Traveling . . .

[imcarthur]

Richard

Are you still at JNB? We just arrived & we have 3 hours before our flight to Skukuza. We are out in the sun.

[motion]

Just sent you a text.

[Willem Fick]

Motion, I showed my wife your comment re the accent and it had her in stitches - just glad I'm understandable at least!

Thanks again for a great visit and for including me in your busy itinerary - I am still of the opinion your handle should be "Whistlestop" and not "Motion"!

[imcarthur]

Just before 6 am & the bush is waking up. We are at Skukuza Rest Camp in Kruger. We are staying in a 'luxury' bungalow.



Rest camps are a protected haven surrounded by an electrified fence to keep the nasties on the outside. Bungalows, tents, camping spaces etc. This is the biggest with a steak restaurant & a large store.

The park is a self-drive area like a giant Afican Lion Safari (220 miles top to bottom & 40 miles wide). You don't get out of your vehicle under ANY circumstances unless you are in a rest camp or you could literally be eaten. Private camps hug the western middle section - many with their own private reserves - some fenced & others unfenced into Kruger. You drive on the network of roads with speed limits strictly enforced - 50 km/hr on tar, 40 km/hr on gravel & you are not allowed to off road. You see whatever you see - it is not a canned experience. Heading out shortly . . .

Btw Motion & I just missed each other at JNB airport yesterday. We were waiting in one terminal for a domestic flight & he was in the other flying internationally. Next time, Richard!

Ian

[imcarthur]

Well, this is a scream. Driving around today we saw 3 of the big 5 (buffalo, leopard, rhino) as well as warthogs, giraffes, vervet monkeys, baboons, kudu, hippos & a kazillion impalas. This is additive.



This is action at one waterhole. A giraffe, an impala's butt & a kudu.

We also went on a walk. You must walk single file, wearing neutral clothing following 2 rangers carrying locked & loaded .458 rifles. Very cool.

Ian

[imcarthur]

We are in a secure rest camp with an electrified fence. However, I was peacefully having a morning coffee at 6AM when I saw this. He was an adolescent & he was moving fast trying to find a way out.



Ian

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

Just before 6 am & the bush is waking up. We are at Skukuza Rest Camp in Kruger. We are staying in a 'luxury' bungalow.

It's a rondavel.

Hey that's a bit flash having a fence around the place. At Hwange national park we had lions chasing antelope past the bar.

[motion]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

At Hwange national park we had lions chasing antelope past the bar.

That's gotta make for some interesting bar banter!!! Where is Hwange?

[motion]

Ian, I drove thru Skukuza a few days ago on my way to the south gate. Please tell me that 'luxury' bungalow wasn't $400 a night?

Had a good, if terrifying late night drive to Swakpomund, Namibia the other night. Explored the dunes and coast, then drove back to Windhoek. Visited Spitzkopfe along the way. (I'm spelling these places without the aid of looking them up, so probably mangling them). Quick flight to Cape Town. Great night last night on Long Street in the middle of the insane party. Wonderful tapas dinner at Fork. Nice drive through the wine lands to Franschoek today. Hard to describe the beauty here. It absolutely kills it compared to NorCal's wine country. Tonight is dinner at Dutch East. I'm hoping the rolling blackout hits and they break out the candles.

Willem - I stopped today and picked up some local klamata olives. Excellent!!!

[imcarthur]

No. Our luxe at Skukuza works out to $107 usd per night. We are now at Lower Sabie camp with a better bungalow in a much smaller & better camp for $82 usd. For the information of all, you have to book 12 months in advance to get the best rondavels (you're right Bill) on the river.

We finished our big 5 tonight on a camp drive with 5 sleeping male lions in the dark. We also saw hyena & a rare black rhino as well as a honey badger etc etc. We saw the white rhino yesterday. Btw they are both black in color.

I was wondering about your ambitious drive . . . Glad you made it.

I will post more pics tomorrow morning.

Ian

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by motion

That's gotta make for some interesting bar banter!!! Where is Hwange?

It's a big national park in Zimbabwe in the Victoria falls side of the country. The next morning there was an eaten out carcase of an antelope about 200 meters from the restaturant/bar.

The locals pronounce Hwange Wanky. We tended to intentionally mispronounce it with the H.

[imcarthur]

This is our bungalow at Lower Sabie with a great view of the river & its activity - buffalo, hippos etc. Our half is the one I am standing in front of. Baboons raid anything not protected - inside & out.



