More Safari-ing in South Africa: Small Planes, Lions, Leopards and Scaredy Cats!

 We spent three days in the Bush outside of Kruger National Park and saw everything we hoped to see.  We all got used to riding the bumpy roads in a jeep with no top but I was still anxious when any animal—like a leopard or a lion— would walk directly next to our vehicle.  We were assured that as long as we remained seated, the animals would not feel threatened and we would be safe.  That’s all good in theory, but when you have a leopard walking right towards where you’re seated, it’s hard not to flinch.  Needless to say, I did plenty of flinching in those three days. 

Last night we had to pack and prepare for a two hour van ride to another airport (also not like JFK) to take a small plane to Phinda Mountain Lodge in the southern portion of South Africa.  As we packed, I soon learned that my views and Bob’s views on packing while in the middle of a safari were completely different. Bob’s were far more simplistic: we have clean clothes and we have dirty clothes, requiring just one bag for the dirty clothes. My view was far more nuanced and I explained to Bob that three bags were necessary in addition to our clean clothes. Bag 1is naturally for dirty clothes. Bag 2 is for those SPRAYED clothes that we have already worn out on safari but can wear again because we (I’m using th Royal “we”) don’t want to wash them too often to get rid of the spray too quickly (All the spraying was done at home in our backyard in order to minimize ticks and mosquitoes that may be carrying malaria).  Bag 3 holds all the other clothing that we have worn around the apartment, such as bathing suits and shorts, but can’t go with the clean clothes or either Bag 1 or 2.  This all made perfect sense to me. Bob acquiesced to my “3 bag” theory but only after saying that I was crazy. He may be right. 

We said good-bye to the beautiful Lion Sands Game Reserve and began the next leg of our journey to Phinda. I had no idea what the journey would be like to get to this other non-JFK-like airport and I immediately put on my Sea-Bands before getting in the van.  After two hours of driving through the South African countryside, we arrived at the airport.  When we walked up to the ticket counter, the attendant said, “Oh, you must be…” and said both of our last names.  He told the four of us to just leave our luggage in front of the counter and one of the staff will bring it out to the plane for us.  This sentence would just not compute in my overly nervous, “safety and caution are our friends” brain.  There were no baggage tickets given to us should our bags become lost, nor any record being made ON A COMPUTER as to whose bag was whose.  I did everything in my power to stay calm and not yell,  “Hey, don’t I get some type of luggage ticket?” Trying to remember that there were probably only 20 suitcases in the whole airport, I walked away from the counter without making a scene and hoped for the best.

We then were escorted to the “plane.”  I was too busy looking on the tarmac for my luggage to see just how little that plane really was.  There were 12 of us—all brave souls—flying to Phinda on this flight.  Our pilot/flight attendant told us to get on board and grab a cold water in the Coleman cooler at the back of the plane. Bob and I were the last two to board and consequently I had no time to Google where the safest seats in a 12 seater plane were located, even if we had a functioning internet at that point. 

The plane took off, I made the sign of the cross several times and after one hour and some incredible ear popping, we landed.  I had stopped looking out the window to not tempt fate as my Sea-Bands seemed to be working when Bob then said, “Cyndie, there’s no terminal!” A few other small planes had landed and I heard people yelling “We’re here!” I looked around and thought, “Where are we?!” Other than a few jeeps, there was nothing around us!  A nice young man in a ranger uniform approached us and he too knew our names before we said a word.  I recognize that since we left Capetown, we can hardly call the two locations we visited “thriving metropolises,” but it was a bit odd to be known before saying a word!

Before I end this blog, I have to make a confession: Since beginning the safari portion of our adventure, I have been a bit of a scaredy cat. The South Africans are very proud that their nature reserves are developed and built in a way that assimilates them to become part of the surrounding natural habitat. This is yet another example of something sounding really good on paper and not so much in real life.  Except for some wiring to keep the elephants from wreaking havoc on the properties, there is nothing between us and the wildlife.  On our arrival to both locations, we were told never to walk anywhere at night unescorted because the animals roam around the buildings.  At Lion Sands, Judy lamented that we had never walked down to the main clubhouse and I said, “Yeah, because, we’re scared!” When looking for hippos in the river yesterday, our guides had to first go down to the river WITH A RIFLE, to make sure that there were no water buffaloes there that might charge at us! I’m all for becoming one with nature, but I’m also fine with a little fencing between me and animal who would think nothing of eating me for lunch!

Tomorrow, back in the jeep to look for cheetahs!