Kruger National Park Safari

I have combined all the material from the time Louis and I left Birmingham through the stay at Rhino Post Lodge in the Kruger National Park to our arrival in Cape Town instead of making each a separate posting.  A movie of the slides has been made and I will either post it with this posting or put it into Dropbox and send the link.  There are lots of pictures from this outstanding experience in the "wilds of Africa".

Saturday/Sunday, October 24/25, 2015

Our safari and biking vacation in South Africa began with my driving from Birmingham to Atlanta to fly to Dulles International Airport where I would meet Louis and fly South African Airways to Johannesburg, South Africa.  The roughly 17 hour flight was very nice, with plenty of good food, South African wine, and good flying weather.  We had a refueling stop in Accra, Ghana (about 10.5 hrs into the flight) where some passengers disembarked and we picked up additional passengers for Johannesburg.  Arrival in Johannesburg was about 30 minutes latter than scheduled and, after going through passport control, we met the VBT representatives and 6 other people (Jesse, Pat, Claude, Kathy, Bob, and Debbie) who would be doing the Safari extension with us.  They transported us to the hotel, Garden Court Inn, where we would stay the night before departing at 8 am Monday morning for the airport and our 10 am flight to Skukuza.  Louis and I had dinner – hamburger and 2 draft beers each – for 254 Rand or less than $20 including tax and tip.

Monday, October 26, 2015

After our buffet breakfast, we met the other 6 we met yesterday and 4 more (Mary Ann, Ann, Carol, and Maureen from Atlanta, GA) who arrived later for our transfer to the O R Tombe airport for our flight to Skukuza and our stay at the Rhino Post Lodge.  The 40-minute SSA Airlift flight took us to the Skukuza airport, which is within the Kruger National Park boundary.  Here we met the Rhino Post Lodge representatives who transported us to the Lodge, which was 11 km further into the national park.  On the drive, we saw impala, giraffe, Cape buffalo, and hippos along the road, in the dry riverbed, or in a large water hole.  Our lodge is in a very unique setting.  Each cabin is a thatched=roof structure containing all the amenities of a hotel room, but the cabin walls are canvas and the river-side is all glass.  Because the wildlife can freely roam the grounds we have to be escorted from and to our rooms by lodge personnel after dark.

Cape Buffalo

While resting before our afternoon activities, a large herd of Cape buffalo walked down the bank into the riverbed to drink water at a watering hole.  That was quite an impressive site.  At 3:30 pm, they served coffee, tea, and snacks.  Then at 4 pm we headed out for our first 4 hr safari.  There were 6 people to a land cruiser.  Louis and I were in the vehicle with the four women from Atlanta and our driver was Joey.   

We had not driven far until we encountered 3 giraffes along the dirt road.  Joey is very adept at driving very close to the animals.  He did give us extensive instructions about not standing up in the land cruisers and other precautions about what to do and not to do as he would maneuver the vehicle up close to the animals.  Within a short time we saw elephants and lots of impalas.  

 Then on the radio he received a message that lions had been seen and he took off at a high rate of speed to the location.  Unfortunately, by the time we got there, the lion had moved.  But in a little time we did see a lion coming out of the brush and walked toward us.  In fact he came up to the land cruiser and lay down on the road.  We were quite amazed at how close we were. 

Sundowner Break (Mary Ann, Louis, Ann, Carol, Maureen, & Larry)

Around 5:30 pm Joey drove close to a water hole or what remained of a small lake and pulled into an overlook area.  Coming down the slope to the water hole was a large rhino.  We stayed here for some time and broke out the wine and snacks for our evening Sundowner Break.  Joey took us on a short walk to get closer to the rhino as the sun was beginning to set.  Next, we drove using a spotlight to view nocturnal animals.  Elephants were still roaming and we saw the lion and numerous small nocturnal animals, including rabbits. 

We got back to the lodge at 8 pm and had about 30 minutes before we were escorted to cocktail hour and dinner.  The temperature had dropped a bit and there was a fire in the fire-pit, which was a nice setting for visiting with the other members of the group.  This was followed by dinner, which included a mustard crusted filet mignon for the entrée.  After dinner, Joey escorted us back to our cabin and we crashed.  Because this is malaria country, the beds are all covered with netting.  Fortunately, the weather has been so dry and there appear to not be any mosquitos; at least none that we have seen so far.  Tomorrow we will be woke up at 5 am to be ready to leave at 5:30 am for our morning safari.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

When we woke up we noticed the weather had changed and there is a light rain.  Ponchos were issued to everyone and we boarded the Land Cruisers with the same six of us in Joey’s vehicle.  The ponchos really came in handy, because the entire morning safari was in a steady light rain with some light wind, which made for an uncomfortable 4 hr. ride in an open area vehicle.  Even though we had rain throughout the morning, we saw many animals – lion, giraffe, impala, elephants, Cape buffalo, and zebra. 

