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.
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