Pretoria... Wait, Safari?

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We woke up and had a great all you-can-eat breakfast at the Town Lodge.
We slept in a bit which was a god-sent because of what happened. We were
at the front desk asking about options to see things in Pretoria. As we
went over the map - a call came into the front desk (while we were
standing there) for us... It was our safari company - they were going to
be late picking us up. Since we thought our safari started on June 6th,
we were baffled. Turns out we made an American mistake.

The pickup confirmation for the trip said that pickup was on 05/06/10.
Not realizing first that it said May 6, 2010 - I was still confused.
Then I realized that in SA, as with Europe, they write their dates day
then month. Oops... Thankfully, we hadn't left for the day yet because
we never would have figured it out and maybe missed the whole safari.

That's because my phone, which worked the whole first day...
Miraculously stopped when we woke up on the second. Turns out that the
cell infrastructure is less reliable than the states. Who would've
guessed? So without a phone... We could've been downtown and had no clue
that the bus was coming to pick us up. Luckily, we were able to check
out early and get our stuff together. We spent an hour talking with the
front desk workers - Johan from Durban, and Fortune from Rustenburg -
about our trip, we to do and not to do, and having a great talk about
the States and cultural stuff. One thing I really think we've noticed
(and been told) is that the stereotype a lot of people have of Americans
(and its the same on our other trips) is that the people they meet are
quite different from what they 'expect' Americans to be like.

By 11 AM we were smashed into the bus for the 6 hour drive to Kruger
National Park. The van had a unique blend of people. A family from CA on
safari. A lone french guy who was in SA for work. An American couple
from the SW who were hear to root on Mexico and who wore sombreros. And
a few other randoms.

A few notes about the trip and other things I've noticed. Get ready for
some jumping around, I don't do segways - so get used to it.

The landscape on the drive varied from urban area, to flat barren plains
covered with coal mines and nuclear powers, to beautiful mountains with
waterfalls and amazing views. Embedded in this drive were the famous
"townships" of SA - the most third world places I have ever been in. It
was amazing to see the cultural (upscale neighborhoods to slums) and
language (there are 11 official languages in SA) differences in such a
short distance.

Road safety is not a priority here. Driving is the most dangerous thing
to do for a variety of reasons. You will notice the 'Hi-Jack Alert'
areas that you should never stop in. Another interesting tactic having
to do with road safety is road conditions. They don't re-pave streets or
fix potholes. They lower the speed limit and have either official or
homemade signs warning of potholes. Seems legit. There are also people
hitchhiking everywhere (don't worry mom, I won't pick any up) and people
running across the highways and the middle of the road. I really have
no idea how road safety is an issue (sarcasm)... But it is.

As we neared Kruger and we were winding through the mountains we just
about had a head-on collision with a semi truck... But as you can see by
writing this, we were good to go. Imagine going up an 80 degree incline
on the most narrow winding mountain roads ever - probably hours from the
nearest real town - and passing a semi truck only to have another coming
down the hill at the same time. There were a few screams in the car -
but our driver never flinched. Apparently he KNEW that road could hold
two semis and a car safely. Not an assumption I would have made - but
what do I know. As our heart rates lowered and we jammed to Ke$ha and
80's rock (yes, American music is everywhere), we arrived at the Mulale
Reserve and our lodge.

We were running behind, so as soon as we got there, we threw our stuff
in our rooms, jumped in the safari jeep and off we went for a night
drive. The huts and the camp are really nice. There are showers, hot
water, AC and locks. Call me a pansy, but I am on vacation. There are
however some quirks. Monkeys jump on the roof pretty non-stop which can
get annoying. In an effort to be nice, the lodge put air fresheners in
each room that were so strong I almost passed out. It was all in an
effort to be clean and nice, but I wanted to puke. Also, its important
to realize that it is winter here. That means temps from the low-40s in
the morning to the mid-80's in the evening. A really tough life. But it
makes an important point. A lot of the dangers of camp are a lot less in
the winter. Snakes, spiders, and scorpions are a lot less (but NOT at
all non-existent) in the winter. We have seen all 3 so far, but so
far... So good. My mom would be losing it. It seems from the description
to be like a real home but make no mistake. This is the furthest I've
ever been from civilization. Everything here runs on tribal rule and its
just different. We are only 3 hours from the Indian Ocean - that's far.
Our camp "mom" Pearl told us a lot of not so cool stories about camp,
the area, and things that will scare the crap out of you. I will share a
few now. First is the recent guest that walked up to touch what he
thought was a statue, but turned out to be a six foot python trying to
eat a monkey. Oops. Or the girl who got bit in the face by a spider and
almost died. Ouch. Or... The staff member at the lodge who was walking
to her room and slammed into an elephant in the dark and almost got
killed. You have to realize that while there are gates to our camp,
there are animals (giraffes, monkeys, wildebeests and many others all
over inside the gate). Finally there was the story of the staffer
watching TV and the wildebeest that bit her head and killed her.
Awesome. That was plenty of stories for us... Some of them you will hear
later.

Our guide Mark, a lifelong SA bush guide was our smart and quite
emotional guide. He knew everything about anything in the bush - and he
is quite emotional about the animals, conservation, and living amongst
nature. A really good guy.

The night drive is a chance to see a lot of the animals that only come
out at night - but the chances of seeing much are slim. That said, our
group of 8 (myself and Heather, a family of 4 from CA, and 2 guys from
Chile) set off on the first of a week long drives, walks and other
activities together. We also learned from the first drive, that the
Chileans were going to be late to every activity.

We had some the chance to see a variety of nocturnal creatures that you
can only see at night and a bunch of normal animals that we woke up. We
saw a flat-backed camealon (sp), a bunch of jackals, tons of antelope
that the locals call McDonalds antelope since they are everywhere and
have black lines on their but that look like an 'M' (thank you US
corporations - you have even invaded the bush) and finally, we saw
wildebeests.

Also of note were the stars. This is by far the clearest sky I have ever
seen in my life. You can see all the stars, planets, satellites, and
galaxies that exist. It is beyond description.

We got back to camp for the first of sure to be many delicious
home-cooked meals from the Afrikaan locals who work at the camp. We had
pumpkin soup which was awesome, Impale (African deer) stew and some
great cake. Mark (our guide) entertained everyone with more not so cool
/ emotional stories about how being a guide ruined his marriage, how
tribes in Kruger are similar to Rwanda (and proceeded to tell a story
about Americans being chopped to death there) and other interesting
facts. Like did you know that a gorilla is 8x stronger than a human male.
Or that a gorilla at 6 months is stronger than a fully developed human.
Yes. Lesson learned - don't mess with gorillas.

We headed to bed around 10 to get ready for a 4:45 AM wake-up for the
next days activities. A great first day of the safari and we are still
counting our lucky stars that we got that call and didn't miss the
safari. It literally couldve made us miss the chance of a lifetime and
stranded us in the city without a place to stay for days. Its all part
of the experience - the motto lives on.

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Photos

Welcome to Kruger
Our home for the week, the Tremisana Lodge. Not the safest place ever, but what a great time.