Safari day 2

Today we are moving from Kruger National Park to Karongwe Private Game Reserve. On are way we visited a Planeterra sponsored children's day school. The children were ages 18 months to 4 ½.

They were learning their alphabet, days of the week,numbers, months of the year, family members etc in English as well as in their native language. It was a very basic building but through G Adventures help they had running water, flush toilets and cooking facilities.

 The children are fed breakfast, lunch and snacks. While we were there they came outside to play with us and have their morning snack of bread and tea. We played soccer, and pushed them on the swings.

We arrived at Karongwe which was a 9000 hectare game reserve with 4-5 guest lodges. Our lodge was had 24 raised tent units which were very luxurious and spacious each spaced out along a pathway. The main reception and restaurant/ bar was at the front.

My kind of tenting!







Our first game drive was at 4pm after high tea. While we were here we were assigned a team to look after us. Gilbert was our guide and driver and Johannes was our shangaan tracker.  The vehicle was an open air land rover 4x4 with great suspension. Each row was raised so every seat had a great view. The back row was the highest but was also the bumpiest, kind of like a fair ride. Marcy was a little nervous so we put them in the middle of the truck and we took the back row taking turns sitting with the sisters in the front. We were told to stay seated at all times as then the animals saw the vehicle as one large mass and were comfortable with that. If you stood up it broke the mass and they could attack. Everyone had their bums glued to the seat.  Bill decided to wear his buff, rather than a hat.  Marcy took an Instagram picture with a caption "Safari bound"!

On our first ride we were looking for the elephants. All the trucks were equipped with radios so the guides talked to one another throughout the trip. The elephants had been spotted south of the lodge so that's where we headed. We had a slight delay as the jeep had a flat tire, so we all had to get out of the vehicle which was not recommended but necessary.  Gilbert and Johannes worked quickly to change the tire and we were back on the road. The reserve has many dirt roads, none of which are marked but all of them have names. Gilbert has been working here for 16 years so knew the roads like the back of his hand, even in the dark. It was amazing.

Along the way we found giraffe, zebra, bushbuck, kudu, warthog

Then we started to see signs of a lot of elephant dung and broken trees. This was a sure sign we were getting close. A few more turns and Johannes spotted a whole herd of about 8 elephants of various sizes including a baby and a gigantic male.

We stopped the jeep about 10 feet away and watch them feed. They knock big trees over by simply leaning on them with what appeared to be very little effort. Then the younger ones maneuvered in to eat the branches and leaves.

 A couple moved out of the bush and into a clearing of dirt, then sucked up the dirt with their trunks and sprayed it all over their body. Gilbert explained that this was to help keep the flies off of them. They also sometimes roll in the mud and when it is dry they rub against a tree trunk to scrap the mud off which also takes the tics and parasites off as well. There was also a small bird that road on the backs of the Nyala that fed on the tic and parasites on their back as a well as cleaning any wounds they might have to help heal the would. The animal kingdom is an amazing thing.  The baby elephant was tired so laid down for a sleep. Most elephants sleep standing up as it is difficult for them to get up from the ground.



The largest male came over to stand guard and protect the baby while he rested. Elephants only sleep 6 hours a day sometimes just for 20 min at a time. The rest of the day they eat.

Due to the flat tire and the distance we traveled we arrived back in camp after dark.








Karongwe day 2

This morning Gilbert told us we were looking for lion. I was so excited.

We looked for a long time before one of the other vehicles found him. As we approach both guides and our tracker got out of the vehicle to confirm the sighting. Gilbert then radioed in to ask for permission to leave the road and take the vehicle into the bush closer to the lion. He was asked if the lion was static which confirmed and then was give permission to go in. My heart was pounding as we approached. He was lying down in the grass but as we approached he got up and moved away from us. The other vehicle then left us and moved over to the other side. Gilbert then re positioned the jeep and as he was backing up the lion came back toward our jeep. Joyce, Bill and I were in the back row of the vehicle so as we turned to look this 400lb lion was sauntering toward us about 10 feet away. It was so cool I could hardy believe my eyes. He stopped and lied down again. Gilbert turned the vehicle to everyone had a good view.

