Siri in Africa: Our Safari Adventure Begins

2008

We have rented a big white Ford Ranger, which Victor gets to drive. The drive out of town is interesting, not unlike that in Rio, where the fancier built-up areas give way to unkempt buildings, to makeshift slum dwellings and markets, and eventually exceptionally flat rural areas. The road is surprisingly smooth. Victor says it is kept up by South Africa. The border crossing is a bit chaotic and stressful with various stamps and documents that have to be obtained for both us and the car, but eventually we are at the entrance to Kruger, where we are held up unexpectedly as a new employee gets almost everything wrong and we have to redo the whole entrance policy. But finally we are in - and what glorious 4 hours we have! We see giraffes, zebras, impala, monkeys, hippos, alligator, elephants, a variety of birds - some far away, but some really close to us and, in some cases, crossing the road (imagine waiting for elephants and giraffes to cross the road!). We make slow progress because we stop to take pictures all the time, but eventually we are through the park and head towards the Idube Game Lodge, another 20 km or so away inside a private game reserve. We arrive around 4pm, when the guests have already left for the afternoon safari, but are shown to our charming chalets (with outside showers!) and then given a delicious lunch of quiche, salad, focaccia, many cheeses, fruit and cake. The grounds are very pretty and scattered nyala deer and warthogs graze peacefully (note: warthogs kneel when they graze - it looks really cute). Every now and again brilliant blue birds swoop through the trees. Promise, our host, suggests we join the ongoing safari, so we throw on some warm clothes and get into a big safari jeep, which jolts and buckles through the dry bush, with Promise at the wheel, until we meet the other vehicle, with, incredibly, a family from Pennsylvania, whose 21yr old son goes to Penn State and the other son just graduated in Public Heath. We drive around for a while with the lookout, Elliot, sitting out front and the driver/ranger, Andreis, communicating with other scouts by radio, sometimes in English, and sometimes in what we imagine must be Zulu (but later learn is the local ‘amalgam’ language Shangaan), until suddenly he turns off the track straight into the bush, while we duck to avoid the dry thorny sticks - and there, THERE - we see 3 cheetahs just walking through the bush. They pay no attention to us, but keep walking, mouths open, looking here and there. Andreis says they are not from here but checking out the area. Their running speed is 120km/hr, which they save for hunting for food - or maybe for avoiding the hyena, which we later see crossing into the bush where they have just passed. In the gathering darkness we stop to have our sundowners: gin and tonics, Doritos and slices of dried mango. The stars are out and apart from a sliver of a moon we recognize the Southern Cross and Venus - familiar from Angra nights. Then we make our way home, unaware that in minutes we will see the most incredible sight of all: a pride of lions with two males and maybe 4 females, eating a freshly killed Impala (poor thing, we hope it must have been quick - we see the horns lying on the ground). In the torchlight pointed by our tracker, Elliot, at the lions, who again pay not attention to us, although the larger male lifts his yellow eyes and seems to study Victor for an instant, we notice the blood on their front legs and jaws, and we also hear a crunching sound as they feed. There is a warm and hot smell. They are maybe 2 meters away. Eventually we drive away to OUR dinner, eaten outside in a circular BOMA eating area around a bonfire. Idube is known for its gourmet quality food, and we are not disappointed. Dish after dish appears in the darkness under the stars and we feel sated in all senses. Before 9:30 we are sound asleep under our pretty mosquito nets in preparation for our 5.30am wake-up call for tomorrow’s first game drive.

Here are the many photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/108088723826036223432/KrugerAndIdube?authkey=Gv1sRgCJbVmdL6s6v2xAE

OUR SAFARI ADVENTURE BEGINS

September 4, 2008 6:38 AM

RIGHT NEXT TO US - MAYBE TWO METERS AWAY - A PRIDE OF LIONS FEASTING ON A FRESHLY KILLED IMPALA.

NOW THAT IS AFRICA!