Safari Tour - Days 4 & 5

After breakfast on Friday morning we headed to Moholoholo Rehabilitation Center where we learned about their efforts to help captured and injured animals.

An interesting fact we learned was that 200 years ago the animals more or less roamed all of Africa and today only a tiny fraction of the land is available for them to live safely.  Like all aspects mankind's progress this comes with significant consequences.  There is a large public media campaign to stop the Rhino from being poached but there are many others animals in worse shape but suffer from being less "famous" than the Rhino. Technically Kruger park is "fully booked" as there are is only room for 7000 elephants but there are currently 17,000 living inside.  Territorial animals with no territory ultimately will escape the park and then find themselves in some sort of trouble often ending in death or injury.  Additionally, Mouti is a religious practice that seeks after various animals for their "healing" qualities, which really have none.  For example, hyena knuckles are used for hypnotizing and hyena tails are burned and inhaling the smoke supposedly causes one to become invisible. Practices such as this are affecting the animal populations and make the national parks that much more important.   Moholoholo steps in to save and rehabilitate animals when they can with the hope of being able to re-release them into the wild.

After our introduction, we headed to the vulture’s cage and were allowed inside to feed them. We were with a group of about 25 people and if you wanted to feed them, you had to put on this large leather glove that covered your entire arm. Our oldest waited his turn, put on the glove, and was given the raw meat to hold out in his gloved hand. Mom was at the other end of the group taking a photo of him when the vultures came and flipped the meat out of his hand. It all happened so fast it was hard to track what was going on, but the vultures were fighting and a small piece of raw meat landed on mom’s dress. The vultures came after her, pecked the meat off, ripped her dress, popped some blood vessels and broke a bit of skin, until the man next to her kicked it away! It was pretty crazy, but thankfully she was okay. We were told it was a first! Why wouldn't it be mom, who doesn't really like birds anyway?

Oldest feeding the vulture before it attacked mom!

We then moved on to observe the lions, cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, and other animals. Many of the cats watched SJ incredibly closely and a couple even jumped at the fence near her. Dad made eye contact with a lion and was roared at when the lion was about 15 feet away, only separated by a fence.

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G with his favorite animal, the leopard

Dad causing quite a stir with the lions - we think they like his long hair!

Oldest with a cheetah - his favorite animal!

Boys enjoyed learning how a honey badger kills a water buffalo!

Dung beetle

After leaving the rehabilitation center, we drove a ways and then stopped at this delicious pancake place for lunch. Then we headed to God’s Window, a lookout spot with an area to hike. We were all so excited to stretch our legs and hike, but unfortunately it was foggy and there wasn’t much to see and we were on a bit of a time crunch to get to our accommodations that evening.

Family at God's Window lookout

SJ being cute

Playing in the sand with a great lookout!

We ended up staying in the middle of nowhere at a place that didn’t have any food options. This was a bit of a let down, and although it had a great pool, tennis courts, and trampolines, there were some other guests at the place that were partying so that it made it uncomfortable to be there. Thankfully there was a beautiful resort down the road a ways and we were able to eat dinner on a dock overlooking a pond with lillypads, so we had an enjoyable night. However, we all agreed that it was a bit of a bummer to end the trip with this accommodation and that it being so remote was not a positive thing considering all of the cramped driving we’d already been doing.

We woke up on Saturday morning and planned to grab a quick breakfast and then head out on a hike and see some of the natural wonders in the area. Unfortunately it took us over an hour to receive the breakfast we ordered and as we started driving towards the hike we realized that the current drizzle was only going to become stronger rain and that it was probably best to forego the current plans and head back to Swaziland. At the border crossing the line to get into Swaziland was crazy long, but Sifiso saved the day with his contacts and we didn’t waste any time waiting! We then stopped at Malendellas which was a creative area with fun mosaic sculptures and open fields to play in along with several shops selling goods made by locals.

Creative theater area

Afterwards we thanked Sifiso for a wonderful tour and the boys stayed back at Emafini to do schoolwork while Mom, Dad, and SJ had a date. We had an awesomely memorable safari experience and couldn’t have dreamed of it going much better. However, the reality of moving from place to place every single night and being cramped in a car most of the days left us all in need of some space and rest.

Saying goodbye to Sifiso, our safari guide!

The "Starbucks" of Swaziland & S Africa!

Safari Tour - Day 3

We packed up our belongings, ate a quick breakfast, and started our drive towards the gate that we would exit Kruger Park out of. We saw many zebras, giraffes, and elephants along the way - many with their babies. A few miles before the gate we saw odd shaped animals in the distance, it took a few seconds before we realized that these were ostriches! So we went out with a bang and agreed that while we were all very happy with our safari experience, we could have spent another day or two in the park. All of the places that we have spent the night have been awesome and it would’ve been great to just relax a day and explore around the camp on our own a bit.

