South Africa Part I Kruger

We fly down to South Africa, with almost no problems. Other than the airline we were supposed to fly had stopped flying. Problems with capital. And, who owns this airline? The Tanzanian government. We were able to find different flights, though, despite being the busiest travel day of the year (2January, end of Christmas holiday). Unfortunately, as Air Tanzania was looking for investors, they had no cash to refund our flights. And, the other airlines we took only accepted cash. Do you have any idea what the wad of cash looks like for 4 tickets in Tanzanian shillings, where the largest bill, the 10,000 Tsh note, equates to about $8??? We thought we were going to need a wheelbarrow to carry the money.

We met Mark in the Joburg airport and drove to the northeastern border of South Africa. Gluttons for punishment, we arose at dawn (5:15am) to see the park during the early morning hours when the cats are most active. We were lucky. Here is a rare cheetah, who enthralled us by crossing the road several times in front of us and behaving most cat-like—scratching the tree, rubbing against bushes and stretching languidly.

We also saw the elusive leopard. This is the most beautiful animal I’ve ever seen. Its gait combines grace and power, barely contained.

One evening, Mark and I took a short drive through the park. After a fairly uneventful 90% of the drive, we rounded a corner to find 20 elephants blocking the road. This was a herd of females with their young. We sat watching them feed and interact, until something spooked one of the females. She, along with 2 of her friends, started towards us, shoulder to shoulder, ears flapping madly, as they appeared ready to charge. Mark backed up slowly, while I, shaking, took this out of focus shot. Finally, the girls decided to dine instead of attack, and we were able to drive passed. Then we had to talk our way out of the closed park, as the ranger felt we were too late to exit.

The 5 of us spent a day exploring a large canyon nearby. The river has created beautiful scenery. The valley below us must be 4000 meters down. Spectacular!

There are 11 official languages in South Africa, English being one of them. We learned “cheers” in Zulu, but when we used it at the bar that evening, the bartender had never heard of it. So, either he didn’t speak the same language as our first friend, or we were massively mispronouncing it. Since it is unlikely that most of you will know the difference anyway, we sign off with

Yambu (cheers, maybe, in Zulu, maybe)
The Beatties