Day 13, En route to Kruger

We awoke at 6:15 to the sound of cold rain falling from a gunmetal sky. After the arid conditions of Malawi, it took a few minutes to identify the sounds as raindrops. I poked my head out of our door to see guinea fowl chirping and scratching in the field outside the door, as well as a few small antelope being farmed on the premises. We met our guide, a native South African man named Dawn, at 7:15. A quick breakfast at the game lodge was followed by a condensation of our luggage into smaller units that would fit into our minibus.

We discovered that we had been at the least misled regarding the nature of our safari.

The safari we’d paid for included a scenic ride to the Blythe River Canyon (and the associated areas) en route to Kruger National Park. We were under the impression we’d then go into the heart of the park in open-air four-wheel drive vehicles. Upon Dawn’s arrival, he explained that the tour only included his driving us through the park on the park’s paved roads, and that excursions (walking, four-wheel drive, or night drives) would be available for additional fees. Despite our initial expense, we decided that it was worth the extra for the optional tours. We’ll aggressively pursue some sort of recompense for our travel agents upon our return.

The drive to Kruger takes nearly eleven hours. It was mostly across rolling plains, heading due eastward from Johannesburg. The area produces the majority of the coal (and coal-based power) in southern Africa, so most of the time at least one collection of smokestacks was visible. Periodically, springbok could be seen grazing in the unfenced grasslands.

Here’s the list of animals I saw today:

Springbok

Secretary Birds

Blesbok

Vervet Monkey Troupe

Baboon Troupe

Scorpion (not further identified)

Enough of my yappin. Here’s a tiny sample of the pictures I took. I saw more beautiful things today than I’ve seen in my life.