Last week marked the adventure portion of our program and approximately 70 people, including University of Georgia alumni who have joined us for the final two weeks, set off to the largest game reserve in South Africa, Kruger National Park. An extravagant trip in its own right, the Kruger experience offered a unique opportunity to escape the city and explore the wilderness of South Africa.
Monday morning we awoke at 5:30 AM, loaded the bus, and departed for Cape Town International Airport for an 8:30 flight to Johannesburg. Check-in went smoothly, we enjoyed a hearty breakfast, and before we knew it we were 30,000 feet in the air and well on our way to the scenic sunrises, eventful game-drives, and jovial, palatable dinners we would soon experience.
After landing in Jo'Burg and spending the next several hours in transit by bus, we arrived at Kruger at around 5 o'clock - ready to unload our bags and make ourselves at home.
While at Kruger, we stayed in the Numbi gated area close to the White River and Hazyview. We made camp at Nkambeni and boarded in cozy, tented suites. The suites are remarkably constructed to be adaptable to the natural habitat of Kruger. They are all built on wooden stilts and feature two beds, two bunks, an indoor and outdoor shower, and a jacuzzi. I felt like I was back on the Appalachian Trail sleeping so close to nature, and it was a pleasing feeling being so isolated from the bustle of the big city for a while. When were told to beware of scorpions and spiders stalking our shoes and sheets, there was no doubt we were now in the wild. We were treated to a delicious dinner at the Nkambeni restaurant Monday night and after some cordial fellowship with friends, I retreated to my suite to rest for the early morning game drive that would follow.
Tuesday morning I woke up to a set alarm of 4:45 AM. About ten minutes later a man knocked on the door and yelled "wake-up call." After gathering my wits and taking a shower, I made my way to the restaurant where our group met to dispatch on the first safari of the trip. We were taken on our excursion by high-rise Land Rovers, 11-seat "ground conquerers" that would serve as the only obstacles between ourselves and an angry charge of a tempted elephant or rhino.
Fittingly, the first animal we saw Tuesday morning was the impala, also known as "fast food for lions." There are over 90,000 impalas in the 7,332 square miles of Kruger National Park and the frequency of which you see them day-to-day becomes amusing at times. The morning session was filled with excitement and we saw several animals, including the giraffe, zebra, rhinoceros, wildebeest, elephant, kudu, and exotic birds of many kinds. After lunch we saw many more of the same animals, but also added to our sighting list the monkey, baboon, cape buffalo and hippopotamus. The "Big Five" is a term coined by big-game hunters as being the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot. Making up this collection of animals is the lion, elephant, cape buffalo, leopard, and rhinoceros. To have already seen three of these five animals after our first game drive was quite a feat!
After breakfast Wednesday morning, we loaded into small buses and rode to Chimp Eden, a chimpanzee sanctuary at the Jane Goodall Institute in the Mpumalanga region of South Africa. Chimp Eden rescues chimps from areas into which no one else would dare venture, and the sanctuary serves as a place of care giving and rehabilitation for these animals. During our visit, we were guided by an engaging woman named Sophie who gave us a tour of the facilities and talked with us about the nature of the chimpanzee and how they interact with one another. It is currently believed that we share 95 percent of our genetic material with the chimpanzee, quite scary if you ask me but interesting at least when you consider the similarity in anatomies, personality aspects, relationships, and behavior patterns. Sophie did a fantastic job keeping the tour full of facts and we learned that chimps are five times stronger than the average human male and that they should never be kept as pets, as they are extremely aggressive and prone to harsh violence over territorial matters. The cause that Chimp Eden stands for is a noble one and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing their efforts first hand.
Wednesday night we went on a night game-drive. Before riding the trails in search of more game, our guide Arno led my group to a huge rock structure that overlooked the surrounding trees and brush below. We had drinks in the glow of a magical sunset; a pleasing sight if there ever was one.
While our night drive was not that eventful, we did spot a pack of zebra and also a leopard. Leopards are very difficult to see at night because they will crouch down into the grasses as soon as the spotlight hits them. We saw the leopard's outline a few times, but we were never able to see its full figure under the light.
At dinner Wednesday night, talks of the famous lion floated on the air. None of the groups had seen the "king of the jungle," and hopes were running high that we would see this icon of Africa on our final day in Kruger. As we ate our meals, we enjoyed listening to an ongoing tribal dance taking place below the deck and I made a special effort to get one of the dances on video before retiring.
Thursday morning we awoke to another game drive, again leaving our camp in the Land Rovers at 6 o'clock. Thursday would turn into what was, without a doubt, the best day of the trip for me. My group had an amazing guide for the day and he would bring us closer to the animals than we had ever been before. Thursday morning we got what we all wanted, a sighting of a big, male lion! Although the lion was a good distance away asleep on its belly, through our binoculars we could see what a true beast this animal really is. Unfortunately, my camera could not zoom enough for me to get any good pictures, but it was satisfying to have just viewed the final big five animal on only the third game drive of our trip!
During the afternoon session, we came across a young adolescent elephant wanting to cross the road right in front of us. Disturbed at the presence of all the vehicles dispersed along the road, he became quite angered and "mock charged" one of the trucks that got a little too close. This was absolutely my favorite sight of the trip! Luckily for the truck, it was only a mock charge. A full out charge could have gotten ugly very quickly for that particular tourist and his family.
Thursday night we enjoyed a final dinner and reminisced on the animals seen and the people met and on Friday, our trip back to Cape Town was much like our trip from the city - a sleepy bus ride, a wearisome plane flight, and a welcome back when we returned to Lagoon Beach Apartments, our home away from home over the last five weeks.
The trip to Kruger National Park was incredible for the experience and the sights seen. When will I again get the chance to be in the presence of rhinos 20 feet away? I honestly can't say. Will I ever see another elephant charging a truck before the frightened eyes of a man and his family? I can't answer that question.
People from around the world come to Kruger to experience situations just like these every year. I just spent three full days at the park as a twenty-one year old college kid, fresh from the state of Georgia thousands and thousands of miles away. Cool stuff? Yep, you could say that. Something I will remember for a long time to come? (Emphatically) Absolutely!
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