Advertisement
Snapshot: We are now is South Africa, currently in Johannesburg with Michael's friends Vanessa and Alex (of United World College vintage). Hard to believe we have already been in South Africa for a week. We arrived at the airport May 1, searching for Yvonne's mother. To our dismay she was no where to be found. After a phone call we learned she will not be coming 😞
A few days earlier, we were saddened to leave behind Ethiopia. We will remember it as friendly, peaceful, and seemingly crime-free (but never sure if or when the electric or water would work). South Africa is in many ways no different than the US, but sports a few more flat-bed pickups, more small cars (and BMWs), more pedestrians, more elephants, and -move over McDonalds- more fast-food Wimpy’s. Much like in LA or New York, the nearest crime is commonly lurking just around the corner. The steering wheels are on the right side of the cars, with everyone driving on the left side of the street! You need to keep reminding yourself, left-side, left-side…..
Prior to reaching Kruger National Park, we spent our first South African night at the Hoedspruit Cheetah Center. Had
an amazing night in a camp that was romantically lit up with lanterns, with our shower water heated with wood. We had the entire camp to ourselves, sleeping to the sounds of lions calling just outside our fenced campsite.
Like Yellowstone, Kruger National Park requires you to hold binoculars in one hand and a camera in the other. There is one difference: you cannot get out of your car, except at designated camping areas. If you don’t like it, prepare to be fined and/or eaten by your friendly neighbourhood pack of hyenas. That said, Kruger National Park proved to be an overwhelming experience: within 15 minutes of our entering the park, a bull elephant was staring down at our little Hyundai I10. By the second day we had observed almost all the large animals, from zebras to leopards, baboons, impalas, giraffes, hippos, and hyenas. By the time we drove out of the park 3 days later, we had observed all major animal groups except the Cheetah 😊. Our list includes: lions, many elephants, zebras, warthogs, turtles, hornbills, fish eagles, tortoises, Nile crocodiles, hippos, giraffes, impalas, black rhinos, water buffalos, vultures, black mamba, ostrich, one huge hyena, waterbuck, kudo, wildebeest,
lapwing, three-banded plovers, savannah monitor, stream clicking frog, fruit bats, and our prize sighting of a saddle-backed stork! Posters at every visitor center urged reporting of any sighting and noted that only 100 of these giant birds exist… We spend two nights in central park, then slowly headed south through thick forest and savannah into lowland wetland-type habitat.
Banana Index: Not as abundant as in Ethiopia, but can be found in all the major grocery stores -and, conveniently, at many street corners.
# of Cheetah seen: 35 (cheetah center)
# of chickens crossing the road: untold number of Guinea Fowl crossing the road while in Kruger. Number of chickens surviving the act: uncatalogued.
Biggest Surprise: Hyenas. They come equipped with jaws that leave no reason to envy a lion; they can be the size of a bear, -and just as powerful. …and if that is not enough, note they approach their quest for the next meal with the skilled coordination of a pack of wolves, and their unique howl is enough to make a leopard’s blood curdle.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.281s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 43; dbt: 0.0374s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Norm
non-member comment
Very cool!
Cool pictures. National Geographic would be envious! No, really, I think you've captured the Ethiopian lifestyle, culture and sense-of-place with your camera. Nice job and it goes without saying that you're having the trip of a lifetime.