 

An ostrich - MUCH larger than we pictured!

We headed towards our next accommodations which completely wow-ed us as it was part of this conference and wedding resort that was sprawled out amid lush green grass, overlooking a river, and with a beautiful mountain in the distance (note that this whole week was planned for us by a Swazi tour company as we just didn't have time to do our own research when in Asia - so each day is a surprise to us and Sifiso as he had never been here either). All of the buildings had these awesome thatched roofs and the attention to detail was something you’d find all over Pintrest! Unfortunately it was raining and so we didn’t get to enjoy the grounds as much as we would’ve liked. We had ordered our meals ahead of time as that was the procedure, and we were given the option of having them prepared or not. We were a bit confused by all of this but when we arrived and saw the prepared dinner sitting on our counter, we realized what was meant. The workers went home at night but provided the food before they left. There was a grill with our place so we could’ve grilled our own meats, but since we asked for them prepared, they’d been cooked at some time prior to our arrival and were waiting for us on plates covered in Saranwrap and for us to reheat when we were ready to eat. This was a bit odd, but the place was so amazing, that it didn’t matter much. We had an enjoyable dinner of reheated foods and afterwards the guys played Monopoly Deal out on the porch.

 

Beautiful accommodations!

Reheated candle light dinner!

Monopoly Deal with Dad - watch out for hippos!

View over river with really cool mountain in the background!

Kruger National Park - Day 2

We headed out on our second safari day in Kruger with Sifiso. This time we were all inside a Pajero, so it was a bit tight and the windows in the back row didn’t open, which meant it was a bit more difficult to spot the animals from that position. This also meant that breaks were NECESSARY every couple of hours in order to maintain everyone’s sanity! The goal for the day was to spot a leopard. The morning was wearing on and we’d seen most of the typical park animals (zebra, elephant, impala, water-bucks, and giraffe). On one of the side roads we observed a male lion breathing heavily as he lay under a tree with a dead water buffalo several feet away from him – resting from his kill from the previous night. As we rolled down our window to observe and take pictures, the stench was unbelievable!

Lion on the right with a killed water buffalo on the left

Then, as we were driving along, all of a sudden G shouts, “STOP!” Sifiso backs up the vehicle and G is pointing and directing us from the back row of the car to look way across the dried up river bed onto the branches of a tree. We are all having a difficult time seeing anything in this tree as it is so far away, but then all of a sudden, sure enough, something jumps out of the tree and it is spotted! We are in awe that not only G somehow spotted this leopard so ridiculously far away, and also that we are actually getting to watch a leopard free in the wild! We track it as best we can and for many minutes thinking that maybe it is going to attack some nearby impala, but we ultimately lose it yet continue to marvel at the chance we had to watch it! Everyone is content now that we have completed seeing the Big 5! As we continue to drive and head towards our lunch destination, all of a sudden Sifiso slams on the breaks and shouts, “Leopard!” We look out the window to somehow realize that we’ve all missed seeing a leopard that was literally 15 feet from our vehicle, walking alongside it in the ditch! This is absolutely incredible and we are all snapping photos and predicting its next move as we slowly drive along following it. It seems unconcerned about being watched and being the highlight of our day!

Leopard in middle of shot - hard to see even when you know it's there

No zoom here - this guy walked right next to our car for a period of time - highlight of our day

We stop for lunch and a visit to the park store, and then continue on safari for the afternoon. We wrap up at our next accommodation about an hour before sunset. This place is a similar set up to the previous night, but they have a swimming pool that the kids enjoy for a few minutes before we grab a bite to eat. This camp offered a night safari that the guys were planning to go on, but at the last minute they allowed SJ to join even though she wasn’t quite old enough because no one else was on tour, so she and Mom were able to participate also. The sky was clear and we were treated to an amazing display of stars. It was our night safari guide’s first night safari, and our family were the only ones in the open aired vehicles, but we had several spot lights to shine as we drove and he did an excellent job of explaining everything that we were seeing.

Looking for animals at night is a completely different experience than being on a day safari. So our already weary eyes adjusted and instead of searching for animals, they strained for minuscule glowing dots. Most of our finds were hares and other small animals. However we did see an owl on the bridge and some hippos, water-bucks, and impala, with the highlight being a hyena! SJ and our middle son slept, but the rest of us looked hard the whole time! We were absolutely exhausted by the time we arrived back to our huts and crashed hard into bed after a long day.

