South African Adventures

Arriving

Zoë, Chloe and I arrive at our hostel in White River, South Africa, at about 3pm after driving for 12 hours. Imminently, the owner, Jaco, greeted us. He’s a tall jolly looking Afrikaans man with sparkling friendly eyes and a peaceful playful voice. His wife, daughters and grandson are all as welcoming as him. He entertains us for the night with stories of his travels and the people he has met. We go to bed that night full to the brim with good wine and even better food!

Panorama tour and night safari

In the morning we wake up early and head off on our Panorama tour.

Three Sisters
Photo credit: Zoë Holbrook 

That night we drive to Nkambeni safari camp in Kruger National Park (which is 1.948528 million hectares, approximately the size of Wales). We are told that we will be living in tents but their idea of tents was a little different than ours. Two large canvas cabins on wooden stilts (3mx8m) with bathrooms. Luxury! At 4:30pm we head out on out night safari. We drove through the bush in the open top jeep as the sun began to dip toward the plain. Just outside the camp we spot an old buffalo, he is an outcast from the herd, banished by younger stronger males. He looked grumpy and sad and was not at all phased by out presence.

Finally we reached the highest point in the area, a flat rock that overlooking the bush land with mountains stretching out in the distance. The sunsets seem more orange here, undisturbed by pollution. We sat and watched as the sphere of light disappeared and the dark coolness of night came over us.

Sunset at Kruger National Park, SA
Photo credit: Chloe Bentley 

Wrapping up warm we got back into the jeep and set off down the winding dirt roads. Impala and dakar froze in the light of the torches before bounding off into the dark bush. Suddenly Zoë shouted stop. She had seen something, and then I saw it too. A leopard, lean and sleek, her spotted coat so shiny that it looked like velvet. It sat by a tree only 3m away. She observed us for sometime in a quiet and calm manner, more bemused than interested. Then she turned away and continued to clean herself before slinking back into the dark overgrowth. 

Leopard on night safari at Kruger National Park
Photo credit: Chloe Bentley

On returning to the camp we curl up in out beautiful cabins and sleep happily having already seen two of the big five. (The big five are the most dangerous animals to hunt in Africa. They are the buffalo, leopard, lion, rhino and elephant.

Safari

At 5am, the following morning, we rolled out of bed and put on our warmest clothes. It is much cooler here than it is in Moz and we were not prepared. After a hearty breakfast we set off on our safari with Irma our guide. Irma is a small Afrikaans woman with a gentle voice. She has an engaging aura about her that humbly captures your attention. Her knowledge and compassion quickly become apparent and it is not long before she is showing and telling us about animals that I have only ever seen behind bars.

A baby rhino only a few days old
Photo credit: Chloe Bentley

Photo credit: Chloe Bentley

Photo credit: Chloe Bentley

Photo credit: Chloe Bentley

Getting home

I dread to think how my mum is going to react after reading what I am about you tell you. I hope that her relief will overpower her worry or anger!

Irma agreed to pick us up from our hostel in White River and take us two hours to the border Komatipoort. After an interesting detour we arrived said our goodbyes and made her promise to come visit us in Inhambane.

Our alternative route to avoid traffic

We lugged our rucksacks through the hive of activity. Women with large boxes balanced on their heads strode past us as though the laws of physics did not apply to them. Cars hooted and people greeted one another. We had no onward lift planned. We met Evans a kindly shopkeeper and a friend of a friend, it had been arranged with him beforehand that he would help us get a lift all the way to Inhambane (520km away). He showed us to the visa desk and we started the painfully slow process of renewing our visas to re-entre Mozambique. The stern faced young man behind the desk seems to be having difficulty with the finger print reader. Apparently it did not like my fingerprints so with a angry sigh he scanned his own in my place. While all this was going on Evans flits from truck to car to bus. It seemed that getting a lift might not have been as easy as he had perceived. After three hours we started to realise that being three white females hitchhiking from South Africa to Mozambique might very well be the most stupid thing we have ever done in our lives. We asked people coming through where they were going, some did not understand, some were only going part of the way and could only give us lifts to obscure places. Then we saw a young couple pull in, in what looked like a hire car. Bracing ourselves for another disappointing answer Zoë approached them. The familiar question fell from Zoë mouth and we were ready for a familiar answer when all of a sudden we heard: “Yes, we’re going to Inhambane today.” “Can we get a lift with you, it’s just us three?” A pause as the young man looks at the lady to gauge her thoughts on the matter. “of course” she said, with a smile. Elated we put our bags into the car and climbed into the back. Ed and Emma were newly weds on their honeymoon they had spent two weeks in Madagascar and had decided to take another two touring South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.  Soon we learnt that they had nowhere planned to stay in Inhmabane yet but would like to dive. How convenient we happen to live at a dive resort.

So dearest mother please don’t send me a worried e-mail because I seem to be one of the three luckiest girls in the world.