The Big 5 in 24 hours

Yesterday I returned from a week in the Mpumalagna province of South Africa.  Similar to 2 weeks ago, I was staying with my friend Graeme and his family in Nelspruit for a few days, however afterwards traveled north to Kruger National Park.  We were in Nelspruit this time because of an Afrikaans festival called Innibos, which means "In the bush".  Innibos is a music and arts festival that mostly a festival for Afrikaans to celebrate their culture, food, and as all good Afrikaans people do, have a few too many beers. However for my friend Graeme, it marks the winter university break when all his friends come back from school to catch up and have a reunion.  For me it was the largest gathering of Caucasians I've seen since leaving JFK airport!

Innibos beer tent...lots of Afrikaans men

Innibos was a great time where I met a lot of people and listened to a lot of live bands.  Since being in South Africa I have learned some Afrikaans, but my pronunciation of execution of many words puts me as a dead ringer as a foreigner. The issue is at Innibos, everyone speaks Afrikaans.  An interesting encounter I had in the rest room involved 3 men speaking to me in Afrikaans across a urinal in hostile voices.  Luckily my use of the words I knew and could pronounce quelled the tension and we all urinated in peace.

During the day we would go to the local driving range.  I'm not a golfer at all, however this was definitely the most beautiful setting I've seen a driving ranger in (far better than the Bronx Golf Center off Gun Hill Rd. adjacent to I-95 in NYC). Interestingly there are no ball collecting lawnmowers, just a group of 5 black laborers out there picking them up by hand.  So when you hit a long drive near them you have to shout out to them.  $1 for a quart of beer at the counter and the old woman asks you "are you just gonna open it with your eye or do I have to go get an opener?"

Gooch and Simon hitting some balls

The other interesting part of being in Nelspruit was staying with my friend's family.  It's been awhile since I have been in a family setting and I have to admit it was very pleasant reminder of those I love back home.

On Saturday we all traveled to a time share on the southern border of Kruger National Park, just shy of the Mozambique border to stay with Graeme's aunt and uncle.  The complex was very nice and their apartment has a veranda that overlooks the Crocodile River in the park.  When we arrive there were 2 elephants in the river and a buffalo just across the way.  After an amazing sunset, a fire, a lot of wine-driven conversation we woke up the next morning to enter the park.

Ele in Crocodile River

Sun rise the next morning

The Wolfard family watching the wildlife and scenery on their deck

Graeme and I drove 5 hours through the park to meet up with our other friends, one of whom has a house inside the park where we stayed the night.  Kruger is South Africa's largest park, it would take you 18 hours to drive from the bottom to the top at the speed limit.  It is the most amazing park with animals literally around every corner, elephant randomly walking across the road, and gorgeous scenery.

Big croc in Kruger

A large pod of hippos and crocodiles 

Male Kudo at a watering hole

A group of warthogs 

Just after entering the park we saw 2 large male lions relaxing in the distance and saw countless other animals including hippos, crocs, eles, buffalo, and more. The park was 34 degrees (95) which seems ridiculous considering it is the middle of winter!

Buffalo, hippos, and impala 

White rhino

Gooch and I at Stevenson-Hamilton, a koppie overlooking the park

Meeting up with our mates, we relaxed on the top of a dam to watch the sun set as pods of hippos made echoing bellows across the lake. For some reason all sunsets in Africa are amazingly beautiful and seem to last forever.

The chaps at the dam

Just after the sun set, a large cat emerged from the bushes next to the dam in between our cars.  Fearing it was a lion we all quickly got into the cars and watched as a young leopard walked along the dam.  At night a leopard is just as scary as a lion, as they will stalk you and leap from up to 30 feet away to wrap their claws around your neck.  This meant that we had seen the Big 5 within 8 hours of being in the park.  The Big 5 are the 5 most dangerous animals in reference to hunting, but are known as the most notable mammals; Elephant, Rhino, Leopard, Lion, & Buffalo. 

Leopard taking a crap

That night as 12 of us sat around the fire, large bush babies (a koala sized primate that comes out at night) and greater spotted genets (a large cat looking animal) jumped around the trees overhead, as lions roared in the distance and hyena howled just around the corner.  Nights in the bush are spectacular! The next morning we packed up and came back to Pretoria.

It was a very short trip with only 2 days in the bush, but there is still much work to be done on the academic front.  Also in 2 weeks I am leaving for Namibia, so it's about time I started getting aggressive with my exercising if I don't want to get stuck in the desert mountains.