It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. What a majestic animal. He had a magnificent maine of various shades of gold to dark brown. We watched him for about 20 minutes until we had to leave to let other vehicles have a look. They only allow two vehicles in at a time. I had definitely lived the dream today, it was so amazing I had to pinch myself. We are so luckily to have experienced this.

After we had breakfast we went with Gilbert and Johannes on a bush walk outside the lodge fences.  This time Gilbert had a rifle just in case as we were on foot. He showed us many unusual things including a bush whose branch could be made into a toothbrush, dung beetles rolling dung into a ball for the female to lay her eggs, a bush whose leaves were soft enough to use as toilet paper, bark that could be used as dye and a knob off a tree that could be used to fill the hole a tooth left when it fell out. Marty, the dentist was a little skeptical. Then a whole herd of warthogs circled around us but were very tame. We wondered when we should get nervous, but Gilbert's gun was lowered so we decided we were safe.


The next activity was a giraffe dung spitting contest. Bill and Brian were the only willing participants.  Giraffe dung is a round ball the size of a large marble. Gilbert demonstrated and then handed a ball to Bill and Brian. They lined up popped it into their mouths and blew it out. Brian was the champion with the longest spit. The rest of us just had a good laugh.

 The next activity was termite eating. This time Gilbert had no takers. Johannes took a branch from a bush and gathered about 15 live termites. He then caught one of the larger termite very carefully as they bite, killed it by squishing its head on the branch and then popped it into his mouth. Crunch. Crunch !  He said they taste like peanut butter, which sparked Brian's interest but not quite enough for him to try one. He was still a bit skeptical. The walk took about an hour and was very interesting and entertaining.

We were all still full from breakfast so we skipped lunch and went to find the pool which was a short walk to the next resort. It was very lovely and nice and refreshing after our bush walk. After we cooled off we continued our walk to the watering hole and sat and enjoyed a bottle of wine while we watched the hippos snooze in the water. Other animals arrived to drink but we had to leave to get ready for our afternoon safari.

We headed out again in search of a cheetah . All the trucks were communicating with one another and we lucked out. They had spotted her in the southern quadrant. When we arrived there were already two jeeps viewing her so we had to wait. When it was our turn Gilbert instructed us to get out of the jeep. This was unusual as we had been told to never leave the jeep, not even stand up so we were a little leary. We were then told that this animal had been a rescue cat that they had reintroduced back into the wild so she was habituated and would allow us to view her as long as we stayed about 12 feet away. She had a collar but it was not active. They had been tracking her and she was doing very well in the wild, hunting and staying alert to the lions and leopards who were her preditors.  As we stood there she flopped over with her back towards us. She repeated this behavior 3 times as we moved to view her. We walked away from this safari a little skeptical as it appeared to be too good to be real. This had us questioning the lion siting as well. Which was kind of disappointing

We ended the day by stopping and having happy hour, safari style. Stainless steel wine goblets filled with good South African red liquid or cold beer.

Gilbert and Johannes put our a linen table cloth with snacks and happy hour was complete.

Had a great time on the ride back to camp!







The next morning we had a National Geographic representative join us for our final safari. Vincent was a cheetah specialist who was creating a data base on the cheetahs in South Africa. He was very interesting and cute!  So we took this opportunity to question him about our cheetah sighting. He assured us she was reintroduced into the wild and they had great hopes she would survive. He said she was very habituated and that’s why she allowed us to get so close and the reason she flopped over was because she knew humans were safe so there was no danger on that side so she rolled over to watch the other side for danger. We were also told not to crouch down as she would see this as a sign of weakness and we would be in danger. That is why they don't allow children or injured people to view her.  He assured us that all of the animal sittings were legitimate and they lived as any other wild animal. The only difference was they were used to the jeeps and did not see them as a threat. That made us all feel better and the excitement returned.

As we left camp this morning at 5:30 Johannes spotted a hyena.  He was wondering through the bush and looked similar to our coyotes but much larger. Nothing like the ones in the lion king movie!  He was on the move so we only caught a glimpse. Our goal this morning was to see if we could find a leopard. They do a cross grid search with the jeeps in the area of the park they believe he is in. Johannes also looks for tracks in the dirt. We got lucky again and Johannes found tracks. He believed they were from the day before as other animal tracks were over top of them, but they hoped he was still in the area.

