Africa Journal/August 10-12,1998
August 10,
1998
Johannesburg to Kruger National Park
Our first day. We met our guides, Wayne
and Lido and climbed the ladders into our “Drifters”
Trucks. The trucks have lockers for our luggage and big high windows.
We will even be able to sit on top of the trucks to view wildlife
on game runs. Jo’burg is a big and sprawling urban area.
It's on a high flat plain. It’s very dry. The land is often
burning at this time of year. As we left Jo’burg the terrain
gradually changed to chaparral with some very worn down mountains
and rocky outcrops with Euphorbia and Cactus. We didn’t make
it to Kruger National Park today—the truck had battery problems.
We stopped in a town called Louis Trichart to try and get it fixed.
It’s “Women’s Day”, a national holiday, and
most things are closed even though it’s a Monday. We shopped
in a supermarket. I noticed a lot of minced meat and mincemeat
“helper”. Wayne and Lido found someone to come and work
on the truck. We are going to camp in this town.
August 11, 1998
Louis Trichart to Kruger National Park
It was really cold last night. In the thirties
and damp. Our sleeping gear was not warm enough, so Tom went back
to town and got blankets for everyone. Camping in town, the night
sounds included car alarms and horns, dogs barking and roosters
crowing—not what I expected on my first night outdoors in
Africa. For dinner last night, Wayne and Lido cooked Sadza. This
is a staple food in this area. It’s made with a cornmeal
that tastes a lot like grits. Wayne said many people eat this
three times a day, often with little else available to eat. They
served the Sadza with a type of sausage that the Afrikaaners took
on their overland trek nearly a hundred years ago.
We left Louis Trichart and drove through
Venda. This is the former homeland of the VhaVenda people. They
came to this area from central Africa eight centuries ago. The
homelands are being incorporated into Nelson Mandela’s new
South Africa. There are many homes being built by the government
here. Subdivisions are built with government subsidy and community
labor. The native homes are round and beautifully painted, often
with earth colors and occasionally with a brilliant blue. The
government houses are rectangular cinderblock. By our standards
it looks poor in this homeland. Lots of people are selling fruits,
vegetables and other wares along the side of the road. Women carry
very heavy items on their heads. . .
By mid-afternoon we finally make it to Kruger.
Our camp is surrounded by fencing. The gates close at 6 p.m. We
go for our first game run. It’s also very dry here. Many
trees have lost their leaves. The remaining leaves are gold. The
angle of light is low. It looks a lot like November light back
home. The landscape is subtle—many variations of brown. Kruger
is a large park. We drive for at least 30 minutes without seeing
any large game. It’s exciting to know what might be out there,
and we travel with great anticipation. We see our first elephant!
It disappears in the bush. How can an elephant disappear? We see
Giraffe, Impala, Thompson’s Gazelle, Zebra and Cape Buffalo.
We have great views from the top of the vehicle. It’s late
afternoon, and many of the animals are heading for the watering
hole. Each watering hole has a windmill to pump up the water.
The water is highly managed to keep the wildlife in the park.
Their old migration patterns from watering hole to watering hole
have been modified by this human intervention. . . as we returned
to camp, we were told not to leave our tents in the dark unless
absolutely necessary—lions are around. As we sat by the campfire,
we heard lions roar, and Spotted Hyena calling. Wayne said these
were the special sounds of the African night. This was more like
it.
August 12, 1998
Leaving Kruger—our stay was much too
short. We will be driving through the northern section of the
park on our way out. We didn’t see the central and southern
sections. This is a park we could easily come back to on our own,
an easy drive from Jo’burg, and private vehicles are allowed.
We stopped at the Perfuri picnic area. Its a a beautiful spot
on the Liunhue River at the north end of the park. The green riverine
forest provides habitat for many birds and animals. The picnic
area is full of Vervet Monkeys. If you don’t hold onto your
gear and food here, the monkeys run off with it. We saw Zebra,
Antelope and a Nyanga near here. . .leaving Kruger, we drive through
some dry and dusty country heading for the Zimbabwe/South /Africa
border. Some campers at Kruger told us that there is a large concentration
of lions near this border. They hunt the people who illegally
cross the border and sneak through the bush at night.
There is a long line of people at the border
crossing. Many with luggage and heavy packages. Women carrying
large bundles on their heads, here too. Most are bus passengers,
and they must leave their buses to carry their stuff across he
border. It looks hard. Wayne said it can sometimes take up to
4 hours to cross but as tourists our group is allowed to skip
the long line. It’s not surprising that there seems to be
some resentment.
Zimbabwe looks even dryer than South Africa.
The border area is run down, but the countryside looks better
as we travel on. We didn’t make it to Great Zimbabwe as planned,
so we camped at the Belu River, next to the “Lion and Elephant
Motel”. Some of us went over to the motel bar for a drink.
It was a perfect throwback to the British empire—dark red
and brown with lots of stuffed animals. We had jackal jerky and
Zimbabwe Beer. We had fun here. Walking back to camp, men across
the street yelled ”Lady, lady, come over here...” It’s
not too safe to wander around here. In camp, it’s very dark
and the stars are wonderful. Alpha Centaure points to the Southern
Cross. Arcturus is the brightest star and the Milky Way is vividly
bright. My favorite is a perfect semicircle of stars. I don’t
know it’s name.