May 22: "Day one" of the GAP tour started with 5 of us (Amy, Claudette, Adam, Kathrine and myself) taking a Soweto tour which ended just in time for the GAP meeting. Turns out that due to a scheduling error, we missed it, however we still made it in time for the big dinner at the rib joint!
May 23: The day started with a bit of a mishap and losing battle for the Pumba bumper vs fence before heading out in the morning. We were informed the ride would be 4-6 hours (very unpredictable roads/traffic it seems) to Blyde River Canyon...We arrived just as the sun was setting, but in time to capture some nice water shots and even saw a few cool monkeys!
[Waterfalls & potholes; ]
[Monkeys at Blyde; the great African Sky]
The late arrival led to setting up our tents in the dark. After dinner, several of us hung out for a drink and a "getting to know you" session. It's a great group, everyone seems to have a very good sense of humor, and a few shared interests that night that will surly resurface throughout the trip, including "Little Spoon" (Chris, our guide/driver), and the boys with 18 toes (Such and Rob as coined by Ellis)! Later, Amy outted me as a massage therapist, and then SHE offered back rubs, I think she's trying to take my job!
May 24: Early start with a hot shower, packing and striking tents, which was fine by me as I was freezing all night and that morning. We headed to Mpumalanga and "God's Window", which is located along the Drakensberg escarpment offering a panoramic view of the beautiful South African landscape, and into Kruger National Park.
[God's Window; me with my new friend, Kathrine]
We ate a quick breakfast before heading to Kruger National Park. After settling in to our campsite, in an area clearly marked "No amping" [photo], or was it meant to say No Camping, it was unclear, or so that was our defense when they told our guide we had to move all 10 (full) tents, as the rest of us were on the evening safari spotting a giraffe, rhinos, kudu, impalas, hyenas, and best of all LIONS (2 females and a male)
[Our campsite, before we had to move; Pumba, our ride; Spotted hyenas; fighting impala bucks; lions; croc & turtle; hungry monkey; elephant & herd; giraffes; hippos; lilac brested roller bird; vervet monkey].
Well, in fairness, it was our guide who was an incredible multitasker not only our driver and guide, but managed this while holding a spotlight out the window for 2+ hours without incident, and eyes of an eagle to boot! She spotted the lions from about a kilometer away!
Back at camp we had dinner, spiked hot drinks and roasted marshmallows around a makeshift campfire, which I think is also not allowed at said campground, but it sure was nice and toasty! Fortunately this night was much warmer than the previous offering great sleeping conditions, despite the even earlier wake up call.
May 25: Early pre-dawn rising got many of us fed and to our safari vehicle by 630am. We were pretty lucky in seeing lots of game including giraffes, rhinos, kudu, hippos, crocodiles, turtles, impala (for which we sighted so often we created a drinking game to use on the next safari), zebra and buffalo (the latter being one of the Big 5 with lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos), a big herd of elephants marching away from us, and later we saw an elephant push down a small tree with his butt, too cool! Then, we were lucky enough to see another THREE lions, this time 2 young males and a female. Awesome!
[They appear so docile!].
Back at camp we joined the folks who stayed back and caught them up on all the stories of the trip, including Paco, who in not so many words asked our guide what would happen if the "dominant bull" impala was gay and later asked for a picture of him and Kathrine kissing, to which I quickly agreed, much to Kathrine's surprise. ;)
Back at camp, lack of hot water in the ladies' showers resulted in women using the mens' showers, to which Paco was quick to be disappointed in learning after the event.
After dinner that night the professional (me!) took over the campfire back rubs! Amy, you're out of business! haha
May 26: 5am rise was intended to get us on the road to Maputo, Mozambique by 6am, or so we thought...until we witnessed Li'l Spoon spitting out battery acid whilst trying to get the Pumba started. With the help of the park staff, we were on the road again. I must have been really bored as I was trying to learn the complicated game of bridge.
Most of us exchanged money with some women before the border on the suggestion of our guides, but Paco, being the rebel he is, thought he was getting a better rate at the border and ended up getting conned, and then quickly consumed 3 bananas (rather than toss them) before crossing as fruit isn't allowed across the border. What will be next?
After checking into our hotel, we headed straight to the beach. The water was very warm, close to bathwater. Sadly, the beach itself wasn't very nice with lots of broken glass, garbage, and worst of all, rats at night because of all the "street" food served on the beach.
We dined at a restaurant and ended the night with a little backgammon and childish, yet entertaining acts like 3 boys spooning sweet, unassuming 18 year old James while he slept.
[Such, Rob & Ellis spooning James]
May 27: We woke to a power outage at about 8am and after a stale bowl of rice krispies Amy, Sylvia, Katherin and I decided to go into town and see an art museum and hit the market. Knowing, now that the native language is Portuguese, we cautiously rode in on the public bus with Chad and Kayla. We we imagined this being uneventful as we had a local map and there were only 2 turns on the way, yet the locals, in their efforts to help us I think, made things far more complicated than necessary. Who knew that pointing at a spot on a map could be interpreted in so many ways?
Once we realized the museum wasn't open until 11am, we proceeded to walk with Chad and Kayla to locate the market, and after Sylvia nearly got creamed by a car in one of the many potentially deadly no lights or signs free-for-all intersections, the rest of us sat down at a bar for a drink. 2 espressos, one beer and one Coke was only 100 meticais, or approximately US$2.85. Not bad, and no, that pre-11am beer was NOT mine!
We returned to the museum to check out Mozambique's best known and world renowned Malangatana Ngwenya. Interesting to see the evolution of his work over the course of Mozambique's independence in 1975, peace in 1994, and since.
We ventured over to take public transport to an oceanside restaurant for lunch. We ended up on one of the "chicken buses", or taxi, which is a minivan of sorts packed like sardines and makes stops at request. It isn't comfortable, nor pleasant smelling, but only costs 5 meticais each, meaning for the 4 of us it was approximately US$.15 each. The driver was super cool, and English not bad as he directed us to our destination.
[Chicken taxi; chaotic intersections with no lights/signs; sidewalk tailors; war-torn sidewalks]
After a misunderstanding about the prices (we were told 1400 meticais for a sandwich, about US$40), we had The food was ok, but the view and weather were perfect! We asked the hostess to direct is to a pharmacy on our map, and again, it was made into a complicated process, after which 2 waiters finished their shifts and offered to walk us there, it involved one turn. I'm beginning to wonder if the locals don't know how to read a map. At least they are friendly!
We had an incredible moon that night, and honored it with a beach party in which some more massaging took place and local orphans joined us with one man who brought his guitar and everyone took turns jamming for us. He claimed to be working on an album to help the orphans. All in all, a great night hanging with the locals!
[Gorgeous moonlight on the water; orphans enjoying the fire & music; Ellis entertaining; and massaging]
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