 A little while later Gilbert spotted him and he walked across the road right in front of the jeep. But he also was on the move so we only saw him for a short time.

This morning we had time to stop for coffee and a muffin beside a watering hole. These guys are great, most outings we either stopped for coffee or beer and wine depending on the time of day. We felt safe at all times and having Vincent there with his third party knowledge from National Geographic was an added bonus.
We headed back to Joberg to Malikana Guest House where Soekie was waiting for us. This time we stayed in the upstairs suite with a lovely balcony and a double bed instead of two twins pushed together. Soekie cooked us a wonderful Sunday dinner of baked chicken and all the fixings. Too bad we were leaving in the morning as this would be a great place to relax for a few days

Kruger National Part SAFARI

We were all a little nervous but soon realized that most of the roads were paved or good dirt roads in Krueger and Piet seemed to know the park very well. I didn't really know what to expect but was soon very excited as we spotted our first waterbuck, Impala, Nyla and and Elephant. Piet told us the safaris started off slow and then the sightings  just get better and better as we go.

Everyone was really excited as we spotted animal after animal. The four of us took on the challenge of spotting and did our Canadian name proud as we were the best spotters in the van.




Piet spotted the tortoise as it was crossing the road.  Normally if the tortoises are on the move it means it is going to rain.

 Joyce spotted a rhino laying under a tree. Piet told us to look for a rock under a tree and when we stopped and put the van in reverse to go take a look it was actually a huge boulder under a tree not a rock and then it lifted its head much to our surprise. It was amazing to see as it is one of the very few that still has its horn. The rhino horn is extremely valuable on the black market and has fallen prey to poachers to the point it is danger of being extinct. To help save the rhinos from poachers they have been removing the horn safely so the poachers won't kill the animal. Very sad so finding one with their horn in tact is a treat.

  We also spotted two Sables which are very rare to find, Piet was very excited as he hadn't seen one in a while and you don't usually find two together. They were very beautiful animals. We ended our first safari on a high as we felt we had seen way more animals than we had anticipated. We headed back to the lodge for lunch and then a few hours of spare time before we headed out again with our safari guide Jose.

The second safari started off slow as it was hot and the animals were resting and hard to find.

The first animal we spotted was this magnificent giraffe.  They are huge, but very graceful with their long legs and massive thighs.  It was right beside us on the road!  

 However as the afternoon sun started to go down we heard that there was a leopard in the area. We headed out to another area in hopes of finding him. No luck at our first stop but we received another tip and took a slight detour to see what we could find.  We turned off the main road and over the drainage ditch and Jose slowed the truck. Piet then heard the monkey warning calls which could mean the leopard was near.  We came up onto the ridge and I happened to look to the left and holy shit there he was. I yelled “stop” as softly as I could and then we backed up slowly. He was crouched along a crack in the rock.

  A few seconds later a second leopard walked from behind the bush right beside my side of the truck. Freaking amazing!  They told us they were most likely brothers who had been kicked out of the den by their mother and were approximately 18 months old. Usually leopards are solitary animals but due to their age they were still together. We sat quietly and watches these two magnificent animals for about 30 minutes. Both Piet and Jose were very impressed with our find as we were the only truck there.

 It was getting dark so we had to head back.

 As we were travelling along we came over a hill and wham, there were two very large male elephants. They walked past us one on each side as we sat there as quietly as possible. Suppressing your excitement is really really hard!

The sun was now setting and we experienced a fabulous South African sun set. By the time we got back to camp it was dark and our African Safari was off to an amazing beginning. (Can't say awesome or I will have to buy beer). Apparently we say this word way to often so we are attempting to break the habit. WOW we weren't sure how we were going to beat this day, but Piet told us we would.

WEDNESDAY

Today we traveled from Joberg to our safari lodge. It took us about 5 hours to reach Graskop which is the small town we stopped at for lunch. The landscape is very similar to our Alberta prairie only they are growing Maze instead of wheat. South Africa is experiencing a drought right now so some of the crops are not doing very well and they are concerned about a food shortage as maze is their staple crop. Their other large industry is mining for gold and coal. They use coal to generate power so there are semi trucks full of coal travelling to generating stations through out this region.

