Our home for the next three weeks.
The three Rondavels.
The Potholes.
A boomslang snake with a lizard in its mouth.
Sunday, November 26th.
Everyone was up and ready and down in
the lobby by 5:00. There we met our driver, Colin, and saw our truck.
It is a smaller version of the overland vehicles I have been on
before. Jay gave us all a little breakfast box that the hotel had
prepared with a croissant, a muffin, a juice box, an energy bar and
an apple. We left and drove for two hours along a good two lane
highway and across flat land, until we got to the big service station
that I stopped at coming back from Zimbabwe, the one with the rhino
display and the little shop where you could buy animal skins. After
that we stopped at a large supermarket where Jay bought the food and
supplies for the next few days and we bought items for our picnic
lunch.
As we were driving I was very aware how
much better organized South Africa is compared to Madagascar. The
roads were great with lines painted on the road and stop signs when
appropriate and the farms were much larger, industrial sized farms of
corn, sugar cane and other crops. Later we came across a huge area of
planted forests of pine trees, which the use for lumber and
eucalyptus trees, which they use for poles for fencing.
From there we left the highway and took
secondary roads until we got to the Three Rondavels. We had a break
there and then continued on to a place called The Potholes. This is
also on the Blyd River Canyon. This is a pretty waterfall and a gorge
where rocks have been spun around in the current and have carved out
potholes in the rock wall. We had our lunch there at picnic tables.
Then we drove on to a place called God's Window where we were
supposed to get a great view of the South African plain, but it was
totally fogged in and we could see nothing.
We drove for another three hours before
we reached Kruger Gate and the entrance to Kruger National Park.
Right outside the park on the right side of the truck we saw two
hippos walking along the river, and a few elephants out the other
side of the truck. We registered and pre-paid for tomorrow night's
game drive and then headed off to set up our camp. We are staying at
Skukuza Rest Camp. As we drove to the campsite we saw a giraffe, more
elephants, impala, and a boomslang snake that caught and ate a
lizard. When we got to the camp reception area we were met by the
last member of our group, an Italian woman named Valaria. Now we are
14. By the time we got to the camp, we had to set up our tents for
the first time in the dark and then Jay cooked us a pasta and meat
sauce dinner. We sat around and talked for a short while and then
everyone headed off to their tent as we have another really early
morning for our full day game drive.
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