Hippos and crocs and babboons and storks

The Kruger was pretty dry while I was there, and hadn't had rain in some time. Here are some Storks and babboons:



The Swedish lady (Stina) and I were pointing at each other secretly and laughing, like give her the baby, Mr. Stork. Hilarious! Not really. It was hot out.

The lumps in the water here are hippos:



On day two of my safari, since we had already seen the 'big 5', the Spanish ladies and I asked if possibly we could see some other animals. Toby promised us he would show us some Hippos and Crocodiles, which was awesome. I also BEGGED to go to Mozambique. I'm sort of a sucker for stamps in my passport; the more the better. I had to renew mine last year, so I only have a couple stamps. I'm a collector. I don't judge your Precious Moments figurines.
Anyway, it turned out that it would be possible to go to Mozambique, but only if I had more time, because even though we were only 2 kilometers from Mozambique by the way the crow flies, we would have to drive 4 1/2 hours north to get to the nearest entrance point (border crossing).
So, no extra stamps. Though I do consider this a two-country trip, since I set foot in Senegal -- but didn't get a stamp there either :(.

Anyway, so this was all agreed upon (the hippos and crocodiles) the night of our first safari. So the next morning at breakfast I heard one of the guides pull Toby aside and they were chatting for a while and I started to get nervous because there was some discussion (that I was totally evesdropping on) regarding who was going in what truck. It turns out that a group of people from the other camp specifically requested Toby because he was a bird guide. So in one truck, he would have those four plus anybody else who wanted to go with him. Well, we had two girls from France, a Swedish couple, me, and the Spanish ladies. And so it was decided that the new four from the other camp go with Toby and also the two French girls. The Swedish couple and the four Spanish ladies would go with the other guide. Leaving me to decide what to do. I wanted to see Crocs and Hippos, but I also wanted to go with Toby, cuz he's a super-awesome-animal-lover-photographer-guide (and has this blog address haha).

Talk about Sophie's choice!

In the end I decided to stay with the Spanish ladies. I didn't really want to spend the day seeking the Big 5 again. So we get in the truck. I was a little put out because the day before there were only 5 of us in the truck and on day two, we had 7. And then the manager of the whole place gets in, putting us at 8. So every seat is full. I remember having that feeling where your whole day will be ruined if all elements of the groupings of people don't fall in your favor. It ended up being just fine of course and it was nice to have the manager of the place along, because he could explain things.

And, I decided against wearing my light pants, deciding instead to wear my new zip off pants that are made of heavy canvas. Plus they are one size too small and so they ride up like nobody's business. Of course, it reached 104 degrees that day. Hot and sweaty and a little crowd-y in the truck.

So day two of the safari was really super awesome. We saw four of the Big 5. Lions, (11 of them! 7 babies and 4 mommas!) elephants, cape buffalo and a rhinocerous.



It's hard to see the little babies, but if you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see them laying in a row. I think one in the front is actually pooping in this photo. How perfect.

After we saw the hippos and babboons and crocodiles, we were driving down the road and pretty soon we saw a hyena. Our guide said that it's really rare to see a hyena in the day time; they normally run around at night yelping and scaring blonde American women in their treehouses. It was lazily walking along, but with a mission. Ahead in the distance we saw vultures circling. We got pretty excited, because usually that means there was a kill and of course the hyena was probably on his way to eat something. We drove along, following the hyena, and pretty soon we stopped. I looked out my side of the truck, and there was another hyena! It came from out of nowhere. And then another and another and another. We stopped on top of a culvert and they were all in there. We saw 9 hyenas! One just looked at me and stared. They are so ugly, by the way.



So eventually we figured out what all the fuss was about:



A dead elephant. Probably died of old age. Probably covered in vulture crap. Enlarge it.

(Sorry - a lot of my photos were taken from far away.)

Then, like as a creme de la creme, we saw a bunch of animals all at the watering hole. My pictures are kind of crap, but there were rhinocerous, cape buffalo, elephant, giraffe, wildebeast and all kinds of deer. The manager guy said there were 9 species at the watering hole. See if you can see some of them in these photos, but you'll have to enlarge them:

Miles, I will give you a dollar (I think I already owe you $6.75) if you can find a rhinocerous.

