our guide gave a commitment that he was going to as much as he can show us lots of animals, but particularly trying to help us to see the big cats: lions and leopards. There’s quite a network of drivers and guides who really work to help each other out as they’re seeing particular interesting animals. As we would drive by some of those guides they would help . In the end, we did have glimpses of a male and female lion, and as we were getting close to leaving the park, we saw a young male lion who was laying exhausted at the edge of the road. This was very special.

We never did actually see a leopard, but we talked to a woman who had seen a leopard and had a photo. But we got to see what happens when a predator is in the area. We were watching a large group of the most common animal in the area: the impala, a small deer like animal. All of a sudden they went on alert and were running across the road in front of us and suddenly we started hearing crazy chirping calls that our guide pointed out to us. They are smelling the leopard in the area.  The monkeys in the trees were chattering. He said they’re not smelling the leopard, they are seeing him from up in the trees. We hung out for quite a while, hoping to get a glimpse, but alas, not today. But it was really something special.

We also saw lots and lots of elephants, which was especially satisfying for Dick as this is his favorite animal. We saw a big bull. We saw moms and aunties with some babies. We also saw quite a few giraffes, including babies.

And, then there were a whole variety of other animals: warthog, water bucks , spotted, hyenas, wild dogs, a whole variety of different types of antelopes, tons of zebras, and impalas.  So many that towards the end we would just drive by them saying “more impalas.” You can so quickly get jaded to plentiful animals. 

At the end of a long, tiring, and successful day, it was a quiet ride back to our resort. There we had a chance to rest for a bit and then have a better experience eating dinner than Dick has had before when he was stuck feeling sick.

Tomorrow would be day two of the safari which most of our group was preparing to go on so we wanted to get a good night sleep. And dream of seeing wild animals roaming free in Africa. 

Day 14, June 21, 2026 Johannesburg to White River, South Africa

Well, last night was a very disrupted night. Something hit Dick, whether it was food poisoning or stomach bug, but he was up several times in the night throwing up. (He later decided it was likely a bad reaction to the malaria drug he had just started to take). This was quite disturbing because we knew we were going to have a long drive getting from Johannesburg to our lodge by Kruger National Park. In the night, Patti was doing research to see if we needed to spend another day or two and then get ourselves out to Kruger, Dick was insistent: nope, we needed to go. We were down in the lobby by 7 AM for our pick up from our bus. Dick managed to choke down five grapes, a cup of tea, and a third of a piece of dry white toast. He braced himself for a long grueling day in the bus.

We made another stop to pick up the remainder of people who are compatriots on our tour. There were total of 22 of us altogether. Mostly from Europe, Canada, and Asia. Our bus driver’s name was Benny and he got us from Johannesburg all the way to White River just outside of Kruger National Park.

We made a quick stop in Pretoria which is the administrative capital of the South African government.  This is where Nelson Mandela operated as President.  We could only see if form outside a fence, but it was interesting to see the government buildings.

Dick was less perky and alert than he normally would be, but still was able to enjoy the changing landscape. The bus made several stops, including the most interesting truck stop either of us had been at. It was called the petrol port. Our driver told us to bring on cameras along because it would be a surprise. And indeed there was. Inside an electrified fence, there was a wide variety of animals: impalas, ostriches, rhinos, including a baby, Cape buffalo, Eland antelope, and a number of others. We got the requisite photo to make it look rather like a postcard that we were there. Patti got a quick lunch and stocked up on snacks for safari time. Dick was unable to enjoy anything beside some dry crackers and sparkly water. His stomach was still not good. He was able to get some snoozing in as we were driving and was so so relieved when we finally arrived at our resort.

Another stop we went to was an area that was known for all kinds of citrus fruit. As Californians, we recognized the acres, and acres of orange trees, as well as other citrus and macadamia nuts. Apparently this area produces much of the the citrus for the region. People enjoyed buying fresh fruit, and Patti got to taste the local dried beef, which was hanging from the ceiling.

And she also really enjoyed the nursery part of this stop and giggled at the fact that so many of the plants were succulents and other plants that are growing in our backyard back in California: it was especially fun to see the dragonfruit, avocados, and a whole variety of succulents. It makes us ponder that the climate, especially in this area is very similar to California in terms of what can grow there.

Once we finally got to our lodge, which name is Ndhula Tented Lodge: nine hours after having gotten picked up earlier in the day.  We were greeted by a lovely staff, who would take good care of us the next three days. We got checked in, found out which tent number we would be in, ours was number 19. And then we signed some paperwork, including a release acknowledging that there are wild animals on the grounds, although they told us not the dangerous kind. 

We were escorted to our tent, and Dick gratefully laid down and promptly fell asleep. Neither one of us had been super drawn to "glamping", glamorous camping, in the past, but we had to admit this was lovely. There was a very comfortable, king-size bed, with an electric mattress pad and a heater. Also a nice bathroom in our tent with a shower. Both of us slept for a while and then Patti and Dick to tried to eat a little dinner at the lodge. The dinner was lovely food, of which Dick managed to choke down a little bowl of soup and some rice, which didn’t stick with him for long. Soon after we finished eating, we went back and by 8:30, we were in bed for the night. Of course, what that means is waking up about 3 o’clock in the morning because we had been sleeping a pretty long time. But, Dick was grateful that he was feeling much better and could be ready for our safari adventure in the park.