By the time we returned to the lodge at 9:30 am, we were quite cold and wet and ready for hot coffee and the brunch prepared for us.  The brunch consisted of cereals, cut fruit, yogurt, cold meats, cheese, eggs (scramble, omelet, etc.), bacon, sausages, sweet rolls, relishes, toast, etc.  We went back to the cabin and laid down for a nap, before showering and relaxing until afternoon high tea and the scheduled afternoon/evening safari.  Fortunately, the weather changed for the better with clearing skies and the end to the rain. 

The safari departed at 4 pm with plenty of sun and much warmed temperatures than we experienced in the morning.  Immediately, after leaving the lodge, we saw several young giraffes, which looked so beautiful in the bright sunlight.   

A short distance and a young eagle was perched on a branch of a tree.  Next we came across wort hogs and then a group of baboons including several babies being carried on the backs of the mothers.  A drive to a small dam gave us excellent views of hippos in the small lake. 

Further along we came across a hyena walking along the road; not being bothered at all by our vehicle.  Instead of stopping for our Sundowner Break, Joey broke out the wine and we drank as he drove us near the Mozambique park boundary.  Along the way we saw rhinos, giraffes, a large elephant, and our first leopard, which was resting on top of a termite mound.  Joey used his camera with large telephoto lens to show us the leopard, because it was so dark and he could only use the spot light to light the leopard.  It was a gorgeous animal. 

When we drove back to the Rhino Lodge, Joey took a different way and surprised us by driving to an encampment that was lite with torches and way actually a South African outdoor BBQ arranged especially for the group.  There was a large fire, which felt great in the chilly light area, and a bar.  The chef was grilling appetizers, corn on the cob, beef sausages, and lamb chops.  In addition, there was 3 bean salad, potatoes, beat/beef dish, etc.  We sat around the fire and ate dinner and our dessert of sponge cake soaked with warm cream.  This was a very nice ending to a great day.   Tomorrow morning we will have a short safari and won’t leave for this until 6 am.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

The morning was chilly when we got up at 5:30 am and we dressed warmly for the early morning.  Only 4 of us took the optional 2 hr. safari this morning.  Although we had seen so many animals in the previous three outings, we decide to go this morning with no particular agenda of what we wanted to see.  Within a short distance we encountered a young eagle, herd of zebras and then a pack of 21 wild dogs, which we had not previously seen in the park.  They did not appear to be bothered by us and walked calmly around the vehicle before leaving.  Next we saw a family of baboons and some hippos, before coming upon a leopard resting on the ground.  This leopard was much easier to see that the one last night.  So, we had a very success morning seeing wildlife within a 2 hr. timespan.  We were back to the lodge by 8 am in time to pack, check out and have breakfast before being taken by van to the Skukuza airport for our 11:20 flight to Cape Town.  The Rhino Lodge Safari was such an enjoyable experience with outstanding animal sightings.  In total we saw the complete “Big 5” along with 24 other mammals and numerous birds.

Our flight to Cape Town left on time and was a 2 hr 20 minute flight.  I was so surprised to see the extremely rugged, mountainous terrain as we neared Cape Town.  We touched down about 15 minutes early, baggage was waiting by the time we got inside the terminal, and the VBT guide (Kevin) was there to great us and transport us to the hotel.  The 12 us on the safari are the only ones on the biking trip and that makes for a very nice sized group.  Although the temperature yesterday was in the 90’s, it is back to more normal for this time of year – upper 70’s.  Our hotel room is actually an apartment with all the furnishings and very nice.  After Louis and I had a short walk around the immediate area, with great views of Table Mountain towering over the city, we attended the welcoming reception and met our guides, Kevin and Hank, who are very enthusiastic South Africans.  Tomorrow we do a lot in the city and have a short ride in the afternoon.

The movie of all the pictures from the safari trip is larger than allowed and have placed it in Dropbox.  Here is the link:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/1tw6g0w4u3zej2f/Rhino%20Post%20Safari%20KNP.m4v?dl=0 .  Will load more individual pictures later.