Big 5

I should mention that after two years of studying Spanish, (albeit several years ago) it took me a while to come up with "Grande Cinco", which is kindergarten Spanish for "Big 5". Once I came up with it, I was embarrassed that it took me so long. Conjugating it and stuff took me a while. Even right now, I'm not sure that Grande Cinco is correct verbiage for Big 5. But, the 4 Spanish ladies and I were so excited to have seen the Big 5, that I started chanting it in the truck. They started chanting too, and I felt I made a strong connection.

And then I said something like, "Banco Hipoteca" and pointed at my chest. It means Mortgage Bank.

Night number 2 in the treehouse

So I did not have the luxury of alcohol on the 2nd night. We were in Kruger from 8am to 8pm, and I only had time for dinner and like two beers. So I had to stay in my hut again. Alone. I was the only alone person in the camp. It was really hard, because even though sometimes I live alone, I really prefer to have a roommate. I get so so so so scared of the dark. I slept with my sister Kasey until I graduated high school for crying out loud. I'm just not an alone person. Too social and too fradey cat I guess.

Anyway, so on night number two Toby the manager of the place offered to drive me to my room and I took him up on it. When we got there he checked for snakes and stuff everywhere and he found a frog on my window and I about jumped through the roof. He asked if I wanted him to move it and I said yes, and then I saw a gecko on the wall. I freaked out. He said that I would want that one because they eat spiders, so I agreed to let the gecko stay. So then Toby left and as soon as I shut the door I started bawling. Like not out loud, but the tears came and then the snot and pretty soon I was hyperventilating. And then I realized that I am 31 years old and this type of behavior is ridiculous. I pulled myself together and went into the bathroom to go pee. I was kind of embarrassed though because I think Toby hung around for a few minutes to make sure I was OK, and I turned the light on when I went pee and as I said there are inches wide holes between every piece of bamboo on the outside walls and I was scared of stuff in the toilet (even though Toby checked in there) so naturally I stood up to pee. I'm pretty sure Toby might have gotten to see the full moon that night if you know what I mean.

People: I wasn't even scared of animals, right? I was scared of monsters. So you can see how irrational it is. I didn't imagine that a cape buffalo might be outside my room (which is absolutely possible:)


No, instead I was imagining that Gollum from Lord of the Rings was outside my room. And so of course it was hard to sleep. But here's what I wrote in my journal:

"I'm pretty freaked out right now. I just wish I wasn't alone. I would be completely fine if someone else were here. Right now I can hear crickets and frogs croaking. No big deal right? Well...'something' is walking around out there. I CAN'T believe I'm doing this. I will wear ear plugs tonight. What the? I'm really in Africa and I'm really sleeping alone in a bamboo shack under a mosquito net."

But then as I said, I also wrote:

"This was one of the best days of my life."

I saw 4 baby lion cubs. I saw an elephant take a bath. I saw zebras cuddling with each other. I saw two lady elephants fighting with each other. I saw lions licking themselves like a common house cat. I watched the most beautiful sunset of my life.




Oh, and p.s. Toby said he heard me crying. He did not, however admit to seeing me pee. And I didn't ask.

Safari

And so we spent the first day of safari driving around looking for the Big 5. In Africa, the Big 5 is a big deal:

Cape Buffalo
Rhinocerous
Elephant
Lion
Leopard

There is some debate as to why those five animals are the 'Big 5'. I heard all kinds of theories, but the one that made the most sense to me is that those five are the hardest to hunt. So it's really a hunting term. But on safari, everybody wants to see the Big 5. "Did you see the Big 5?" And you feel cool if you can say yes. So, the first day we saw the Big 5. (Actually I saw the Rhino the night before...and then saw the other four the next day.)

But I probably saw a million elephants. No small feat because there are about 16,000 in Kruger. I also saw tons of giraffes, zebras, wildebeast, kudu, babboon, waterbuck, antelope, vultures, etc.

You're very lucky if you see the leopard. It's pretty elusive and hard to see, but I saw one! If you click on this photo and enlarge it you can kind of see him on the branch. After I took this photo, he stood up, stretched, and walked down the tree. We saw his tail for a while and then he disappeared. Or maybe it was a she. Not sure.