 From Graskop we did a loop to see Lisben Falls, Bourke’s luck pot holes,

and God’s Window which were all beautiful view points and sightseeing stops. We then headed to Hazyview and entered Kruger National Park at the Numbi gate.





Our safari lodge was just inside the gate. This was the lodge that had tents. Marty, Carol and Marcy from the Jersey Shore N.Y. were a little worried about the tents but when we arrived they were pleasantly surprised that they were very large raised structures with heavy canvas walls with large windows and attached bathrooms with indoor and outdoor showers.

Jersey (as we nicked named them) had never experienced an outdoor shower, Joyce and I were excited to once again shower in the open air.






We all freshened up and met for dinner which was in an outdoor area and was a traditional African Braai. We had a great young fellow as our waiter who kept our glasses full of wonderful pinotage. We got to know our travel mates and then headed to our tents as we had decided to do an extra safari with Piet as our guide using our van. Our scheduled safari was not until tomorrow afternoon.

TUESDAY

Today we are headed to Joberg for the safari leg of our tour but our flight does not leave until 2:15pm so we decided to skip breakfast at the hotel and try the bunny chow at the chocolate shop. This is normally a dish that is had a dinner consisting of a half loaf of bread hollowed out and filled with a cape curry, they used the bread as a dish to transport their dinner. The version we were going to try was a small banana bread filled with dark chocolate sauce and ice cream. We were going to have it for desert but the shop was closed so this was going to be our last chance so we decided breakfast it would be. It was amazing, very rich but the chocolate sauce was to die for. We were going to share but at the last minute decided we all needed our own. Yummy.

After breakfast Joyce and I sent the boys to the bank and we went to check out the jewelry store we had spotted around the corner from the hotel. We spent about an hour admiring all the unique pieces and found a few to take home. By then it was time to check out and head to the airport. The flight was only a couple of hours which was good because Mango Air is about as tight as Air Transat.  Our new guide Piet met us at the other end and took us to Malikana guest house to meet Soekie our host.

The guest house was beautiful and had 8 rooms. We were treated to a traditional African Braai which is similar to our BBQ. We enjoyed a couple or two bottles of wine and visited with Soekie. We were leaving at 6:45 am the following morning to a long road trip so we were not late going to bed.

MONDAY

Ryan picked us up at 9 this morning and our first stop was Truth Coffee. This was a large coffee roasting company with a great bistro attached. We were taken on a tour of the roasting facilities which were very impressive. The engineer had restored a very old {1940's} traditional roaster and modified it to include current technology. They roast 2 tons of coffee each week and then distribute it to a number of coffee shops and export out of the country. We sat down for a tasting and had our first ever coffee martini!  This was a blend of coffee and orange juice and was extremely tasty. The next one was a flat white. Which was two shots of espresso and a small amount of steamed milk. We were told the coffee was so smooth we would not require any sugar. They were so right, even Bill drank his without sugar!
Next we visited the District 6 museum. This was a museum set up in an old church to display the history surrounding the removal of the non whites during Apartite.  The whole community of District 6 was relocated, their homes bulldozed and their lives devastated. To this day the land that was District 6 is still virtually vacant. The museum told the story of the people that were affected in hopes to provide some healing.

We then jumped back into the van and Ryan took us to a small shopping area called the biscuit mill. He had found a wine shop that carried the Pinotoge we had ordered at lunch a couple of days before. We spent some time wondering around the shops and then headed to our Township tour of Langa.

A township is a low cost housing development within the cities. Some are very poor and the houses consist of tin shacks propped up next to one another, however Langa is made up of very small 1-2 rooms houses which are attached to one another. All of the people that live in the townships are black or coloured. They do own their houses and there are basic infrastructures such as power, water and sewer.  Some even have satellite dishes.
There are also some small shops selling freshly plucked chickens, basic groceries and some clothing as well as a traditional healer. The township communities are very strong and close and help one another.

