So, I went to sleep around 3am. Thank goodness I packed before I went to sleep. I had to wake up around 5:15am because I was supposed to be in the dining hall by 5:30am because we were to get on our bus to the airport at 6am. Well, woke up at 5:40. Freaked out a little bit, but I knew that I was fine. I threw on some clothes and while I was gathering everything I got a phone call! They told me to get on upstairs! So, I made it, grabbed a croissant for the road, and headed down to the bus.
Once on the bus and sitting comfortably next to Lauren Gray (who was my best friend on this trip! We had SO MUCH FUN TOGETHER!) they begin to call roll. Well, we knew there was a problem when they called some names that were not on the bus and didn’t call the names of people who were on the bus! Thank goodness my name was called! Ended up that the communication between the field office and the South African Tour Company had some major flaws. You might think this would be no big deal, but there were two different groups. One bus was to leave at 6am (my group) to catch our 8am flight, and the other half was to leave at 8am to catch their 10am flight. Well, there were people who had tickets on the 8am flight who had been told by the field office that they were on the later flight! Ahh! And you know, that you can’t just trade airline tickets! So, the field office had to call the 5 people who were still sleeping, not planning to get up for another hour or two – and told them to get down to the bus in 5 MINUTES! I felt sooooo bad for them! Miraculously they made it! Frazzled and still half-asleep they trudged onto the bus and we were off! I was amazed that the people who had to get off our bus because they were on the later flight complained more than the ones who were woken up and told to make it down to the bus in minutes! Probably because the people who had to get off of our bus were still drunk from the night before. Embarrassing.
After that little mix up, we finally made it to the airport and scurried to catch our flight. We flew to Johannesburg to connect to the Kruger Mpumalanga Airport. The flight to Kruger was on a small plane shaking the whole way! I loved it – made for a little adventure!
Once we landed, we hopped on a bus to drive to our lodge. The drive was beautiful. The landscape was a combination of small little towns, tall forests, and banana farms! So many banana farms! It took about an hour before we got to the lodge – which was beautiful! I was so excited to find out that Lauren was my roommate by chance (or, well, by “G” last names). Our room was nice – mainly because we each had huge queen size beds with four incredible pillows! It was heaven after sleeping so much in our little twins on board! The best moment was when we discovered that we could watch the Disney channel in our room! Oh, the comforts of home that we had not even realized we missed so much!
We threw our stuff on our beds and headed to grab out lunch. Just like everything had been on this trip so far – the food was FANTASTIC! Absolutely delicious. I do have to admit that South African cuisine surprised me. I think after Morocco and Ghana – where the food did not always agree with me – I was not expecting much here either. The combination of my low expectations and the actual high quality of every meal makes South Africa the prize winner of “Port with the best food,” – at least up to this point!
After swallowing our last bit of food, we went to grab our stuff out of the room for an evening game drive! I was incredibly excited to be able to wear my khaki safari shirt! So, thinking that I looked all official, we headed outside to hop in a vehicle! We tried to get in the vehicle that was not very crowded. It worked out perfect because each vehicle held 9 people, but we only had 6 in ours – so everyone was able to sit by the side and have their own unobstructed view of the bush!
Then, the best part happened. Our ranger. His name was John, he was 23, grew up in Kruger National Park because his parents helped create walking trails within the park. He knew everything about the animals, insects, trees, and especially the birds! It was a lot of fun to have him as our guide! I think I developed a little crush.
The evening game drive was really fun! We started out stopping to see the impala that were everywhere! They reminded me of the deer that overpopulate the US! John promised the next day we would not even think twice about them when we came upon them – he was right. The following day we ignored the poor little impala.
That evening we also saw huge elephants, a family of baboons, guinea fowl (this crazy bird with a blue head), a lioness basking on the setting sun, and a white rhino! No giraffes yet, but absolutely incredible to see these animals up-close and in their real habitat.
We had to get out of the park by 6pm. So, back to the lodge for a pleasant dinner outside. I enjoyed my conversations with different students that evening. I think that one benefit of taking a Semester at Sea planned trip is the fact that you are able to get to know people on a deeper level than just recognizing their face.
We decided to talk a stroll after dinner around the resort – so that we could burn of a little bit of dinner! But, before we got too far, this guy (who was staying at the lodge with his family for vacation) stopped us to point out a baby owl his family had seen fall from its nest a few hours earlier. They had picked up the poor little owl and set it up in the tree, but it had not moved and the mother had not come back. I felt so bad for the little baby!
That was about all the excitement for the evening. Everyone was pretty exhausted from waking up at the crack of dawn to catch our flight – and the next day we were to start our game drive at 5:30am! Wow.
Slept so well in the plush queen size bed, that it was really difficult to wake up the next morning. Yet, I was really excited to spend an entire day looking for animals and hopefully spotting a giraffe!
The day started off well, as John was our ranger once again. We got started and immediately a GIRAFFE! In case you didn’t know, I love giraffes. I think they are such interesting and beautiful creatures! We continued on to see warthogs, buffalo, hippopotamus, vultures, more lions (eating their kill!), kudu, a rock monitor, stienbach, birds of all kinds, and John’s favorite: the honey badger. This little creature is rarely seen. Last time our ranger had seen one was January, so it was quite an ordeal! It is deemed one of the most fearless creatures alive! How about that!? If you are curious, here’s more info:
HONEY BADGER.
So, the day went well. We saw a ton of animals. We enjoyed our lunch at a nice picnic area inside the park, drove for the afternoon, and then returned to the lodge around 4pm. I wanted so badly to go swimming, or explore the resort, but my body only wanted to sleep. I went and took a nap. Big surprise there. But, the beds were SO COMFORTABLE that I did not regret missing out on swimming or anything else. Dinner, again, was quite tasty, and the evening was filled with nice conversation late into the night.
Once again, we were up at 5:30 to get out and about on our last game drive. This morning we were not so successful at seeing the animals. No vehicle had any luck. It was a cooler morning, so it was like the animals were all still sleeping, and we were the only ones awake! We did end up seeing a very nice white rhino plop down into a puddle for a bath. That two ton creature is quite a spectacle!
After about 3 hours we returned to the lodge to grab our luggage and head back to the airport. Lauren and I were sad to go – we had enjoyed this trip so much!
Thank goodness the flight back was a straight flight. It was about 2 and a half hours – time that I had intended to be productive and accomplish some schoolwork. Once again, though, no surprises that I fell fast asleep.
The safari was a great experience. I know that it is a bit touristy, but I truly enjoyed being able to see a bit of wildlife and get outside the city. Thinking back, I really loved laughing so much with Lauren, asking John questions about the trees and animals around us, having late night conversations with people I didn’t know well beforehand, and seeing wildlife in action! I loved the fresh air I breathed every morning, the stars that shown so brightly at night, and most of all the vast African sky. It really is a big blue sky here in South African. Something to take in, and take home in your memory.