So the people in that top photo were the four ladies from Spain. They are all friends, and they travel together all the time. They have been to China, Argentina, Romania and now Africa together. Isabelle, Carmen, Rosa, and Angeles. Only Carmen spoke in English so I got a chance to practice Spanish. But I couldn't remember ANYTHING. It was so frustrating. I really wish I had kept up with Spanish, because you never know when you're going to need it. (Africa of all places.) But I spent three days with those girls and I really liked them.

Lions!

Check this out. We just happened upon these lions and they were totally laying around. Like house cats! They were so lazy. And we were up so close to them.



Who's pretty? Who's a pretty girl on safari?

Dear Ben Hanson, You're funny.

Thanks for the laugh.

(Click on the photo to enlarge).

Giraffes

They can run 48 km per hour! I don't know what that means!
But I was astounded to find out that they have the same number of vertebrae as humans do. They live for about 28 years. They eat trees that have thorns to help their digestion. And they always eat with the direction of the wind. I don't know what that means!
Their color has nothing to do with age or gender. Just family genes.

Kruger

So now, I get to go to Kruger! I was hoping it wasn't a stupid zoo...Well, it wasn't. Completely wild, completely Africa.  We drove there at about 8am. Immediately upon entering the park, we saw a huge herd of elephants! And then giraffe after giraffe after herd of zebra after pride of lions. I wrote in my journal:

"This was one of the best days of my life."

Here's what I look like on Safari:

The hat was on loan from Mineska. I had to wear it because it said MINNESOTA.

Elephants

A group of female elephants (or cows) is called a breeding herd. The babies stay with them and they walk around in a huge bunch together. The males stay far away and live alone. They only come around when a cow is in heat. Elephants live until 60 years old. They have six sets of teeth in their lifetime, and once the sixth set falls out, they stop eating, they just drink water and then they die.
They don't really have any enemies. Lions would really have to work hard to kill an elephant. So they usually just die of old age.

They eat about 300 - 600 pounds per day, for 18 hours per day. And they have a very poor digestive system, so their bodies only use 40% of the food. So they basically crap up to 360 pounds per day.

I'm telling you there was poop all over Kruger. Everywhere you look. Poop.

Marc's Treehouse Lodge

So FINALLY we arrive. To a HUGE gate. And a little man who talks to our bus driver in his language and they shoot the breeze for a while...by this time I am ready to rip his heart from his chest and make him watch it beat until he dies. Slowly the gate opens...I should mention that I haven't eaten all day. When I don't eat, I get really really really crabby. And then the above sign welcomes us. If you can't read it, click on the picture to enlarge it. It says something like be careful there are big animals in this gate that will eat you. I'm like, why is there a gate? To keep the animals IN? SHEESH.

We start off down the 1km long driveway that brings us to the lodge and suddenly, there in the road, are two HUGE rhinocerous. Right in our way. Wanda (the dude driving us who likes song number 6 and song number 8 alot) screams, "Photo! Photo!" Which he did the whole time we were being bored by deer. So, naturally I ignore him and continue to be irritated at the whole situation. Then he's like, "PLEASE! This is BIG 5! Photo! Photo!" So I slowly reached for my camera and then the rhinos were gone. And I didn't even care. Later on I realized what a mistake that was. We did see one more rhino later but it was far far away. These were HUGE right in the way and not 50 feet from the truck. OH WELL.

So then we pulled up to the lodge and I casually mentioned that we JUST saw two rhinos on the path and about 20 people including the two welcomers went running to the trucks and tried to go and find them too. So I realized that I should have been more excited to see the rhinos but whatevs. APATHETIC.

So THEN I get assigned my room. I get lodge number 9. I see that there's beer in a fridge. I bought one, and then another because I figured this would make me feel better. A bunch of people were sitting around a fire and I went down to join them and wait for my dinner. By now it is probably getting close to 9pm. HUNGRY.

