Day 13 1/7/2010 The Last Recruit

• Pre-dawn, we awake. Packed, ready to go. Drive down to the Punda Maria Camp Gate, wait to be let out. It's eerily dark, as we follow the car in front of us, spotlight out, searching for the animals. Our mission is simple: the Lion is on the Line.
  
• We head out to the Punda Maria Entrance, as suggested by the redhead from yesterday, who informed us that lions were seen near this exact entrance, around six am. We wait. And wait. Its a guessing game, cos the longer you wait in a particular place, the chances are you will miss the beasties in another location. And this is our last opportunity.


• Who should head around the corner, but our old Redhead friend! (Not Giblet!). He says that a few hundred metres away is a bunch of cars...they have spotted the lions! We race off, and slow down to a line of cars watching the lions about 300m away. I can hardly make out that they are lions. They are walking slowly, looking like they will cross the road up ahead.


• Says I, "Gentleman. We can stay here and watch the lions or dogs or cows or whatever they are from a distance. Or, we can take short term pain for long term gain and drive ahead of these cars to the front and wait. It might just work".


• Roy drives ahead. We wait. Bingo. Greatest decision of the trip! To our left comes the three male lions, walking one behind the other, pure muscle and sinew sauntering casually right in front of us! I haven't been so excited to be front row of an event since BROOOCE! They amble across the road to the other side, right in front of our car. We have them all to ourselves. Magnificent creatures, the kings of the jungle. Its cold, the windows are down, we're whispering, the sun is rising brilliantly, and here we are, in the middle of Africa, and we're loving it. As we drive off, we're still in stunned silence, before we start laughing and cheering.


• The rest of the morning, we're driving through Kruger, knowing that we are close to the end. Elephants, giraffes, hippos, birds; a buffalo carcas. Stop off for coffee at the Shingwedzi Camp. It will be a long time before we get back to these parts. The dry river below has monkeys running through it and chittering away. In the other side, an elephant trudges and trumpets.


• On the road ahead, and elephant, trunk curled around its tusks, stumbles down the road. We stop and watch this incredible animal meander past us , musky, swaying, still holding his trunk. Amazing.
  
• Anyhow, Chris is driving, and I spot a river or creek down to the left, so I say to Chris, let's turn down there; might see some hippos. As we begin to turn, a police car pulls up. Uh, oh! What have we done? Maybe I shouldna been hanging out of the car. Instead the police officer, friendly as all, points the way we were going originally, and tells us that a lion is stalking an impala about a kilometre up the road. We drive in time to see a lion creep up behind a bush, and watch a nervous impala dart back and forth about one hundred metres away. We watch and wait, but fifteen minutes later we have to go, so bid it farewell. I hope the lion gets his feed, but I guess we'll never know. And I like the idea that I'll never know!
• Starts to rain, and I know that as we head back to Nelspruit, we'll miss out on checking out Deon's sister's lodge, because in the rain, its hard to see any animals. We head back to Kiara's Guesthouse and start our packing for tomorrow. That night, we drive up to White River for a braai (BBQ) with Angela and Ari in their beautiful house, living, talking, like South Africans. A wonderful coda to our trip; tomorrow off to Johannesburg to see Ghana play Uruguay in a World Cup Quarter Final at Soccer City!!!

