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!!!

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