Around the fire I met six guys from Ireland, on day 6 of their 1 year trip around the world. I was instantly insanely jealous. Their plan is to spend 2 months in S.A., then fly to East Asia and spend a couple months in Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, etc and then spend 5 months in Australia/New Zealand, and then head to the States for a month or two and then go back home to Ireland. I think they were all about 20 or 21 years old. JEALOUS.

Also there were five dudes from Australia, 2 couples from Holland (there separately), 3 from S.A., me, and the four ladies from Spain. The Irish dudes were challenging themselves to ring the HUGE fire twice with beer bottles. They were about half way around when I got there. So I started helping them. We all stayed up and drank until about 2am. Now. During the evening, I found out that my lodge number 9 is the furthest down the trail. It is all by itself, about a 10 minute walk from the fire. And I find out from Garry, the Irishman that they have had lots of "creepy-crawleys" in their room. Each morning, monkeys have broken into their room and even stole their toilet paper. One of the managers warned me about snakes, scorpions, and spiders. So, as the evening wears on, and as I become more and more terrified, I decide on Garry. He's the Irishman that has befriended me, and he seems harmless, and I am getting more and more desperate. I will beg him to stay in my room so that I will not be eaten by a tarantula in the middle of the night. And then they passed around Sambuca. And then Vodka lemonade. And then I was told about the bush babies. They're cute, but they'll steal your stuff and they scratch all night in the thatch of your roof. And then before I knew it, the fire was lined twice with beer bottles. And then I hear about how the monkeys go crazy over anything they think is food, including toothpaste or medicine. Well I have granola bars in my backpack and toothpaste. At this point I am freaking out. But, at 1am I decided it was time to go to bed. And Garry agreed to walk me to my hut. SAFE.

Here it is in the light:

Now, this doesn't look too bad, you might say. But, you need to know that you could see through the walls. So, there were big enough spaces for any kind of animal to get through. Inside there is a bed with mosquito netting (malaria is a slight risk.) On the bed is a huge bug of some sort and Garry moves it outside using some toilet paper. There is a shower and toilet in the bathroom, which has even larger holes to see through and animals to crawl through. Garry checks for snakes and stuff in the shower and there is none. He helps me tuck the mosquito netting around the bed. But, he won't stay in my room. Sorry. So now I'm all alone. But I'm pretty relaxed, what with all the alcohol and so I get in bed, and all my stuff is on the bed in the mosquito netting with me. I convince myself that my mosquito net is bullet proof. But, I am still scared out of my wits. I wanted to show my fear and so I took a photo of myself:

But that doesn't really look scary enough, it basically just looks ugly, and so I used the "Blair Witch Project" setting on my camera to get these:

I think that pretty much captures it.

So basically I fell asleep on my back with my arms clutching the blankets on top of me. I woke up the next morning in exactly the same position. And my arms were sore, so I was basically death gripping the blankets all night long.

Now, if I hadn't been so scared, I would have reached my arm out about 6 inches to my backpack, where I have my Xanex and my ear plugs. But I was too scared, and so I suffered.

In the middle of the night I was awakened by a shrieking noise. I found out the next morning that was a jackal. And I also heard a crying noise and that was a hyena. And rustling. Always rustling outside my hut.

I had no clock and no way of telling what time it was and I had to be at breakfast by 7am. So I didn't sleep very well. Also I kept imagining the worst things. I also dreamed that Toby, the guide, was crawling on one of those circular motorcycle things you see at old time circuses and it was all around my room. He would just go "psst. Kady. It's me." as he crawled by and then an animal would follow him. Then I dreamed that three giraffes walked right by me.

So I got up at about 7:30 and headed to breakfast. But first I had to use the bathroom and right outside there was a buck grazing in the grass. I know this because I could see him through the holes in the wall. Hectic!

And then...

(as if this were suspenseful...)

So of course by the time we got to our lodge I was SO crabby. I was having a hard time not venting my frustration at the German elbow-y lady next to me. And to make matters worse, she would STALL at potty breaks and take FOREVER to get out of the bus. Inside my brain I was screaming, "GET OFF THE BUS! GET OFF THE BUS!" But outside, smiles.

Passive agression.

