filling in the blanks... LESOTHO!

LESOTHO! 23/09-2007
I'm finding that I quite enjoy getting up at the crack of dawn, to enjoy the sunrise, the morning air, the birds, the scenery in the morning light... I really feel at peace...

We started the day by getting up early to take photos of birds and the mountains. After breakfast and after leaving our laundry with the San Lodge staff (they do laundry (wash, line dry, and fold) for you for 35 Rand - wheee!), we were ready to go on a daytrip to Lesotho!

We met our guide and got into a 4X4 vehicle; you need one of those to drive up Sani Pass and you can actually be stopped and made to turn back if you don't have an appropriate vehicle. I was a bit apprehensive at first as there were no seatbelts in the 4X4 and if something were to happen, the insurance companies would go tell me to bite myself. As we drove along, our guide casually mentioned something or other about how if the driver jumps out of the vehicle, that everyone should jump out... just as well there were no seatbelts ;-)

Anyway, we drove up along the Sani Pass, which is used as a trade route between South Africa and Lesotho. The actual road is nuts – unpaved, narrow, steep, twisting. It's why you need a 4X4. And even with 4X4s people had problems. We saw at least two breakdowns during the whole trip. Anyway, drivers going up have the right of way, and I can see where this rule can be difficult for drivers going down. Along the Sani Pass as a whole, you could see the remains of cars and trucks that have driven off the road. Not a pretty sight. I'm glad we chose an organized tour as opposed to doing it on our own. We didn't have a 4X4 for starters...



Originally, donkey-pulled carts were used but now even big trucks (eek) use the road. There were several old trade posts (houses) along the way; we stopped at these for closer looks and photographs. There were quite a few interesting stops along the way, which was good as there were so many nice things to see and photograph. There were lots of weird things too. Like this one dude who was carrying a big bundle of branches on his back. As we were in a World Heritage site, it was not legal to take things like branches from it. However, according to our guide, this guy did it day in and day out...



Another interesting section was a mountain route used for marijuana smuggling. The Lesothan government did little to stop the traffic from Lesotho to South Africa, leaving the South African border police with the bulk of the work. Lesotho is a poor country and with poverty comes the desire to make “quick and easy” money, legally or not...

The vegetation was also quite interesting, varying tremendously between the Sani Lodge and Lesotho itself. It's amazing how much differences in altitude affect things...

Unfortunately, there are plans to pave this road, and work has already started. I say unfortunately, as maintenance of the road will be expensive, and because it takes away a lot of the charm of the area. Tourists specifically traverse the Sani Pass because the road is so primitive and harrowing. In addition to the plans to pave the road, there are plans on building more luxury resorts in the area, as well as setting up a ski resort in Lesotho. Among the arguments to counter the arguments that this will ruin the environment, "but it will help the local economy." Bullshit. Lesothans* will still get their low wages, and the owners of the lodge will profit, profit, profit. And most of the money will go abroad. Let's get real here...

Heh, speaking of "abroad," our guide was talking about this tour agency called Saga, dubbed "send a granny abroad" by a lot of local guides. They allegedly sell relatively "tame" package tours to the elderly, and they always had to get back to the luxury lodge by a certain time, so that the old folks could take their medication ;-)



Anyway, when we got to the border control to go out of South Africa, there weren't too many people there. However, the queue grew and grew, so it was a good thing we got there when we did. It was a public holiday, so there were crowds. But things went quickly and smoothly. We then went to the passport control at the Lesotho border and that went smoothly as well. Our guide had taken all our passports in, and when he returned with them there was a Lesothan border guard with him. He looked at me and said “you're feitpingvin!” Really weird. I said yes, I am, and I shook hands with him. He said that he had seen my passport, which is what I figured. So we got back into the vehicle and yay! We were finally in Lesotho! We can finally fill in that darn spot in the middle of South Africa in our “countries visited” maps ;-)

The part of Lesotho we visited is very isolated and barren. There were no trees to be seen due to the high altitude; only dryish shrubs. The primary industry in Lesotho is sheep farming (for wool), as sheep and goats are the only thing that can survive and be "grown" there.



Young Lesothan men spend time in these isolated areas to work/train as shepherds, from the age of 13 or so. They live a very simple life, but they are able to get a piece of land for free. They don't go to school as they have their land and their sheep; they don't need very much else. Schooling is not compulsory in Lesotho, but primary education is free, and 85% of the population is literate, which is high by African standards. Secondary education is not free and thus limited to the wealthy who can afford it. University education, on the other hand, is free. It's really weird that secondary education isn't free but everything else is...



It was a very windy day, and we got lots of reddish-brownish dust blown all over us... urk. We were washing it out for days. The wind made it quite chilly too...

Not too long after lunch, some of us went out for a hike with the guide; a woman with three small children stayed behind in the vehicle. The hike was very nice, but we could really feel the effects of the thin air. It took a lot more effort to do something as simple as walk for a half hour than it would normally take at, hmm, sea level...


