Elephants with Attitude!

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South Africa is a wierd place. So much beautiful scenery, but the cities are unappealing and downright dangerous. The city of Nelspruit, our first real destination in South Africa, is no exception. After hearing several stories of muggings involving knives, we decided to try to get out of there instantly and into the Kruger National park. We'd planned to sign up for a guided trip, like the ones we'd done in Kenya and Uganda, until we heard the price - an outrageous US$280 each for a day trip! In the end, we organized a hire car and purchased a mosquito-net-tent from some other backpackers, instantly saving a total of $320 and gaining an extra full day in the park - not a bad deal!

I'm pleased to say that Kruger far exceeded my expectations. We entered the park at 5:30am and within 10 minutes spotted a white rhino! As we drove around throughout the day we saw several herds of elephants, countless giraffes, more rhinos, zebras, and warthogs, and just about every kindd of gazelle you can imagine. As the day wore on, we realized we were missing only one major animal group - the cats.

At the end of day one, just 30 minutes before we had to check in for our guided night drive, we were told by another tourist about a leopard sighting just 6km alkong the road. The turtle we'd been watching (ironically a leopard turtle!), lost all appeal, and we sped off in search of the elusive leopard. We found him! It wasn't difficult due to the 9 cars crowded along the road, jostling for a better position. We joined them for 10 minutes and ooh-ed and ahh-ed before rushing back to join the night drive. We managed to see a male lion on this (vaguely), plus some rhinos. However, I learned a very important lesson about night driving - don't sit by the spotlight unless you want to be bombarded with every flying bug in the world!

When we got back from the night drive, we ate a packet of biscuits for dinner (the camp restaurant had closed early) then went straight to bed at 9pm. Our tent proved nice and cool in the warm sticky evening due to the fact that it was literally just a mosquito net top. Unfortunately, it backfired just after midnight when it began to pour it down with rain. We quickly scooped everything up and spent the rest of the night in the car!

We woke up bright (?!) and early at 4am the next morning, determined to spot lions while the day was still cool enough. We were lucky. An Indian family in another car told us about a couple of lions they'd seen on the road about 10km ahead . We hurriedly carried on and were soon met with a male lion standing on the roadside, his two front paws placed nonchalantly on the tarmac. As we got closer, we saw there was a female, too. As it was still so painfully early there was only one car watching them, but it moved off as we approached. So, there we were, Scott and I and two lions, only about 10 feet apart, and nothing but our little VW Chico between us! I found it quite exhilarating as they were both looking intently and directly at us! We watched them for about 45 minutes as they walked around from here to there, the male always following closely behind the female. Eventually, they walked to a tree and slumped down in the shade - show over!

For the rest of the day, we continued to drive around and was entertained by all the wildlife and their crazy antics. By 5pm we had to be exiting the park in order to have our hire car back on time. However, we ran into a road block - a solo male elephant woth a definite attitude! As we approached, we could see a huge bus at a complete standstill with the equally huge elephant just in front of it. Hastily reversing away was a tiny-looking white car. It was totally dwarfed by the elephant and looking particularly vulnerable.

We held back a little and watched the scene unfold. Every time the bus moved forward slightly, the elephant would cross the road in front of it, blocking its path. This carried on for about 25 minutes until finally the bus got up the nerve to pass it. The white car passed soon after. Now we were the only ones left!

The elephant was still acting aggressively so we continued to hold back a fair distance, hoping another car would come along for moral support. Finally one did and, oblivious to the situation, passed it without incident. Time was getting on so we decided to follow suit and go for it - scary!

After passing through the exit gate we had to brave the most dangerous part of the drive - the poor township. The scenery was breathtaking. Steep rocky hills with wooden and tin homes clinging to them provided the dramatic backdrop. The town below was set among lush green crop fields. Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to look at it much as I was too bus helping Scott to avoid the dogs, chickens, and people intent on walking in front of our car. I can safely say that it was a relief for both of us to hand in the car keys and go back to the crowded public buses!

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