So we get to the lodge, and we were really late because we hit a traffic jam, so we were ushered quickly to our rooms. I thought mine was supposed to be a treehouse. But it was a very nice concrete room. So stupidly, I say, "Isn't this supposed to be a treehouse?" And she goes, "oh, yah, you're in the Treehouse Lodge". And then I bring my backpack back out to the bus...but we were supposed to get a night time game drive and so we were rushed into the trucks and started driving. The driver had a spotlight. I recognized this activity as something we used to do with my dad as kids. It's called "shining", whereby you drive around at night, throwing light into the woods, hoping to find animals. It's illegal. But in Africa, totally fine. However, I was SO crabby and couldn't really get into it. And there were electric fences everywhere, and so I really figured I had just spent from 4:30am to 8:00pm travelling in uncomfortable circumstances to basically drive around a zoo and look at bored animals. Which made me even crabbier.

And all we saw was a bunch of antelope, kudu (huge deer), and some zebras. BORING. I was just irritated as all get out. We got back to the lodge and they had dinner ready and fire going but because I couldn't keep my big mouth shut, it was back onto the bus for me and over to the Treehouse Lodge, which was another 40 MINUTES AWAY. By this time, the 4 Spanish ladies had had enough of the CD that the driver had on. He basically repeated the same two songs, number 6 and number 8 over and over and over and over again for the 12 hour bus ride. So the Spanish ladies figured, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. They started singing and clapping and snapping their fingers and the funniest thing is that the words were in Xhosa (remember click-osa) and they knew all of them. That's how many times this guy played the song. I was too crabby. I wouldn't play their reindeer game -- even though secretly I wanted to.

Getting up to Kruger, cont.

...And so I was told that there would be a man with a sign with my name on it at the Jo'burg airport to pick me up.

Well, I didn't have any bags to claim, so I thought I might have time to call my credit card. Apparently they thought my card was stolen or something, and the guy from the Treehouse place called me to tell me he was having trouble with it. So I called them and cleared it up. Well then I went to find the guy with my name on a sign and there was nobody. I was told to meet him at B3. So I went and asked where that was. It's outside. So I go stand outside by B3 for what seemed forever. Then I walk in and around and look...and then go back outside by B3. Nobody, no sign, no nothing. I start getting scared that I'm going to be stuck in Jo'burg alone, which as everyone has told me, you just don't want. Period. So I go back to B3, and there are a couple backpacker girls and I ask them if they are waiting for a guy named Trevor. No, they said, but they reminded me about Africa time. So I decided not to worry. But I had to go to the bathroom. The girls were from Jerusalem and were in between serving in the army and going to school. I trusted them and asked them to watch my stuff while I went to the bathroom and to please tell Trevor I was coming back if he ever showed up. Of course when I got out of the bathroom, there was my ride. I was glad that I talked to those girls, because I was told later that another dude wasn't there waiting for the ride and they left him. Which would suck because the treehouse and the safari area is about a 12 hour bus ride from the airport. I would have been screwed.

So I get on the bus and I have the whole back seat to myself. And then we picked up a girl from Japan. And then 4 more people from Germany. As it was there was already a British Guy, 2 people from Germany and 4 people from Spain, so in the end there was a full bus and because I'm stupid, I ended up in the very back row seat over the wheel well and spent the next 9 hours or so curled in a ball around my backpack, a wheel well and of course had a wide-y next to me with her elbows in my side. UGH.

I couldn't get my cash card to work at any ATM and started to worry. Finally at the last ATM machine before we got to our destination, I was able to pull out 500 rand, or about $60. This lasted me for the next four days miraculously. But all my meals except lunch were covered at the treehouse.

To be continued.

Anybody want to go to Dubai with me?

http://airfare.travelzoo.com/international-airfare/473656?ptl=done&rating=

I'm Home!!!!

Promise, promise, promise I will finish this trip journal with tons of photos, be patient. I'm SO tired.

And, Hanna, I do love you, just not very much.

correction to much earlier post

If I die, Depeche Mode doesn't get to be on my funeral CD, because the name of the band who sings "The Promise" is When in Rome.

Kruger continued

Well I just typed the longest entry EVER and this computer shut OFF.

I'm so annoyed right now. I'm giving up. I won't have a computer until I get home. Sorry guys I'll pick it up then. I'm so mad right now I could spit tacks!

