OK, now that we’ve seen Cape Town, it’s time to venture off to Johannesburg then on to Kruger National Park to see some animals. Not that we didn’t see a few animals in Cape Town. This is our second G Adventures tour and so far, it is much like the last one, 11 people from mostly the US but some from other countries; interesting backgrounds – police officer, cardiologist, day care provider, cyber security, and retirees. The biggest difference here is we will have 3 different expedition leads, not what the description said. Doesn’t seem like much but it complicates the tipping process. Enough to say that after too much discussion, we elected to establish our own tipping rates and provide it directly to our guides and drivers. Didn’t seem to be that big of a deal to us but a few folks got their shorts in a wad that we didn’t want to pool our cash. Too bad.

Up early and off to the airport for the 2+hr flight to Johannesburg. We’ll spend the night here then a quick 7hr drive to…What! Yep, a 7+hour drive in a luxury van with 7 of our newest friends to Kruger National Park. (For those of you that are doing the math, yep, doesn’t add up. We actually pickup 4 more people once we get to Johannesburg making our grand total 13 people)  Oh boy! Of course, there will be potty breaks and sight seeing along the way so the time will just fly by, if it stops raining. It didn’t.

Now, here in Africa, there is a lot of construction going on. Lots of road construction, especially on our route to Kruger. Here I thought Warm Springs was the only place on Earth dumb enough to use dirt for a road base, but no, Africa has tons of dirt so why not use it. Because it washes away in rain, that’s why. This is where our expedition guide #2 earned his cash.

The van stopped at a washed out construction site on a mountain curve. Several vehicles were stopped at the curve so our guide decided to stroll down and see what was the hold up. In a couple of minutes, we saw the hold up. It was an excavator dragging a fully loaded flat-bed semi around the mountain. Our driver decided to wait it out before attempting making a run for it.

Roads clear, off we go. No stopping now, the mud is pretty deep so once going, we stay going, right past our guide. He caught up to us just a few yards from where he was standing so not too far away, but in the mud. Now I know what the “G” stands for in G Adventures, Geesh!

Time for our first stop. Rain has stopped just in time for us to trek out to Bouke’s Luck Potholes. This area is a collection of quartzite rock erosion formations and waterfalls. Located at the confluence of the Treur and Blyde rivers, the potholes are believed to have been formed by swirling rocks eroding away softer quartzite layers. Pretty cool.

The Treur river

Bwana & Jane (also known as Jon & Paula)

Artsy shot

Artsy shot #2

Back on the road. Our next stop will be God’s Window. With the rain once again chasing us to our luxury van, hope God has his window closed. We arrive to find that God’s Window isn’t closed but should be. The fog is so thick, there is nothing to be seen from His window. Back to the van and off on our final leg to Kruger.

And just like that, 7+hrs have past and we’re all giddy and giggly standing in the lobby of our lodge, Umbhaba Eco-Lodge. Really nice place with each room having a patio or balcony overlooking a small man-made lake. Comfy bed, good size rooms, and a restaurant / bar, good enough. Our dinner was included in this stay so time to hit the buffet. By the time we finish this safari stuff, buffet will be the last thing we want to hear. Scrambled egg soup, raw bacon, cold toast, half-cooked potatoes, and the best manners people can display. I’m surprised they allow metal utensils here and no one has been stabbed to death, at least not during our stay.

Locals came by to help with the currency exchange

Lodge lodgings

Lookin out my back door…

On the road in Africa..

Up bright and early, 4:30am, to start our all-day safari. Apparently the Big 5 (lions, leopards, rhinoceros, elephants, and African (Cape) Buffalo) don’t sleep in. Good thing our hotel packed a take-away breakfast, straight from the buffet.

Wildbeast

Impala (no Corvettes anywhere)

Kruger National Park is our first actual safari adventure. Kruger is South Africa’s oldest and largest game reserve covering some 20,000 square meters (7,500 square miles!). Bigger than the state of New Jersey! If you’re adventurous, you can self-drive through this reserve or like us, take a safari truck and let someone else do the driving. One big benefit in our choice is the radio. Not because we like music, because the guides all communicate with one another about animal sightings. Once someone spots any animal at all, even a dung beetle (yep, got a picture of one rolling down the road), the race is on. The roads are paved so not the bush bwana ride I expected. More like a day in Target’s parking lot looking for the close parking spot, at 60mph.

The rare reverse Zebra. Most are white with black stripes, these are black with white stripes.

Not a perfect system but it works. We did see the Big 4+ that day, the leopard will get checked off tomorrow. So many pictures, so little space. For now, just enjoy…

Hyena mom with pup