We got up at 5:30 this morning, got dressed and went to the lobby of our hotel. They kindly left us a breakfast (a couple of croissants and some coffee). That was about all I can handle at 6 AM. Lazarus showed up at 6:15 and drove us to the airport in Cape Town. We got our flight Air South African 1241 to Hoedspruit. It was delayed until 10, but that was fine. We got on a bus which was to drive us to the plane. For reasons not completely understood, we drove out of the parking slot and back into it again three times before we actually set out for the plane. It was a Canadian Bombadier prop plane. We left at around 10 AM and arrived in Hoedspruit at 1:30. We found someone holding a Kapama sign. He asked which lodge we were staying at. We hadn't realized Hoedspruit was the hub for all Kapama lodges (and a few other safari lodges as well). Fortunately, we spotted someone holding a sign with our name. When our bags showed up, two other dudes grabbed our suitcases and walked them the few 10 s of feet to the car. When we didn't tip they were disgruntled - but good grief.
We drove to Kapama Southern Camp (one of six lodges that the private group Kapama runs). There is a large nature reserve in this park of South Africa - Krueger National Park. Some of it is run by the government, and several other pieces are run by private companies. Kapama is one of the private groups.
We were met by a woman who checked us in, and led us to the restaurant. We could choose from the lunch buffet. Our waitress today will wait on us the whole time we're here. Her name is Millie. We went to our very luxurious cabin afterwards. We were to go back to the bar area at 4 for tea and to wait for our safari guide.
Gus is our safari guide. With him is Alec. Gus tells us about the plants, birds, and animals. Alec sits in front of the van and spots for spore and tracks. We were with Lukas - a recently graduated college student from Rio de Janeiro Brazil who's traveling by himself. Later on we were joined by a German couple who showed up a bit late. I didn't have much hope in the beginning of the ride. Gus showed us rhino spore and told us that the types of rhinos in the park were white rhinoceros. Things got better and better. Below are some photos of our safari this afternoon.
We drove to Kapama Southern Camp (one of six lodges that the private group Kapama runs). There is a large nature reserve in this park of South Africa - Krueger National Park. Some of it is run by the government, and several other pieces are run by private companies. Kapama is one of the private groups.
We were met by a woman who checked us in, and led us to the restaurant. We could choose from the lunch buffet. Our waitress today will wait on us the whole time we're here. Her name is Millie. We went to our very luxurious cabin afterwards. We were to go back to the bar area at 4 for tea and to wait for our safari guide.
Gus is our safari guide. With him is Alec. Gus tells us about the plants, birds, and animals. Alec sits in front of the van and spots for spore and tracks. We were with Lukas - a recently graduated college student from Rio de Janeiro Brazil who's traveling by himself. Later on we were joined by a German couple who showed up a bit late. I didn't have much hope in the beginning of the ride. Gus showed us rhino spore and told us that the types of rhinos in the park were white rhinoceros. Things got better and better. Below are some photos of our safari this afternoon.
We spotted a few creatures in our Southern Lodge amongst the buildings. This is an African waterbuck. I finally managed to get a shot of it as it played hide-go-seek around the tree.
A vervet monkey. These creatures are common. I actually saw one at the airport while we were waiting for our luggage.
A white rhinoceros. This photo was taken when it was still rather warm, so this lady was relaxing and cooling off.
We spotted the giraffe's bottom half and couldn't see the top until we went around a bend in the road.
A male herd of impallas
A cape water buffalo cooling off in a pond.
A huge white rhino male snuffling along the road. I've never been so close to such an enormous creature without a fence between it and me. Very disconcerting - the rhino could care less.
A giraffe having an evening snack.
Around 6:30, we stopped by the side of the road. Another safari vehicle joined us. The guides set out all sorts of booze - whiskey, gin, bourbon, brandy, and several types of wine. They also laid out some of the South African jerky, popcorn and nuts.We had a lovely stop off along the road.
I expected that to be the end of our sightings, but, to my surprise and delight, we found the huge male leopard wandering around looking for food. He was followed by a female, but I couldn't really catch a photo of her.
We got back to camp at about 7:40. Quickly went back to our room - then out again for our 8:00 dinner. We ate at a table with Gus, Lukas, and the German couple. The day has improved!
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