Adventure Travel in Africa

Is elephant damage covered under our car insurance?

January 13, 2010 By Jillian

It’s not often that we find ourselves behind the wheel of a car, but to see Kruger properly it was necessary to rent a car. So in our tiny little rental we took to the roads of Kruger, the paved, the dirt and the gravel. Our days were the same, get up early (sun rises at 4:30 a.m in the summer) pack up our tent, hit the road for some game viewing, arrive at our next camp around noon, rest until 3pm and head out for another game drive. The game drives are always exciting, sort of like a scavenger hunt through the bush- herds of elephants in the distance, giraffes eating from the tops of trees, but it wasn’t until our third afternoon when things got umm… up close and personal?

On our afternoon drive we had been severely disappointed. Game viewing is all about luck, being in the right place at the right time and so far we hadn’t seen anything that afternoon besides a few impala. Disappointed we came around a curve face to face for a giraffe. Moving out of the road for us, he trotted into the bush and continued eating the leaves. Carrying on our way, we hoped to see a lion or cheetah, but as we continued down the road nothing happened. Over taking another car we came around a bend and there in front of us was a huge maseth bull elephant standing in the road. Thankfully it was not turned towards us, but he took his dear sweet time getting out of our way.

For nearly twenty minutes we followed this bull down the road, each time Danny inched the car forward I nearly had a heart attack. There is no way I wanted to be that close to a male elephant, umm.. in “the mood.” Somewhere I remembered hearing to stay 20-30 meters back from an elephant, and as many things in life, husband and wife had a difference of opinion as to the exact distance of 20-30 meters. So there we were inching along behind the elephant that wouldn’t clear the path. Looking at the clock I realized that time was winding down fast, and we would have to either turn around or make a run for it if we wanted to get to the camp gate before it closed. Unwilling to turn around, we decided to wait the elephant out. Finally the bull stepped off the road and into the bush far enough that we could no longer see him. Making a run for it, Danny gunned the engine and we took our chances passing the elephant. Startled by the sound of our engine, the elephant, who wasn’t exactly as far as we thought from the road, turned towards us as we passed and made an angry grunting noise and motion, which prompted me to hit my darling husband in the arm and scream “move, move, move.” We were soon out of harms way although it took a good 20 minutes for our hearts to stop pumping.

Putting the petal to the metal, we sped along towards the main road and our camp gate. Each time we saw fresh elephant dung in the road my heart skipped a beat, and it wasn’t long before we saw a breeding herd along the side of the road. This time they were further away from us and thankfully paid no attention to us. Speeding along, we turned onto the paved road hoping and praying that we could convince the guard at the gate with our video footage that indeed the elephant had made us late. Cruising along we saw the familiar stopped vehicle ahead. Slowing down for a quick view, we thought the car was only looking at wildebeest in the distance, until a hand came out the window and pointed to the lioness not more than 5 feet from the road.

Of course we stopped. Screw that 1000R (about 135 USD) fine- the lioness was hunting. Within a minute we saw the wildebeest start to scatter and from a distance we could see the herd split in two. My family uses the phrase “national geographic moment”, which I think is rather self explanatory. This was indeed one of those moments. As we watched the scene unfold, several other lionesses came into view and a large male. We could see the lions rounding up one half of the herd and sorting through the chaos to find their target. Unfortunately the chase continued over the hill and we turned towards the people in the first car in shock and awe. The car behind us sped off towards the gate as we had about 10 minutes and 15 km to go. Gathering ourselves, we quickly did the same. Half way back to the gate we came over a hill and saw a man standing in the road with a gun. Great I thought, speeding ticket. Fortunately the car that left the hunt before us was already pulled over and we were waved on.

Sneaking into the camp gate behind another car, we couldn’t believe our luck. We had almost been trampled by an elephant, witnessed a lion hunt, avoided a speeding ticket and snuck in through the gate without a fine.

What a ride.

