On Safari

So after missing a day there has been a lot that has happened. To begin, we have traveled to the Kruger National Park in South Africa. We left Capetown at 5:30 AM on Thursday and after two plane rides, a commercial flight to Johannesburg and then a small 12 seat commuter plane into the national park. Upon landing on the dirt landing strip we were greeted by the Singita Lodge staff with refreshments and some snacks we headed out to our "lodge." The place we are staying is extravagant to say the least. With 2 showers, one inside and one outside, the room has no doors, only curtains creating different partitions of the space. The glass walls look out over the mountain range and into Mozambique only 15 km away.

Only 5 minutes after our arrival the group saw more wildlife than many Americans will see in a whole day at a city zoo. The arid land does not have many trees, only a plethora of shrubs and Impala. After our arrival at the lodge we had a few minutes to freshen up and get ready for our first game drive. We got into our chopped top land rovers and set out on our first African bush adventure. Many of us are not accustomed to seeing such abundant wildlife, making the experience truly amazing. Impala, which are a small relative of antelope, are the most populous species that you will see out here. On our first drive, both vehicles saw some elephants, zebra, waterbuck and other wildlife. The scenery was spectacular. We finished our daylight part of the game drive with drinks and snacks while watching the sunset. National geographic cannot do any justice to what seeing the place in person is like. We made our way back to the lodge after dark, spotlighting some of the nocturnal animals roaming around. We got back to the hotel, freshened up and then ate an extravagantly prepared meal of wild game, and fresh vegetables.

Our second day in the bush, the group received a wake up call at 5:30 AM for our 6:00 AM game dive. The group departed after a brief morning snack and coffee or tea on a morning game drive. Just as in America, the best time to view animals is in the morning and evening and this is evident on game drives around this area. The vehicles witnesses Impala fighting over mating rights to females, a wide variety of aviary wildlife including white-backed vultures and the most impressive African Lion. While hunting for the rest of the lion pride one of the vehicles spotted a white rhinoceros that the other vehicle quickly made its way to. After a thorough viewing of the wildlife in the morning, both groups headed back to the lodge for lunch and some relaxation time during the midday low time for viewing game.

As the saying goes in True Grit "meals will come and go without notice on this trip." We returned to the lodge at 11:30 AM; lunch time. Everyone ate lunch together and then parted ways to go either nap or view the local village. The group met back up at 4:00 PM to go out on another evening game drive. During the intermission the guides caught wind of a nearby leopard that we were going to view. Both vehicles went and found the leopard and watched it till sundown when we left for drinks and snacks. We adjourned during that time and went back to the lodge with the spotlights to spot nighttime wildlife. We returned to the lodge for dinner and relaxing time.

Time for a word about our wonderful hosts. The South African people in general are the most friendly and modest people anyone has ever met. Never has anyone felt so at home in such a foreign land. Our guide Alan Peterson is extremely knowledgeable about anything and everything that you can think of; from the intellectual conversation to the most common and simple jokes. The game drive staff at Singita lodge are very knowledgeable about every animal spotted on the drives and the staff in the lodge is very accommodating. To sum up, everyone is in good health and good spirits. Morgan is learning many new languages and everyone else is learning about new animals. Tomorrow holds another game drive and hopefully many new sightings of new and interesting animals.