another early morning. but instead of the game drive, we did a morning walk. talk about a thrilling experience! i mean, theadvantage of the drive is that you cover more ground, therefore are more likely to see the coveted animals. BUT. walking thru the bush was way cooler, even if you don't see as much. it's more about the journey than the destination, so to speak.
we arrived early (again, what's with us?) and our guides were jan from yesterday's night drive and another ranger, evan. at first i thought it would be just jeff and myself, which would be awkward, but fortunately a couple from the netherlands showed up. the man spoke very good english, but his wife did not and so the man had to translate nearly everything for her. the rangers, both being white south african from dutch (rather than british) decent, also spoke some crude dutch, so tried to include her as much as could. overall, it was a good group. jan noted that he wished more visitors would come on the walks, but b/c most people just care about seeing the big 5, it's rather unpopular. stinks for them, i think. jan also told us about some of the longer wilderness trails as well as the backpacking trail through kruger. i'm sensing my next adventure...
anyway, we loaded into the smaller safari truck and drove out of the camp. jan and evan consulted the maps and researched where game had been observed in the previous few days before deciding our ultimate destination. once we arrived, we sat in the truck while they loaded their rifles. those were some big guns! once they were done, we were allowed to get out and stretch, but they were still waiting on the sun to rise a bit more before heading out. though it appeared to be bright to my adjusted eyes, our rangers insisted that animals could still be hiding in the unseasonably tall grasses and we needed to wait until it was lighter out. jan left to scout the area with his binoculars while evan gave us the "rules". no quick sudden movements. walk in a single file line. no talking while walking. no taking photos until given the go-ahead, and even then - no taking too many b/c the sound can be distracting. crouch while walking if told to. "tip toe" walk if told to. switch order in line every time we stop so the same person isn't in the back every time. and most importantly, get ready for a good time. got it? good.
we headed out, and i wondered what in the world i had gotten myself into. i'll admit, i was a bit nervous, but felt jan and evan were pretty competent people and would protect us as best they could should something happen. we walked with both rangers in front. to the unskilled person, it seems like it would be best to have one in front and one in back. but after they explained how quickly things can happen (lions run at 22 m/sec!), and most charges and attacks occur from the front, it made sense they'd both be ahead of us.
we didn't have to walk far before we came across a large bull elephant, and in a few mins they spotted another in the distance. we stayed very still so they could determine if there might be more than we were initially aware of, which could be dangerous. one elephant eventually moved on, but one lingered. we watched him for a long while. it was really neat to listen to all the birds, as well as the impalas snorting, which was their way of letting "the predator" (us) know they see us and so can't surprise them. unfortunately it also alerts the elephant that something is not right. waited a long time before they stopped and we moved on to the next tree so we could follow the elephant. amazing how close we were to such an enormous animal, with no protection. such a different experience compared to the drive!
after about 45 mins we moved on. came across a massive spider web thing, and while jan again scouted, evan explained all about them. he poke at the web to agitate the spiders so we could see them. of course that was before mentioning they could jump 3 meters. yikes! i nearly had a heart attack. moving on. saw a huge herd of impalas in the distance, and a male and female elands amongst them. they were massive! next were some buffalo tracks - one had stomped on its own poop to mark territory.
we finally came to a lake/pond area. our rangers spotted some hippos in the distance, so evan had us stay back while he threw some rocks into the water to see if there were any closer - which would be incredibly dangerous. they were worried b/c there was a lot of moss covering the water and obstructing their view. but after some time, they came to the conclusion that the hippos were not a threat, and we had our picnic breakfast of dried jerky, crackers, cheese, nuts, cookies and juice boxes. yum. moved on, and came across some rhino tracks so learned all about them. finally, it was time to head back to the truck. did not want it to end, but i guess all things must eventually come to an end. back at the camp, said our thanks to jan and evan - really great people - checked out of our bungalow, and said our goodbyes to kruger.
made our way to swaziland, and thankfully the roads were very well marked. crossed the border at jeppe's reef. what a funny immigration process! went thru a gate where a guard wrote down our license plate number and gave us a ticket. then he told us to park and go into 1st building. we poked our heads in b/c weren't sure if it was the right place. it was. started to give our passports and ticket to one of the officers, but she only wanted car info and to declare any valuables. gave what car info i knew, and she filled in rest. okay.. all the while she was like "i love usa, usa my country." she was all smiles, which was in direct contrast to her partner officer who was all ms. grumpy pouty face. the nice lady wished us a good journey and told us to go to the 2nd building. so we crossed the street, and that's where they checked our passports. got them stamped and our ticket stamped. back in the car, where we encountered another gate and another guard. gave him our stamped ticket - and then it was into no man's land.
onto the next gate, where a guard directed us into "light vehicles" parking, whatever that means. repeated process of parking, getting out of car, going into immigration line and getting stamped, then into customs line. we didn't have to declare anything, but we did have to pay R50 to enter the country. maybe it was b/c we had a car? didn't ask, b/c we made it to swaziland!
there was only one way to go, so we went that way. all of the roads were dirt roads, and knew we would be driving on a highway, so didn't bother turning onto any of them even though there weren't signs initially. we did eventually see a sign for the MR1 which would take us to mbabane, so knew we were going the right way. then saw signs for MR3 towards ezulwini valley, so took that. the landscape was just gorgeous. didn't realize it would be so hilly. it was interesting to see such nice houses right alongside huts and shacks. the funniest (and scariest) part was the cattle and goats and chickens roaming the roads all willy-nilly. and the people drive so fast! i know they're familiar with the roads, but all i needed was to hit a cow and kill the car and be stranded in swaziland. no, thank you. it took us about 2 hrs to reach the MR103 from the border, b/c even though the distance wasn't long, the roads were so windy it really slowed us down. but we weren't in any particular rush. eventually found the cutoff for mantenga lodge, checked in and were shown to our room. a quick dinner (beef burger this time) before heading out again.
what a crazy night it turned out to be. we were headed to the bushfire festival. so random it happened to be going on the same weekend we were there - couldn't have planned it better. the lady at reception said we should take a taxi, but our waitress said we'd be fine driving ourselves and gave us the usual cryptic directions. parking ended up being a disaster, which we found out too late. as we slowly crept up the unmarked and unlit road (ahem, safety in numbers?), most were just giving up and parking on the side of the road. i wasn't keen on that as it was unsecured and an undetermined distance from the festival, so onward we moved. we eventually came to the parking lot and were directed into a slot. crossed the street, got our tickets and wristbands. bushfire 2010, we have arrived.
it was a bit overwhelming at first, there were so many people. and, of course, we were the minority as white folks. i'm sure it was all over our faces, but tried our best to act chill. game plan was to make our way around the perimeter and check out what was there - lots of different craft stands and food stalls. ended up purchasing a bushfire t-shirt and a handmade clutch which i loved. jeff also picked up a few things, including a CD of one of the bands we heard - freshly ground. they were a lot of fun. saw some fire dancers and some more music acts. would have liked to have stayed longer, but we were pretty zonked from the full day of activity, and were worried that leaving would be more of a problem than getting in. we were right. it took about 45 mins just to make it out of the parking lot, then another 30 mins to get home. there were officers attempting to direct traffic, but it didn't help much.. people were parked in the driving lanes, and others were driving the wrong directions up the street - which made it even more difficult to navigate the very crowded streets. ah well. we eventually made it home. what a great day!
No comments:
Post a Comment