In this particular township one family has set up cooking school to help young people gain life skills and basic cooking skills as well as some work experience which enables them to obtain employment and become self sufficient.  In order to help support the school they also run a small restaurant and cooking lessons.

We had booked a cooking lesson with mama Lindy who was this vibrant 72 year old lady who was the one teaching the students how to cook. We entered a very basic but very clean and organized kitchen with stainless steel counters and sinks. We were given hair nets, and plastic aprons and instructed to go wash our hands.  Phew she met Bills first test of food safety. We prepared traditional
African dishes of pap which looks like mashed potatoes but is made from corn and is cooked liked cream of wheat. Mama Lindy was adamant that there could be no lumps. Brian was on lump duty and of course he came out smooth.







Our next dish was sup n beans, this was also corn and beans cooked with onions and boiled for 3 hours.  This dish was started prior to our arrival. We also cooked a stir vegetable stir fry, lamb stew and a spinach and cabbage dish.



Once we were finished cooking we were taken out to a traditional African cooking fire and     Told us about the traditions surrounding the fire  and then we were offered some traditional African beer and a “smiley”.  A “smiley” is a boiled sheep head!  To be polite we tried both but neither were our favorite.

 Then we headed into the classroom which consisted of one room with a simple table and about 8 students and an instructor. They were selling hand made necklaces as a fund raiser to hopefully purchase a computer so the students could learn some basic computer skills. Joyce and I purchased a necklace to support them.
We then headed into the restaurants to eat the food we had prepared. Mama Lindy joined us and we had a wonderful meal together.






This was Mama Lindy's house and her son's store.






After lunch Ryan took us to the spice shop where we found great deals and lots of different spices to take home and try. I was looking for saffron deals but they were not as good as in Thailand so only came home with 1 gram instead of a bag full. Ryan then wanted to show Bill the butcher shop and purchase some biltong which is similar to our jerky. We ended the day having beers under the patio misters with Ryan telling him how happy we were to have spent  3 days with him experiencing his beautiful city of Cape Town. We were all sad to see it come to an end.

Sunday

Today we headed out to Cape Point with our G adventure tour guide Gail.  We toured the East Indian company garden and one of the presidents residences.

We stopped at the court house and outside was a bench at said “ whites only”. It was there to remind people of the past  she told us stories of when people had or carry ID passport which allowed them to be in specific paces of the city at certain times of the day. If you were outside that window you were arrested and sometimes disappeared forever. The ID passports indicated if you were white, black, or coloured.  Coloured people are people of mixed race.

 We then toured an area called bo-kaap . This was the area the Muslim people lived and the houses were multi coloured with a wide range of vibrant colours.  We stopped at a corner convenience store and purchased cold water, spices, snacks, but unfortunately the samosas were sold out.

We then traveled for about an hour to reach Cape Point, the southern most tip of Africa. Gail told us to keep our eyes peeled for baboons, ostrich and large antelope. Joyce and I were the Queen spotters and we saw them all. The baboons are mischievous creatures which cause all kinds of trouble. They are very intelligent and attempt to enter vehicles, break off car antennas and steal food and hand bags. We were told to keep the windows closed and only eat indoors and hang onto your bags.

Joyce was the first to spot the antelope, then the ostrich and on our way out of the Cape of Good Hope we watched a group of about 8 Baboons running down the hill to the kite surfers cars to see what they could find.

We took the cable car up to the lighthouse to the view point and experienced wind gusts stronger than downtown Lethbridge during a Chinook. The guy in front of me was Bills size and he moved 4 feet to the left in a blink of the eye. I grabbed the railing and hung on until we made it to the summit. AMAZING EXPERIENCE!

 We were rushed for time so headed straight down to the bus as the next stop was Boulders beach and our second viewing of the penguins. There were about double the amount of penguins compared to the first day. We were all thankful we spent as much time as we did on our first day as it was 38 degrees and very rushed today.

We had to que up to get our photo as the large tour buses were rolling in.

Bill wasn't feeling well today but was a trooper and made it through but decided to go to bed early and skip dinner because we had a full day booked with Cape Fusion Tours and Ryan on Monday.

Joyce, Brian and I had an amazing fresh fish tapas meal and called it a night. 38 degrees is very hot in the city!