D

Day 12 30/6/2010 Ab Aeterno

• The first day since the World Cup where no games are being played. Sniff.
• Why is it that when the alarm goes off at 5am, I am the only one who wakes up? So I go back to sleep and at 7 when the others wake up from the sun, I am blamed for not waking them up? But I thought they needed the sleep!
• So our plans to get our real early are dashed, but we do our best. Our plan today is to drive to Crook's Corner, the north-eastern confluence of the Limpopo and Luvuvhu Rivers where South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique meet. Along the way, we see beautiful birds and stop off at potential waterholes, but see nothing of the big five.
• On the way to Crook's Corner we reach the Limpopo River and spot crocodiles on the far and near river banks. I stop the car, jump out, and peg a rock at the water in front of two crocodiles, mouths wide open. It hits the water and BANG! The crododiles dive into the water immediately, so fast and quick, I jump about a metre into the air and scream around the car back into the driver's seat! Down river we see hippos for the first time.
• Crook's Corner is named for the spot where criminals used to jump the border and thus evade capture. The area is fenced and we are allowed to get out - at our own risk. Chris, Roy and I jump the fence to get closer to the river bank and get closer to the grunts; ten or so hippos all lined up and rolling over each other. Could run across their backs from South Africa to Zimbabwe. Look east and there's Mozambique.
• Scotch a plan to cross the border into Mozambique and get another stamp in passport when I am only one to leave passport back at lodge. Pity. But on the way back we encounter Africa's ugliest bird, the Skeksis lookalike from the Dark Crystal, the Southern Ground-Hornbill.
• A late afternoon drive through the back part of Punda Maria leads us to some wonderful giraffes and elephants, one passing in front of our car, another mother elephant protecting her calf from us on the other side of the river, flapping her ears and pretending to charge.
• Sun sets behind us as we gaze over the African horizon, at Kruger spread before us, it starts to get a little cooler. As we head back to meet our 530 deadline and not get locked out, we meet our red-haired mate in the back of the car who alerts us to the fact that on the way to Punda Maria gate this morning, he saw lions. For the second day in a row. Thanks mate, I reply dryly.

D

Day 11 29/6/2010 He's Our You

• Pre dawn, get up for our trip to Kruger National Park. It took us 6 hours to drive the 150kms from Malelane Gate to the Phabeni Gate last Friday. Kruger National Park Guidebook recommends 16 hours to get from Malelane Gate to Punda Maria, our rest camp for the next three days, two nighs. This is on account of constant stopping, animal jams, and 50k speed limit. So we decide to drive up to the Phalaborwa gate, 3 hours away, outside the park; Punda Maria will then only be a 6hour drive.


• The road trip to Phalaborwa takes us through some pretty poor areas and townships, where before the sun is up, people are on the side of the highway, queuing up for transport in the freezing cold.


• We stop off in Phalaborwa after a three and a half hour trip, grab some brekky in Whippys, and stop off at the Post-it for some postcard stamps. They don't have any and direct me and Roy to a Black Hawk Down tour through bazaars and dark alleys to the Post Office. Here we meet "the Dumbest Person in Africa".


• I says to the Dumbest Person in Africa: I would like 20 postcard stamps please (should be around 5R each). That will be 600 Rand. Again, I explain basic multiplication. He replies that it will be 240 Rand. By this time, I don't care. I'll take them 240 Rand. Then Roy pipes in and says he'll take 20 as well. Okay, says the Dumbest Person in Africaa, that will be 120 Rand. I look at Roy and back at the Dumbest Person in Africa, and reply, Are ye sure? 120 Rand. Roy pays him the money ad we hightail it out of there back to Chris, who by now thinks we are dead, and is calmly reading his book.


• The higher you go in Kruger, the more tropical and drier, apparently, but a good chance of seeing animals in the winter. We have already seen 1 of the big five - the elephant (the other 4 are the lion, buffalo, rhino and leopard) and are searching for the other four. Pretty difficult to see the leopard - Chris saw the other 4 last time - so we want to see as many as possible this trip. Of course we don't wan to be late for Punda Maria rest camp. Gates close at 5:30, and if we don't get there by then, we have to pay a fine. Probably 100Rand of something. Sixteen bucks.
  
• And as we head into the park, we see our first animal - a giraffe. Soon after we head into 3 buffalo! The Big Five! They are just muching away until we pull up then stare straight at us. Boy are they big! Wouldn't want to get in the way of them, so drive on.
  
• Just before we hit a bridge over a dry river (Letaba?), we see a protective mother elephant with her calf. Mum is eyeing us suspiciously and we see the rest of her posse emerge. Just as we start snapping, down comes the rain. We pass a dry river bed with a herd of elephants, all seem to be waiting or hiding from a predator. You never get over elephants. I bet I could watch them for a hundred years and still not understand how they think and feel, or why hey do what they do.

