Lions, Giraffes and Elephants and So Many More: Our Safaris in the Bush!

Our next two days in Capetown were wonderful.  We spent one of those days traveling from vineyard to vineyard in South Africa’s famous wine region.   I didn’t know the name “Stellenbosch” from a hole in the wall before arriving  but I sure do now as it represents some of the best wine coming out of this country.  One of the wineries was a dream come true for Bob and Mark, as it is partly owned by a famous South African golfer named Ernie Els and there is a putting hole for golfers to play while drinking wine.  If anyone gets a hole in one, they receive a free bottle of wine.  Sadly, after several hundred attempts by both Mark and Bob, we left empty handed…at least what would have been free.

The next day, we headed to the scenic Western Cape where we got a chance to stand at the Cape of Good Hope, the southern most point in Africa. The next stop south is Antartica! Along the way, we saw a rather smelly (but fascinating) penguin colony, a troop of baboons (that’s a group of them—I looked it up), and wild ostriches. Bob and Mark continued their devil-may-care attitude and tried to feed the big birds, even though the signs clearly said not to, as the animals bite.  Fortunately, both men came back with all ten fingers. 

Yesterday morning, we left Capetown to begin our adventure in the South African Bush. We would be spending the next three days at the Lions Sand Game Reserve, which is adjacent to the more well-known Kruger National Park.  Upon arriving at the Capetown Airport, I was happy to see that at least for this leg of the journey, we would not have to experience our first time in a “puddle jumper.” Apparently that is yet to come. The problem was that we initially had no idea in which airport we would be arriving.  All we knew was that its initials were “SZK.”Two hours after leaving Capetown, we arrived at Skukuza Airport and I can only say that it is no JFK. We landed, and after craning my neck to look out the window,  I couldn’t even see a building.  After getting off the plane, I saw that the building was nothing more than a pretty big hut with a roof made out of some kind of straw.  We walked into the hut/airport terminal and met our guide for the next three days, Thema.  Unbeknownst to us,  Thema would play the roles of both safari guide and Passport/Customs Agent as he was the one who took our passport numbers, handed them in to “someone” and that was it.  There were no lines, no grumpy immigration agents, no stamps to add to our passports. Thema returned from handing our papers to Mr. “Someone,” and we then proceeded to pick up our luggage.  I was worried. Before our plane took off, I got an alert from my new Apple tag stating that my luggage had been left in Capetown.  I was already trying to figure out which of Bob’s clothes would fit me, as safari fashionware all looks the same' regardless of gender.  Already in high worry mode,  I began to look for a sign  identifying which luggage carousel would have our bags. I couldn’t find a sign because there were no carousels, but rather a platform with a group of men throwing our luggage from a truck onto the platform.  Fortunately, I didn’t have to go back into the hut to find someone responsible for tracking down lost baggage.  My Apple tag was wrong and my luggage made it safely onto the plane, onto the truck, onto the platform and into my hands. Crisis averted. 

Since arriving at Lion Sands we have taken two safari rides, one upon arriving and one at 6 am this morning and have already seen the five big game animals: elephants, giraffes, leopards, lions and rhinoceros. These sightings have been nothing short of magical to see these beautiful creatures in the wild. My only misgivings have been on two occasions when the leopard and lions were just two feet away from where our jeep was parked.  I would like to say that the animals had no interest in us because we were all wearing the appropriate safari colors but our man, Thema told us that the clothing colors was all a bunch of nonsense.  I’m thinking that the rumor must have been started by LL Bean, Eddie Bauer or REI. They all sure made a lot of money off the four of us!

Lastly, I want to mention our transportation through the Bush. We learned that unlike Kruger National Park, because Lion Sands is a private reserve, we can go “off-road,” which literally means driving off the roads and directly into the Bush. We are in a six passenger, unhooded jeep along with our driver (Thema) and our tracker (Jabu), who has the unenviable seat near the left front light.  There are no belts in any of our seats requiring each of us to have a strong grip on the bar in front of us (except for poor Jabu) and the sheer will to survive. On both safari trips, Thema casually explained life in the Bush while mowing down small trees and bushes, and hitting every bump along the way.  Poor Mark and I took the brunt of whiplash branches headed at us when we weren’t ducking for dear life. On each ride, I spent a great deal of time—when I wasn’t taking pictures—thinking, “What the hell are these tires made of?”  I drive around our town and my tires seem to find every nail laying in the street! 

We came back this morning, had breakfast and the men went to play golf, apparently where wild animals are allowed to roam the course.  Judy and I are hoping that we will not be the only two on our afternoon safari, due to some mishap the guys encounter while playing nine holes!