The trip to Kruger

Cape Town is near the southernmost tip of Africa. Kruger is far to the east, near the border of Mozambique. Originally I was to fly from Cape Town to Jo'burg, and then fly from Jo'burg into Kruger, or closer to it. Well there were no flights into Kruger, and so I had to be picked up by a bus.

But first I have to tell you that I got onto a plane through it's butt. There was a stairway leading into the direct rear of the plane. That was a first.

Anyway, I had to be up very early, because the flight to Jo'burg left at 5:45 AM. The nice lady from Tobi (the little backpacker place where I use the internet) and her husband picked me up and dropped me at the airport. They got to the house at 5:15. But, I didn't have an alarm clock, and so I had to use my cell phone. But my cell phone is confused here and gets no service. When I had to turn it on to try to use the alarm, I realized that my phone thinks it's January 1, 2000, at 12:10pm. But really it was 11:30pm. So I had to calculate the times if I wanted the alarm to ring at 4:30am. So I set the alarm for 5:10pm. Aren't I so smart? I felt pretty smart anyway.

Well my body woke me up at 3am of course. And I stayed pretty much in and out of sleep between then and 5:15 when I had to be picked up. By the way, I saw Orion high in the sky at that time. I always like it when I see Orion because it means that fall is here and it's almost winter. You have to stay up pretty late at night at this time of year to see Orion, and because I live in the city it's hard to see the stars. But here, OH! the stars! They have completely different constellations in parts of the sky. Also I saw JUPITER! Who could imagine it? Anyway...I digress.

So I get to the airport, fly to Jo'burg, and go right past baggage claim because I am awesome and only carried on.

Well I was being picked up....

I will continue this story later. Going to dinner.

Llandudno Beach

Love this place.

The night before I left for Kruger we had a little party on the beach, with blankets and wine and cheese and the sunset. There were surfers. There was a dude on a surfboard with a paddle, paddling all across the horizon with the sunset in the background.

What a perfect perfect night.

I did have to pee on the beach, which made it a little less perfect, but it was by the edge, on a rock, and Janine helped shield me from any onlookers.

I jumped in the water a little, it was pretty cold. The water on that side of the peninsula is cold (Atlantic Ocean) but the water on the other side is warm (Indian Ocean).

Oh, and earlier...I posted about the band Goldfish. Well the dude from Goldfish - I think Grant is his name? - anyway, he was on the beach, having wine with his girlfriend. That was pretty cool. We just sort of waved at him when he left to go home, but otherwise nobody really bothered him.

Comments

Doesn't anybody have any comments for me?

I'm dreaming of finding comments on my posts, but nothing. NOTHING!

Flying

Favorite things about flying:

1. The plane usually is going somewhere cool.
2. The pride you feel when all you have is a tiny backpack and everybody else has huge wheeled luggage.
3. Walking around the airport feeling independent and cool being a lone traveler.
4. Being able to cure myself of ear-popping by holding my nose and blowing out my ears.
5. Farting, but knowing nobody would ever blame it on cute lil' me.
6. Day dreaming about a crash where I am the hero, and I selflessly help everyone out of the plane. Sometimes I die, but sometimes I become the surrogate mother of the baby I saved who had no other family.



Least favorite things about flying:

1. All the farting that goes on. SHEESH! Maybe the atmospheric pressure change causes gaseous noxiousicity to happen...I don't know but planes always smell like poo.
2. Sitting next to wide people who don't have the good sense to put their arms in front of them, rather than in my seat; when I clearly am leaning waaaaay over to make room for their dumb arm.
3. Poor little babies who cry the whole way.
4. Having to pay for ginger ale :(
5. Waking up and noticing that I had my head leaned back and my mouth open.
6. Waking myself up with a snort.
7. Having to pee so bad and the stupid fasten seat belt sign is ON THE WHOLE TIME.
8. Sitting next to ladies who think their perfume smells so good that they need to bathe in it.
9. Finding wads of hair in your hand when all you wanted was to find the seat belt that fell below the seat.
10. Day dreaming about the crash, and worrying that everybody will push past me and I will get stuck and burn to death.