• We stop in at Mopani and Shingwedzi rest camps on the way, meandering off here and there to explore waterholes. Elephants, giraffes, zebras, impalas are a plenty (not at waterholes), otherwise nothing, save for the odd baboons or vervet monkeys chasing each other, climbing trees. Slide into Punda Maria with minutes to spare, into our thatched roof bungalow. Northern most camp, least populated and visited part of the park, surrounded by electric fence, so inside we can walk to the restaurant, watch monkeys play, buy stuff from the store. Head over instead to watch Japan play Paraguay, and lose in a penalty shootout.
• Tonight, we head out on a night safari; Roy, Chris and I in the back seat of the 4WD, six Afrikaaners in the next two rows. My job with the generator powered spotlight on the right is to spot eyes looking back at me; we see almost nothing. I wanted maybe a leopard yawning lazly from a branch, or perhaps a giraffe popping his head out before galloping off. Oh, we saw a few rabbits, some birds, a buffalo, and a porcupine that we chased for five minutes before he ran off, but no big 5. Hope Wednesday is more productive.

D

Day 10 28/6/2010 There's No Place Like Home

• Drive back from Johannesburg, past the warnings for carjacking and hijacking, to Nelspruit, where we meet up with Deon's mum Angela for a trip to Deon's sister's lodge. But for the first time this winter it is raining and miserable; by the time we get to Nelsprui, the lodge trip is off. Angela takes us out shopping in Nelspruit and White River for curios.
• We then head up to Deon's sister's house, high in the hills overlooking Nelspruit, in a gated community where giraffes and zebras meander into frontyards and across tennis courts!
  The house is like a palace with busts of animals watching over guests, and incredible views of Nelspruit and Mpumalanga!
• At night, back to the News Cafe for dinner and back to Kiara's Guesthouse for drinks in their smoky bar watching Brazil beat Chile 3-0.

D

I know it's over a week since I have updated this blog, but I have written the diary, done the photos, so I may as well transfer it over.

Cheers

D

Day 9 27/6/2010 The Beginning Of The End

• Head off to Joburg at 1pm. Long drive to Pretoria - through 3 tolls.
• Google Maps is a shocker - it drives us to a very wrong location - Clayville! Drive through shantytowns and past warning signs of carjackingand hijacking whilst desperately searching for our accommodation. Every eye in Clayville is watching us. Consider whether we forgo accommodation and drive the 3.5 hours back to Nelspruit after the game at midnight. Finally, we drive 10km up the road to our accommodation at Ipe Tombe - heavy security, but gorgeous guest lodge in Midrand, about 20kms outside Joburg.
• Hurredly drive to Joburg at night, listening to Germany demolish England (hooray!). Joburg is massive, sprawling out in every direction, flat 360 degrees. Bypass city centre, but glance at FanFest, Melboure/Brisbane feel, Nike building lit up with Christiano Ronaldo projection.
• We need a special prepaid ticket for parking - 50 Rand, and we have to get that from somewhere else; not the parking lot. Bugger. Of course, says the parking attendant, we can work that out here. How much, Roy asks? 100 Rand later we are in the parking lot!
• 2km walk to Soccer City in the dark, hawkers of vuvuzelas and knick knacks along the way. Pick up an Argentinan flag which will look great on my back deck!
• Soccer City is the most breathtakingly goddamn beautiful stadium in the world! Designed to resemble the calabash, a traditional African cooking pot, the rusty brown metal filled with square window holes, light reflecting from the angles,gleaming in the Joburg night. Only the Sydney Opera House comes close to anything I have seen.
• Inside the stadium we have our one and only category 1 seats of our trip, opposite the coaches side, halfway between the goal and halfway line. Unbelievable stadium, enclosed, right on top of the field. The playing surface is actually sunken into the ground, so that the 2nd floor of the stadium is at ground level. If you know what I mean.
• As the Argentinian national anthem finishes, hundreds of streamers and confetti shower down on the pitch in blue and white. Le Albicelestes! Maradona and Messi get the loudest cheers during introductions, and a roar across the ground when Carlos Tevez is announced as starting.
• Mexico is a good team, but Argentina score the first goal. It is quite obviously offside; Carlos Tevez. The Mexicans are angry, remonstrating with the refs over the call. Melee continues at halftime.
• Argentinan fans are the most passionate, non-stop and crazy of all World Cup fans, although in all honesty I have never seen Cape Verde Islands or Luxemborg fans.
• 2-0 Argentina are all class, but Carlos Tevez scores the goal of the tournament, pirouhetting on the spot and driving the ball into the back of the net! Mexico get one back, but Argentina win 3-1.
• Soccer City is so cold, eskimos are sending me blankets! Outside the wind whips up and chills us to the bone. Never been so happy to get into the car and put on heater! Still, we are happy with Argentina's win and that warms us up! Go the Albicelestes against Germany!