The black rhino crossing the road. Blacks are a very poached species & only account for 1/5 of the rhino population. The ranger told us that Kruger have sound sensors in the park to detect gunshots & if he fires a warning shot on walks he has to radio in immediately or a helo will be dispatched with armed ranges/army/police to investigate.



Ian

[imcarthur]

We left for a self-drive late around 10am in a light rain. A much needed rain btw since this is only the 3rd rain that Kruger has seen this year. Animals were actually out on the road drinking from the small pools that formed on the pavement. We saw tortoises, warthogs & a hyena enjoying this. Other sightings today: lion, multiple giraffes, the inevitable impalas, waterbok etc. we also saw an elusive civet disappearing into the bush in the rain. The camps have a very strict in time of 5:30 & we almost pushed it - you are fined if you arrive late & you better have a good excuse - we arrived with 5 minutes to spare. Why? In the last 10 minutes we saw a cheetah (a relatively uncommon sighting & a great elephant sighting - he crossed the road ahead of us.



Ian

[Bill Douglas]

Great pic's Ian. What camera are you using and is the resolution high enough for you to have some large glossy prints at home.

[imcarthur]

We use 2 cameras. My trusty Sony RX-100 . . .



And a Canon EOS with an 18-135 zoom . . .



With both we save at the highest res so yes, we should get some usable picture images. A higher zoom would have been nice. The hippo on the run picture above was shot in a hurry with an iPhone 6+ because he was moving fast & both cameras were inside. As the old adage says, the best camera is the one you have with you.

The wildlife is waking up now as the eastern glow is just starting & campers are heading out for gate opening at 6am. Very cool to hear hippos grunt & splash as they head to the water.

Off to our deluxe camp stay today but I have to say, we are very impressed with Sanpark & the public camps. Very clean & the staff are really, really friendly & helpful. I will probably be off the grid for the next couple of days because Hamilton's doesn't have cell service from what I understand.

Ian

[motion]

Ian, your trip looks fantastic! Hint: make sure you spend all your rand before departing SA. The airport change booths will take 25% for conversions.

[imcarthur]

We are back at Skuzuka now after our 2 great nights at a private camp in the park. Just 6 luxury tents with good food, a game driver at our disposal & no cell service or Internet.

We got up close & personal with some animals since they work with other drivers via radio for sightings & they can go off road for the Big 5. We stayed at Hamiltons Tented Camp in one of the unfenced concessions in Kruger.





Dinner in Joburg with Willem scheduled for tonight. More later.

Ian

[Willem Fick]

Motion, I see you are already on to Helsinki!

According to my calculations Ian should have arrived in Sandton a few moments ago, and I hope to have a blow-by-blow recollection of his trip over dinner later this evening.

Hope to share a photo tomorrow!

[recycled sixtie]

Thanks for the pics Ian. I am trusting you have many X zoom lens coz those critters look really close?

[imcarthur]

We were in a Land Cruiser about 30 feet from those lions. My zoom was only 135. They actually trotted between 2 vehicles. We were staying in the Mluwati Concession for the last 2 nights after 4 nights in the public park. Mluwati is an unfenced area with a long term lease from Kruger. The concessions make up only a small portion of the park in the middle western section & they help pay the bills. They have strict rules but they are allowed a bit more latitude then the general public in the greater park. Our guide told me that they gradually habituate the wildlife to vehicles by driving closer over time & watching carefully for the danger signs. A growl from a lion or the ear wave from an elephant etc. then they back off. Animals view vehicles as an entity & don't associate it with the people in it. You are not allowed to make a lot of noise or extend any body part or camera outside the vehicle or you break the illusion & the animal could feel threatened. Our guide didn't even have a gun . . .

In the greater park, speed limits are strictly enforced & you are not allowed off the road or out of your vehicle. The animals are surprisingly docile & often won't even move off the road. Cape buffalo are the exception or elephants with young. We found giraffes & rhinos to be a bit more skitterish.

Here is a picture I took at 10 feet away. Moments after I took the picture he lay down & fell asleep. Note his sleeping brother in the background. He didn't even lift his head. But, if we had stepped out of the vehicle, we would have been lunch.



Here are elephants at 30 feet & the matriarch warned us to back off just after I took this photo. We did. She could roll over a Land Cruiser with relative ease.



Ian