Africa Wild

Wed Sep 07, 2011
For me my trip has not yet started but Jill is on her way to the airport!
The league of nations is short of one member on our much planned trip. Very sad when leave is cancelled just a few days before the cars are packed and the engines are started to leave on a trip that anything could happen.
I did introduce the players on the yellow forum but for the uninitiated there is a boiling pot of a Brit (who is classified as blind) a Zambian who is almost 88 years old, an Irishman who is totally anti-social, a yank on her first ever trip to Africa and a Saffie who should have had another saffie for moral support - but that is the poor soul whose leave was cancelled. the problem with this - two cars - and no driver for one of the cars. Now the Irishman who is the saffies SO will be driving the spare car.
Oh and to add insult to injury - the one and only saffie was attacked by a bee about an hour again and got stung- of all places - up her nose! I will not go into details of what type of reaction bee stings have on this person - but i can promise you it aint pretty!

Darn - I knew I should have taken the truck instead of doing three trips to the airport and home to fetch this stupid yankie female!!!!!
-O -O -O -


Actually Jill arrived with the small red bag and one other bag - (Wonder if the rest were stolen) :)^

Gotcha....


Jill is sitting next to me and we are glad we gave u a :lol:

Our bags are packed (sortof) we think - maybe - but we hope to get our act together before we leave. One thing we have got is

a) Green ribbon x 2 - hopefully you all know why
b) Yellow ribbon x 2 - just because I have not yet been banned from the other forum
3) Black ribbon x 2 - STOP THE POACHING OF OUR RHINO!!!!!

Now the problem is people may think we are canvassing for the ANC. Why two of each you may ask - because we are taking two cars for Jills luggage.

What I didnt mention - is never mind the luggage - for some reason when we met face to face we took an instant dislike to each other. But fortunately we are both extremely talented actresses so no one else has picked up on it cause we spend too much time laughing and not getting enough sleep 'cause we talk until the wee hours of the morning.

Two more sleeps and we are on our bicycles to Kruger......

Started the morning with a full head of hair.




After the frustration of trying to pack the kitchen sink - that refused to fit




- forcing me to pull out my hair



but after a couple of glasses of the fruit of the vine I managed to see the funny side of it all...




And please no sarky remarks about the jersey being inside out - the right side was dirty Ei

Jill was gob smacked

(another North kruger convert - but I told her - she talks I kill -)

PRwin - no trailer - just stuck my 89 year old mother on the roof rack -I did make sure she was firmly secured so she didn't fall off.

Jill will be writing a full trip report - met some wonderful people - had some awesome sightings - and haven't laughed so much in a long, long time...more 2 come...

Jill is getting her trip report together- you will just have to grin and be patient.
:)

a couple of hundred meters from Pafuri gate - driving alongside Kruger's fence.


Some people just don't know how to behave!.......


Arrival at Pafuri Gate


Ribbons
Green for Aikona
Yellow for Sanparks
Black for our Rhino that have been poached

JnF has had a blonde moment and forgot password - so she is pretending to be me!! darn cheek!!

NOW this is Jill - who isn't really blond - Here's the start of my trip report. Once I'm home (another week as going to UK first) I'll do a much better job - promise. Of course Moggie has to write HER version too!!!
*******

Indulge me, if you will, as I start from the time I got off the plane in J’burg. I’m also not as good a writer as Moggiedog but will endeavor to entertain and tell you of my musings on my Virgin trip to Kruger.

Moggiedog and I hadn’t met in person, but have gotten to know one another very well over the past 3 years on the Internet. Strange I know, but true.

Thursday Sept 8th – while waiting for luggage to come through at OR Tambo a guard came around with a little beagle mix dog searching for contraband food. Such a sweet little thing I wanted to give him a dog treat….anyway, he sniffed my bag – there was nothing in it, but I’m sure there were ‘good smells’ from previous uses – never mind stuff I had on the plane.

Walked through the doors to a sea of faces. I didn’t see Moggiedog or her hubby. I walked around the barrior, stopped and thought to myself – “Sh*t – they aren’t here!” With that I saw Moggie followed by hubby running toward me. Little did I know they were looking and saying “Is that Jill?”

Given a very warm welcome – and three days to recover from that horrible flight before leaving on our journey.

We stayed two nights in Graskop, went to Sudwala Caves. That was an adventure all by itself. I swear Moggie was trying to see if I would cope with Kruger! Moggie was very unkind taking a ‘rear view’ image of me going through lumbago ‘tunnel’. I had to bend in half. Imagine my horror when we had to go out the same way!!!

Next day we went to Pilgrams’ Rest and the Potholes. Told “B” – I come all this way and all you’re showing me are HOLES in the ground? (yes I have a perverse sense of humor) Absolutely breathtaking & have some wonderful photos.