A shot-gun, biltong and pink champagne…

January 11, 2010 By Danny

We were quite lucky to even get park reservations over new years and once we arrived at the park were hoping that we’d be able to arrange for a New Years Eve night safari at our Satara camp.

The ride out to the remote picnic spot, where some champagne was waiting for us, was a quick one, but eventful nonetheless. Pulling out of camp we saw giraffe galloping, startled at the light, our first water buffalo, and a group of elephants move to protect a baby. This was interesting to us because during the day the elephants didn’t really feel the need to encircle a baby but I guess it was different at night with a bunch of lights being shined on them. We also saw bunches of spotted hyena off looking for whatever food they could find.

At the picnic spot, completely unaware of what time it was (we’d left camp at 11pm) our ranger guide joked that there were no lions around as he sat loading shells into his shotgun. Nice. We were escorted to the picnic tables where some chips and biltong sat waiting for us and a several bottles of pink-ish champagne, at least one bottle in each shade of red, and waited for the countdown to begin. One of the rangers told us a minute remained and then began talking, wishing us “Shalom” or “completeness through peace” as he translated it and several minutes later after being reminded started counting down from 10 for us to celebrate the new year. We shot off the corks, drank a touch of the pink stuff, spotted a crocodile across the river, and got back in the trucks for the remainder of the ride.

On the way back we missed spotting a rhino (the other truck saw it but it was hidden in bush when we arrived) but a bit later did get to hear the male and female rhino engage in mating calls. Our guide managed to spot a snakes, the boomslang, in a tree whose bite would kill us in a matter of hours and we continued on spotting more hyenas (whose howl was quite eerie), buck, and zebra. To round out the trip, several juvenile male lions were hanging out on the road just before we got back to camp (literally about 200m from the gate) . Just what we wanted to see before heading off to bed!

Foodie Friday: Biltong

January 8, 2010 By Danny

When we were at our first Braai a few weeks ago biltong was mentioned but we’d yet to try it. Similar to beef jerky, but made of just about anything, our CS hosts ensured we went to Mozambique with a good supply of the stuff. When we ran out, some other South Africans staying at the same place as us, ensured we’d continue to have enough.

On our way into Kruger National Park we read in our guidebook that the park actually began as a refuge for the animals from biltong poachers. Ironic then that the first gift shop we walked into had entire wall of biltong from a host of different animals ranging from the traditional beef and not so hard to find ostrich to all manner of game including kudu, impala, springbok and the list goes on.

Later that evening, while sharing a Braai with some friendly people in the campsite, I asked some questions and was told that kudu is probably one of the better game meats to try because it is a browser (eats bushes) rather than a grazer (eats grass) and that usually means the meat is of a better quality. We opted to try some Kudu and taste it alongside the beef and….could not tell the difference for the life of us.

Is this Jurassic Park? Kruger National Park

January 7, 2010 By Jillian

Well the special thing we got for New Years were last-minute reservations at Kruger National Park! We’d been trying to get reservations since September, but it wasn’t until the week before when we were in Mozambique that anything was available. Thank you cancellations!

As the gate swung open and the park guard gave us the #1 rule- do not for any reason exit your vehicle– I felt like we were in a famous movie about a fantasy dinosaur park. In fact, I expected to see big game animals almost immediately given that several South Africans had told us the park was like an open air zoo. Immediate they were not, but it didn’t take long for us to see a large traffic jam ahead of us. Rhino! A huge black rhinoceros stood in the grass not more than 10 meters from the road. With 10 cars, safari trucks and SUV’s crowding in to get a view, we waited our turn took our pictures and sped on towards the interior of the park.

It was our first “big five” sighting. Africa’s “big five” are so grouped because they are the most dangerous for hunters: lion, elephant, rhinoceros, leopard and water buffalo. They are the animals we came to see, but besides them Kruger is also home to cheetah, impala, wildebeest, zebra and giraffe amongst many others. In anxious anticipation we drove on from the rhinoceros towards our first camp.

