Archive for May, 2008

Finally had some time to relax over the last couple of days, which was bloody fantastic – I think half the secret of travelling for any length of time is knowing when to stop for a bit. Not that there’s been any time for sleeping in, mind you – Africa certainly seems to be one of those places that you go to bed early and get up early. Not a bad thing really, tho trying to convince my body of that fact is a different story at times. Or maybe I’m just lazy and don’t like getting out of bed. One or the other.

Stumbled out of bed at 5.30 for much needed coffee and out on the trail at 6. Pretty cold in the mornings and nights this time of year in South Africa, even when not at altitude – then again, it is winter … and given it was 4 degrees when I flew out of Christchurch, I’m really not complaining. It’s still mid-20’s during the day after all! The wind blowing through me plus the sheer variety of game certainly woke me up pretty quickly – the highlight definitely being a very large herd of elephant gathered around a waterhole, including one old bull with huge tusks. Even Vic said she’d never seen an elephant with tusks that size, and she’s been working on game parks in Africa for a few years now.

Up at 5am (see, this trip isn’t all beer and skittles you know…) to be out of the camp when the gates opened at 6. Early morning and late afternoon are the best time to see the animals in Africa – they tend to be sleeping in the shade during the heat of the day (wouldn’t you if you had the choice?).

Woke up to a great breakfast and wonderful coffee – I could really get used to this lifestyle. Great for the state of mind, maybe not so great for the waistline but oh well. Said goodbye to Flippie’s parents for a couple of days and headed into town to stock up on the essentials – which consisted largely of avocado, cheese, chocolate & coffee. Seems about right really. Into the Kruger via Crocodile Gate and the game spotting began. I’ve been to Africa before but I’d forgotten just how alive the bush really is – animals and birds everywhere and of course just immeasurably better than being at any zoo, even really good ones like in Singapore.

So we landed at a reasonably chilly Johannesburg airport (around nine degrees when we got there I think, though it was about 7.30 in the morning), navigated customs etc without incident, sorted out SIM cards etc for phones (well Bec did, my phone has packed a sad and isn’t working so we’ll see what happens in Europe – if it doesn’t work there it might be time for a new one) and then bought the worst airport coffee ever to while away the time until the shuttle bus arrived. Seriously, this coffee was BAD. Worse than the stuff at Chch airport by quite a margin. And that’s saying something.