D

Day 8 26/6/2010 The Package

• Rest Day
• Souvenirs, shopping, internet
• Chris and I head down to Fan Fest to watch Uruguay vs South Korea - token white guys
• Dinner at News Cafe, home to watch Ghana beat U.S.A.
  

Day 7 25/6/2010 Whatever Happened, Happened

• You never forget your first elephant.
  
• Don't know what is wrong with above pictures. Filter or something. Will fix later.
  
• Spur of the moment, the night before, and not wanting to waste a moment of time in South Africa, venture down to Kruger National Park to Malelane Gate. (Isn't that a pretty name for a gate?)
• Most striking, surreal, stunning red sunrise in the east, massive red blob hanging in the air - smog, dust, pollution. Did I get a picture? Probably not. There are so many moments of instant magic in this trip you'll have to take my word for it.
• Within one minute of entering Kruger, two massive elephants 50-60m away. Incredible.
• Impalas everywhere with distinctive horns, stripes on their bum, and huge kangaroo bounds. First 3 we encounter dash around the cars from one side of the road to the other. We see a herd (collective noun?) of zebra and stop to watch them, hunting them with our cameras respectfully from a distance, until a truckload of tourists (the nerve) behind us, overtakes, stop and zebras scatter away. But this is the nature of national parks, and who is to say we are not guily of the same!!!
• We do see zebras again and they happen to blow us away with their distinctively vivid black stripes. Mesmerising. You could a lot of time looking at zebras, trust me! No two have the same stripes apparently. Like fingerprints.
• Majestic giraffes over 5m eating leaves from the tree, tongue curling around the thorns. Giraffies stare right at you.
  
• Two elephants either side of the car, 3m away. Smell of musk and look very very angry! We don't want to be in between them!
• Drive back to Nelspruit to see the Elephants, Cote d'Ivoire, play North Korea. Idiotic bus system and operations ensures we arrive at the game 10 minutes after kick off.
• Two early goals from Cote d'Ivoire. Didier Drogba obvious leader. This game is the loudest of all with all Africans getting behind Ivory Coast - non-stop singing, vuvuzelas, Cote d'Ivoire choir straight out of church with dancing, clapping and minister leading them! South African anthems are being sung (watch Invictus), wall to wall African support. Watch the crowd as much as the game. Africans win 3-0.
• Bus home. Lose Chris and Roy in massive scrum trying to get on. Am only white person on bus. Love it! Wonderful experience! Anthems, Vuvuzelas, Craziness!
• Dinner at Costa do Sol - Portuguese/Italian restaurant in heart of Nelspruit. Lovely meal, but after a couple of beers, get a little sleepy. Leave Chris and Roy and decide to catch a cab home. Of course there are no cabs, so I end up walking through downtown Nelspruit in the black of night by myself. I'm halfway home when suddenly a traffic cop pulls over and gives me a lift back home! Cheers! 50 Rand!!!

D