Kruger National Park, South Africa
Today was the first day of our 3-day safari at Kruger National Park. What should have been a scenic 5 hour ride to our campsite at the Skukuza Rest Camp turned into an 8 hour nightmare involving 3 different drivers and Josh and I ruining the life of a small child. The animals have been awesome, though!
Our car was supposed to arrive at the hotel no later than 6:30 a.m. this morning and take us straight to the park. The driver was 45 minutes late and we got stuck in traffic multiple times. Once because a taxi driver simply abandoned his car, still running, in the middle of the street and left in another car.
Apparently, one of the drivers/tour guides quit unexpectedly that morning and they were short staffed, which caused them to out source drivers and create a piecemeal route schedule. This resulted in delays for everyone and by the time we reached the camp we had only 15 minutes to make it to our night drive safari. Plus we had to all but skip our lunch stop and we’re seriously hungry.
There were 8 people in our group and by the time we made it, the 24 seat safari Jeep was full and there were only enough seats for 7 people. Josh and I were the last two on board so we stood their dumbfounded. The park ranger was fully set on leaving us behind but our tour guides thankfully stepped in and insisted room be made. The only empty seat was next to a little girl who was probably 8 years old. They ended up moving her to the back of the bus where she sat in the middle station between the seats and we took her window seat and the one next to it. She looked devastated and I’d like to say I felt more sorry than I actually did. . . Frankly, there are baby animals to see and I needed a window seat to see them.
And, man oh man, did we see some baby animals. Baby elephants, baby rhino, baby impala, baby giraffe and tons more regular-sized animals including zebra, water Buffalo, Cape Buffalo, hyena, leopard (super up close, just chilling in the road licking it’s paws) and Kudu (which we also had for dinner – not the one we saw! It tasted like lean steak).
After our night safari we had a Braai (a South African cookout under the stars) with our tour mates. We really enjoyed getting to know this Norwegian couple who are both doctors. I also feel a little less worried about deadly snakes as the woman is a general practitioner and the man a heart surgeon.
We’re staying in a tent here and it’s primitive as heck. No outside lights and public showers/toilets down a dark path means we had to walk in the dark to go shower and brush our teeth after dinner around 10 p.m.
It is super creepy in here and I was dead set on following Josh straight into the men’s bathroom so I didn’t have to fight off predators alone – as the rest rooms we’re in two completely separate buildings.
Unfortunately, a few European men were going into the men’s bathroom when we got there so I braved the women’s restroom alone. I checked every inch for snakes and spiders and murders before disrobing for my shower. I took the quickest shower of my life and then posted up next to the men’s bathroom to wait for Josh. In the meantime, not one, but two European men came out of the bathroom in nothing but a speedo and flip flops. I immediately questioned my decision to forgo the men’s restroom out of respect for their privacy because clearly they desired none!
Tomorrow we have a 5:30 a.m morning safari drive and another drive at 3. I still really want to see Hippos (though we passed several Hippo Crossing signs on the drive to the park we have yet to see any) and lions. Here’s hoping for tomorrow!
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