Devon and Geoff's Excellent Adventure

Today we left Rhino Post- we didn't even get a morning game drive, but they made us breakfast early, so we cannot complain.  Our rustic-y campsite, including the open air bathroom, is below We headed back to Skukuza, we we caught a flight to another Kruger airport.  We were the only passengers on the plane, and thus our flight was about the last to land in Nespruit and we almost missed our flight to Livingston.  It all worked out, and we had a female pilot. Once in Zambia, we had to pay our visa fee for Zimbabwe (must be paid with crisp American dollars).  The drive to our hotel was memorable.  One driver drove us to the Zambian side of the Zambezi.  There we had to get out and have our passports stamped for exiting Zambia.  Then we crossed the one lane bridge (this one lane caused huge truck delays on either side) to the Zimbabwe side.  While still in no mans land, we switched drivers, and entered the Zimbabwe entrance office-it was a...

Sleep Out Yesterday we left after high tea for our sleep out.   The road to get there was astonishingly rough (especially considering our guide, Doug, kept talking about how it had recently been fixed up.   On the way we saw a 45 year old elephant and several giraffes.   We saw another younger elephant, who acted threatening enough that Doug was hitting the side of the car to make noises and scare it away (apparently if you reverse, they charge).   Soon enough we arrived at camp (before sunset).   Doug and our tracker lit a fire, and we sat by it as we ate some pre dinner snacks and some cider (they constantly offer alcohol). While we waited for the embers to burn down, we saw Rhinos and Elephants at the watering hole (it feels like cheating, but they have a pumped watering hole).   Apparently black rhinos only have young once every 7 years (in comparison white rhinos every 3-4, and elephants every 2).   Once the embers burned down we ad...

Kruger Day 1 This morning we moved onto Kruger. After an hour and a half delay at the Cape Town airport we boarded a small plane (3 across) for our flight to Skuza. South Africa looks amazing from above, so I spent the whole flight staring out the window or napping . our plane We landed at Skuza, a tiny airport in the middle of Kruger. The whole airport is open air, and very safari chic. The baggage claim is pretty much a stage. A man from Rhino Post  picked us up and drove us over, along the way we saw our first elephant, hippo, and some antelope. After being shown around the camp, we went to high tea after which we left for a game drive. The schedule here is 5:30 wake up and coffee, game drive 6:00-10:00 (with coffee break), breakfast, chill, high tea 3:30, game drive 4:00-7:30 (with sundowners), dinner 8:00. We have our own little cabin, with a thatch roof, and a deck the size of the cabin. The bathroom isn’t really separate, and there is an outdoor shower. It ...

Today was our coastal tour.  We started off early again with a 7:30 pickup.  Our tour guide Terrence brought the energy (I took a nap on the way to our first destination).  First stop was Seal Island.  A short boat ride past some more brilliant cliffs and we were there.  Apparently this island is home to male seals who have not quite reached breeding age.  There were some seals frolicking, but mostly they were sleeping (it was only 8:30, who can blame them).    Next up we drove down to the Cape of Good Hope.  On the way we passed some baboons (Africa's menace- they literally have baboon police).  Terrence told us stories about his Indian tour buses and their propensity for lateness.  We're timely, so we laughed.  Despite the Cape nature preserve looking like an apocalyptic wasteland, it is beautiful.  Terrence told us there are zebras, rams, and ostrich there- of those we saw two out of the three.  T...