Entire elephant family

Apparently they think horns give them the right of way

Panorama of river required because its so large (and dry presently)

Apparently lots of people scatter their ashes here

 

Kruger National Park

HIPPO!!

Sitting on the bridge as we drove across on night tour

Night tour hyena - only one we saw all week

Intense searching - G had great eyes

Not everyone survived the night tour

Open Air Safari - Day 1

We met our safari guide at 6:00 and loaded into a large open-aired vehicle with bagged breakfast in hand and set out towards Kruger National Park. We were all very excited for this day and were not quite sure what to expect other than Dad, who had been on a safari with a World Vision trip in 2007.

Heading out on Safari!!

Rules are good

While unfortunately our safari guide turned out to be more of a driver than an educator, and somehow our private tour included picking up some random Irish lady mid-morning, we made the best of this awesome opportunity!

We were amazed at how well the animals were camouflaged in their environment and how the area wasn’t as dry as we’d expected. There was so much land to search and it was such a different experience than any animal activity we’d been a part of. It was slow in that we didn’t see animal after animal, yet our driver drove at a decent speed so that our eyes had to scan quickly. Everyone was focused, and we laughed as in a way it was what we imagined playing a life-sized game of “Where’s Waldo?” might be like. It was definitely not leopards jumping out of trees and lions prowling around the side of our vehicle as in some of the safari hunting video games we’ve played! The first animal we spotted was a female kudu, followed be a giraffe, some water buffalo, zebras, impalas and a male kuddu in the tall grass. Then we stopped for some coffee, which we realized was a brilliant thing to do every few hours as the caffeine and break was needed after the intense and constant searching.

Kudu

Dad & kids with giraffe

Crew in front of a water buffalo

Rhinos off in the distance - these the only ones we never really saw up close

When our vehicle started out again, we were surprised by a large African elephant that was right next to the road! We all marveled at it’s large ears and how beautiful and different they were from the elephants we’d been able to spend the day with in Thailand. As we drove, there were animal droppings all over the road and so we could definitely tell there was a lot of action going on around us. The main roads in the park are paved and there are some side roads that are dirt. There are a few places that allow you to "alite", or get out of your vehicle, but if it is not a designated spot, then you are to remain in your vehicle at all times. When we observed the animals, they mostly seemed indifferent to us, they wouldn’t necessarily run away, some would in fact wander their way across the road in front of us clearly aware that they had the right of way, and some would just continue with their grazing. We enjoyed seeing warthogs, white rhinoceroses, water-bucks, wildebeests, bush-backs, leopard tortoises, dung beetles, and the following birds: a starling, Southern ground hornbill, maraboustork, lowry, and currant.

African elephant

EASY Big fella!

It's true - everyone poops!  Here there are things growing out of it!

We pulled off on a dirt road and found a group of male lions lying under some trees. Dad stood up in our vehicle to take a picture and the lion rose and roared at him, this was a bit frightening and the irish lady threw out an F-bomb! Another interesting animal we observed was a Verve Monkey which the guys thought was quite interesting because of the color of it’s genitalia which was bright blue.

#LAZYLIONS

Boys in front of lions

Dad in front of lions

Verve monkey

All in all, we were absolutely thrilled with our first safari day. When on safari here, much emphasis is given to spotting the "Big 5" which are the elephant, water buffalo, rhinoceros, lion and leopard. These are considered the most dangerous of the animals in the park. We were happy to have spotted 4 of the 5 on our first day and were told that the leopard is often the most difficult to find.

Our favorite animals from the day are:

• Dad - herd of elephants
• Mom – zebras
• Oldest son - lion and elephant
• Middle son - lion, elephants, and zebra, 
• G - lion, elephant, and rhinos
• SJ - zebra

We reconnected with our guide who showed us the small huts we were staying in inside the park and then we went for a delicious and decent steak dinner on a deck overlooking a river where the animals could roam. Unfortunately the bugs were so awful we ended up having to move inside, but it was still pretty crazy to think we were eating outside in the middle of Kruger National Park. So, of course, instead of accepting a ride back to our accommodations from our driver, we chose to walk, which honestly was a bit unnerving as it was extremely dark, we could hear the monkeys and baboons in the trees above us, and we realized as the world went black that we weren’t 100% confident which direction we were headed in! Thankfully we made it back safely and slept well!  A very successful first day.

Wildebeest

Warthog

Water buffalo

Water-buck

Water-buck

 

Southern Ground  Hornbill

Lilac-breasted roller

Elephant Crossing

Look at those ears!

Completely dry river bed