Our next night was spent just outside the Parfuri gate – in tented tree houses. Now admittedly Moggie DID ask if this would be okay – and I thought it would be a bit of a lark. She assured me we would have toilets in our tents. (3am down a flight of steps/ladder with no light other than lamps was NOT going to happen) Well they switched our booking and no toilets…..I was exhausted by the time we arrived. It was hot and all I wanted to do was go to bed. I’d already turned off the lamp when Moggie came up and asked if I was okay – did I want her to share the tent with me. My rude and abrupt reply was no. Woke at dawn and was much more social. We were packing up ready to hit Parfuri Gate & I was nearly ready to leave my tent when a Pervert dropped onto the roof. I shrieked but more from being startled than any real fright.

Entering Parfuri Gate Sept 15th. Got our wildcards….with 5 of us it took forever but was well worth the wait. Within a few minutes of entering we’d seen Nyala, Giraffe, Impala. 2 lions – one in a small pride, buffalo, baboons, ververt, vultures, ellies, curly horn kudu, lilac breasted roller, ground horn bill, hippos, zebra, crocs, slender mongoose and water buck. THIS IS DAY ONE!!!!! I was already hooked on Kruger – and we won’t tell ANYONE about the north!!! No game in the north – stay in the south!!

Met Frank (ranger) bird man and had pic taken with him at Purfuri Picnic area. What a nice person. Have I mentioned I’m not ‘into’ birds – ha! That changed on this trip too.

Stopped at Crooks Corner – took lots of pictures of history.

First night in Kruger was at Sirheni. Weather still hot. I’d packed for ‘spring’ and certainly my clothes were too warm for the car. Slept like a log. Even the generator starting at 5:30 am, which started the fridge didn’t wake me up.

moggiedog as moggiedog -O

Flutterby - we seemed to have been dogged by perverts. But at the Pafuri River Camp (a beautiful place to stay the night before entering Kruger at Pafuri gate) is where they fall from the sky. The goats emerge from the undergrowth and the cattle ring there way across the fields and donkey's lie in wait to ambush you on the roads!. If I didn't know better I would have thought I was in Botswana.

Lisbeth - pics are coming - I will probable carry on with this report and JnF can jump in and correct all my errors of the whens and wheres!

JnF and her favourite path in the caves: Holes in the ground:






Pics of the tree tents and an op en wakke JnF prior to heading for Kruger.

Thanks for joining us on our travels.

JnF is winging her way to London - I cannot believe how fast the time has passed us by.
I did not keep notes - so JnF can correct me when I get things wrong.


We had had a long drive from Graskop - avoiding donkeys, cattle, pedestrians (dressed in black) and other odds and sods on the road, followed by a detour of ups and downs through comparatively thick sand. (This was So's fault - he tempted fate by asking me if I had told Jnf that we had to stop and convert to 4 wheel drive for the last 100 kilometers!! - many a true word spoken in jest!!) We eventually arrived long after the sun had sunk behind the horizon- leaving our headlights the only light in the pitch darkness of the night. Not being a cat my night vision is not of the best so my stress levels had risen to astronomical proportions. The road was rough and the animals crossing without wearing reflective clothing did not make driving easy or fast. Don't donkies realise the middle of the road is not a safe place to curl up for the night?

The reception we received when we arrived was wonderful and made a huge dent in my stress levels. I will certainly be paying the Pafuri River Camp another visit. SO and I were the only two that sat up and enjoyed the night life. Exhaustion had taken it's toll - and our companions had fallen like a set of dominoes!
Bats swooping between the swaying branches of trees, the sound of nightjars and cow bells echoed across the night sky as we sat and absorbed the magic of being away from the concrete jungle.

Finally to clamber up the stairs into our tree tent and worm our way under the soft welcoming blankets. The following morning, after a good night sleep - we were surrounded by a bunch of exhausted looking zombies - staggering down the ladders for a caffeine fix. Once the addiction had been satisfied the zombies were soon replaced by a bunch of expectant, excited people ready for the adventure of a lifetime.

It did not take long before we were packed and on our way to Pafuri gate - which was less than 2 kilometers away.

On our arrival at Pafuri gate - the sense of peace and tranquility I had experienced at our previous night stop over was even greater. It was a slow processes getting our permits and wildcards processed - but hey - this is Africa and we were on African time.

Formalities completed, pictures taken we were finally in Kruger and wending our way towards Pafuri picnic spot. Our first creature was a snake wriggling its way across the road. Reflecting silver in the sunlight it desperately tried to avoid the roaring creatures that were bearing down on it. Our next sighting was a Nyala shyly hiding behind a bush watching us make our slow way down the hard grey ribbon towards places yet to be explored. Green, yellow and black ribbons fluttering proudly in the breeze created by the forward momentum of our transport.

Birds in abundance - but JnF still had to discover the joy of a bird not being just a bird....

Then the first of the big five. Two beautiful male lion lying on the side of the road. Not a bush, a blade of grass nor a tree stump between them and us. What a moment for JnF on her first visit to Africa and kruger