Day 5-6: Kruger 1
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 .
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 all feels very safari. We're on a 12,00 hectare concession within Kruger, so we mostly stayed on the roads within that
Our first game drive was an incredible success. We saw 22 different lions (a set of moms and cubs totaling 12 was the biggest)! We also came across an incredibly photogenic giraffe, sparing elephants, and a big elephant family at the watering hole. Our last find definitely was a high point for me. In our area, there is one pride, with 5 brothers. We saw 4 of the 5 brothers walking along the rode. We just sat in awe as one of them walked maybe a foot away from our van. We hoped they would hunt, as apparently they put on a real show with roaring. Alas, no hunt for us, and we headed back for dinner. The game drives are quite cold, as we drive in an open air vechile, mostly in the dark. So by the time we got back for dinner, I was cold, so I wore my hat all the way through the meal (even the parsnip soup didn’t warm me up). We got escorted back to our tent by the ranger, then indulged in the electric blanket and fell asleep.
Day 2
5:30 wake up for our first morning drive. Hot chocolate and a muffin made it bearable. I didn’t really warm up this whole drive, so for the most part I was huddled in my poncho. Giraffes were the animals of the day. We saw a family of 3, an association of 5, and a few other loners. Even a (big) baby. We also saw lots of antelope, a hyena (which looked much different than expected),and some very pretty zerbras. Also a large rhino. The drive was less eventful than last nights, but the hot chocolate and poppy seed shortbread in the middle, plus a nice foggy sunrise, gave it a very different feel. We went straight to breakfast, and have mostly been chilling since (we did a Nike+ workout since being on safari is shockingly sedentary). Tonight we head out to our sleep out, where I am mildly afraid I’ll freeze to death. Should be fun, as it’s a beautiful night for star gazing.
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 all feels very safari. We're on a 12,00 hectare concession within Kruger, so we mostly stayed on the roads within that
Our first game drive was an incredible success. We saw 22 different lions (a set of moms and cubs totaling 12 was the biggest)! We also came across an incredibly photogenic giraffe, sparing elephants, and a big elephant family at the watering hole. Our last find definitely was a high point for me. In our area, there is one pride, with 5 brothers. We saw 4 of the 5 brothers walking along the rode. We just sat in awe as one of them walked maybe a foot away from our van. We hoped they would hunt, as apparently they put on a real show with roaring. Alas, no hunt for us, and we headed back for dinner. The game drives are quite cold, as we drive in an open air vechile, mostly in the dark. So by the time we got back for dinner, I was cold, so I wore my hat all the way through the meal (even the parsnip soup didn’t warm me up). We got escorted back to our tent by the ranger, then indulged in the electric blanket and fell asleep.
Day 2
5:30 wake up for our first morning drive. Hot chocolate and a muffin made it bearable. I didn’t really warm up this whole drive, so for the most part I was huddled in my poncho. Giraffes were the animals of the day. We saw a family of 3, an association of 5, and a few other loners. Even a (big) baby. We also saw lots of antelope, a hyena (which looked much different than expected),and some very pretty zerbras. Also a large rhino. The drive was less eventful than last nights, but the hot chocolate and poppy seed shortbread in the middle, plus a nice foggy sunrise, gave it a very different feel. We went straight to breakfast, and have mostly been chilling since (we did a Nike+ workout since being on safari is shockingly sedentary). Tonight we head out to our sleep out, where I am mildly afraid I’ll freeze to death. Should be fun, as it’s a beautiful night for star gazing.
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