One of the most popular national parks in the world, Kruger Park is about the size of Israel. Almost all of the one million visitors each year visit the southern sector of the park, creating at times traffic jams of sorts. In fact, the first few sightings we had were only because we saw several other cars pulled over looking into the bush.

Moving through the park at 20 km per hour, we spotted herds of impala and wildebeest and even a few zebra. Given that it was the hottest part of the day, we didn’t expect to see much game up and about, but in fact we were surprised. Through the trees we saw our first elephant! A small breeding herd of about 5 in total, the elephants didn’t even seem to notice our car along side them. Keeping our distance we watched them until they disappeared into the bush.

Thrilled we continued on our way, now in a rush to get to camp before the gates closed. A few minutes before sunset, we spotted several hippopotamus in a pond just outside the gates of our camp. Lumbering out of the water towards the grass, the hippopotamus called to each other and grouped themselves along the riverbank. It was a thrilling end to our first day in Kruger.

**We’re uploading our Kruger pictures slowly due to low-speed internet. Bare with us for a few days until we can get them all up. As always our latest pics can be seen on our picture page or on our flickr page. Thanks!

Business is Business…

January 6, 2010 By Jillian

There’s always someone with something to sell. No matter where we are, on a bus, on a beach or at a famous historical site, there are vendors, both young and old hoping to make a buck. Snacks, cold drinks, knick-nacks, entire chicken meals, random bathroom tools to super glue and even a kids picture dictionary its a veritable shopping mall of goods on the go. While it can be annoying, in the case of a cold beverage on a hot bus, its often exactly what you want at the moment. Given that we’re traveling with small backpacks I often don’t even look at the handi-crafts that amble by for fear that I’ll want it and won’t have a place to put it. So when laying out on the beach in Tofo, Mozambique the kids came by with string bracelets, necklaces and their smiles pitch, I always replied “No, thanks.” in Portuguese. This had little effect, and hour after hour the same entrepreneurial children came by again… and again. Finally I gave up and just greeted and shooed them away in Spanish.

One boy, age 13, came by probably half a dozen times one afternoon. After declining his sales pitch, in Portuguese, English and Spanish he came by late in the afternoon, this time with a new offer. “Can I look at the pictures while you read?” he asked me in beginner’s English. Enthusiastically we went through the National Geographic magazine I was reading, him asking lots of questions and me explaining the pictures, ads, and articles in English or Spanish. As we went through the magazine more and more kids came over to look at the pictures. By the time we were half way through the magazine three or four young entrepreneurs crowded around the magazine some trying to listen to my explanations others just staring blankly at the pictures. The kids were amazed at the pictures of Angkor Wat, and if anyone from National Geographic is reading this please insert more maps! They had no sense of where Cambodia was in relation to Mozambique, so eventually we drew a crude map in the sand. Finally my friend asked if he could have the magazine when I was done reading it. “I will learn English in school next year,” he told me as he explained that he wanted to show the pictures to his siblings.

When confronted with a child in the developing world who asks for something educational like a National Geographic magazine what can you do but hand over the magazine? Handing it to him I made him promise to continue to work on reading English before school started. He promised me he’d read every night and in a gesture of friendship and thanks gave me one of his little string bracelets. As he carefully wrapped the magazine in a newspaper and put it in his backpack he thanked me and walked away with the other kids.

Of course everyone likes to think they have an impact, and perhaps no one more so than travelers. I was completely aglow as the kids walked away, thinking I had really made an impact on this boy’s life. Over the course of the hour he was so genuinely enthusiastic about the magazine’s contents and the pictures that I had the impression he found it to be a “treasure.” Walking through the market on the way back to our lodging we were again accosted by entrepreneurs big and small. With his same old sales pitch my friend tried to sell me a matching friendship bracelet to the one he gave me. As one little girl infamously said in Guatemala, “Business is business.”

Is elephant damage covered under our car insurance?

A shot-gun, biltong and pink champagne…

Foodie Friday: Biltong

Is this Jurassic Park? Kruger National Park

Business is Business…

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