South Africa part 2 Kruger park

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From Sabie we drive to Blyde Canyon, a nice trip to a region were Dinosaur

could have roaming. Lots of panorama’s into the valleys, truly a God’s View

as one of the places is called , but unfortunately is infested by people who

rob tourists of their credit cards, car keys, shoes, probably in inverse order….

Several nice names on our route: Sheba’s Breast is a 3 top mountain…

How about: Graskop; Hazyview; Pelgrims’ rest as names for villages?

Next stop is Kruger Park: simply amazing. We pass the gate after done the formalities

and almost immediately stumble upon huge Elephants. Stepping out of the car is

a no go area. In 4 days we managed to cover approximately 450 K’s at a speed

of 20-50 k’s p.h. So do the maths…

the lodges were simply adorable: round huts (with square tables stuffed in it: how they managed to drag those in beats me !), cooking area outside for BBQ ( a ‘Braai’)

lots of ‘Afrikaners’ either of Dutch origin or British rent these huts as a sort of cheap recreational home. Apparently the crisis hits SA also: a couple of foreigners but most of the

visitors are Afrikaners Funny though, we manage to understand them albeit the languages have lost something in Time & Translation…

Swimming pool is welcomed at the end of the day. We start at 06.00 hrs, ‘cause the chances to see lions and leopards or cheetahs is at the best early when the gras is wet they move on the roads. We have spotted lots of Giraffes, Impala’s (the are sooooo funny to see with their black socks and frail feet, beautiful black eyes), (dumb eying) Hippo’s, Rhino’s (Black !! and dangerous: on Friday the 24^th they attacked a van and smashed the windscreen doing so, 2 holes sidelong) 3 –very lazy-lions. Lots of Baboons, quite hyper, probably diagnosed with ADHD ?! Warthogs (yeah I was –in vain- waiting to see Obelix chasing them )

outside temperature reaches 35 C at 13.00 hrs. but the airco of the Toyota pulls through.

The Park is well guarded against poachers, to my astonishment with Enfield carabines

(for those who do not know about guns : the last time I checked ‘we’ used those during WW II or so)

Meanwhile I have a lengthy talk with a Afrikaner about environmental issues; afterwards he thanks me for the friendship; this triggers some philosophical thoughts which I keep for myself.

Next stop on our itinerary: Swaziland

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