When we returned to the vehicle, there was a shepherd there. Just standing there. As if he appeared from nowhere. Very spooky...

We started heading back towards the border. Our next stop was at a private rondawel (or rondavel – it can be spelled both ways), to visit one of the locals. We met a lovely woman who sells bread, beer, homemade beer (similar to umqombothi, made of maize and sorghum – if anyone knows that the local term for this "beer" is, let me know!), and other things to shepherds and tourists. We got to sample the homemade beer (this was passed around in a big mug), which was actually quite nice, refreshing, and fruity, as well as the bread (also passed around), which was absolutely delicious. The bread was wholegrain and very flavorful; it came in large, triangular chunks. This was the kind of bread that appeals to northern Europeans. Yum yum! We were told we could buy some bread if we wanted to, so we bought a few pieces (we could pay with ZAR). Boyfriend of feitpingvin bought a big bottle of regular beer as well, even though he could have easily purchased beer in South Africa. It's always nice to help out the locals, especially when they have six kids to feed!



I was a bit disappointed to not find wool products for sale, like the beautiful bright-colored shawl/poncho-thing the woman was wearing. I would have loved to have something like that!

On a side note, the Lesothan vendors usually had a colored flags code system to let shepherds and whoever else know what was being sold. I don't remember what color was for what though.

Our final stop was at the Sani Top Chalet, to visit Africa's highest pub. This was something for Mini Wolfgang for sure! He had been rather bored for most of the trip ;-)



We shared a mug of hot cocoa (yum) and a pint of beer (Mini Wolfgang drank most of that) and took some photos in the general area. The beer on tap was from the Nottingham Road Brewing Company – yay! :-D

Along our return to South Africa and the Sani Lodge, we stopped by this place called "the Fountain of Youth," where we could drink the streaming water.

When we returned, our laundry was washed, dried, and folded, which was nice. The electricity had gone out though, which made things interesting. The common area was lit with candles, and we were wondering how dinner would be handled (we booked dinner again). It wasn't a problem as the stoves were gas, and we had a simple, but filling dinner.

The electricity came back eventually, but it didn't really matter for us. Again, we went to bed at 21:00...


* From what I have heard, it is offensive to call them “Lesothans.” I don't know if it comes from the mouths of the people of Lesotho, or if the PC-brigade has stuck their nose where it doesn't belong once again. If I'm going to have to use each individual ethnic group, then I have to know who/what they actually are. So if someone can let me know what the people of the Sani Pass area of Lesotho are “supposed” to be called, I'd appreciate it.

I love the singing of birds early in the morning...

Howick to Sani Pass, 22/09-2007
Ooooops, forgot to post the tasting notes for the wine we had the evening of the 21st so here goes:

Five's Reserve Pinotage 2005 (With the “big five” on the label, purchased in Kruger National Park! Produced by Van Loveren in Robertson.)
color: deep violet
nose: strawberries (I was the only one who got this), tobacco, prunes, some herbs
palate: powerful and full-bodied, pleasant tannins. Flavor of vanilla, blackberries, red apple peel (says boyfriend of feitpingvin), spices, pepper, hint of chili. “Snippy” at the end. Will go well with meat dishes, but also ok alone.
Grade: :-)

OK, now we can continue...

We planned on getting up early to enjoy the sunrise and the birds and stuff. Did you know that you could order a wake-up call for 5 a.m? Isn't that great? What service! What we didn't realize was that there were other orders for wake-up calls before ours. The roosters started around 3:45 a.m, and the hadeda ibises, not wanting to be outdone, started screeching around 4 a.m. The songbirds followed shortly after... pip pip pip... chirp chirp chirp... very sweet...


hadeda ibis - the official alarm clock of South Africa

So I was already more or less awake at 5, so I got out of bed, threw on yesterday's clothes, and made some coffee. Then I went out to walk the grounds of the farm and look at the birds; boyfriend of feitpingvin joined me shortly after. And I was far from disappointed in the amount of birds I saw, but the darn things just wouldn't stay still to be photographed ;-)

We told our hostess we would have breakfast at 7:30, so around 7 we went back to our apartment to shower and get dressed in fresh clothes. Breakfast was pre-ordered the night before; we were given a sheet with breakfast options that we were supposed to check off. We thought that we could only choose one of the many options; we ordered oatmeal with apples and yoghurt, and I had requested one soft-boiled egg in addition, if it were possible, so that I could get some protein...

It turned out that we could order everything on the breakfast menu if we really wanted to. So we had our tasty oatmeal (I loved the combination of oatmeal, shredded apples, and yoghurt. This is something I'm going to do at home!), plus soft-boiled eggs with "soldiers" in addition. We didn't know what soldiers were, and a couple of elderly English guests were snickering at us :-) We laughed when we got our plate...

It was a really nice breakfast, and a good break from all that bacon and sausages. Yes, I was starting to get sick of bacon. I didn't think that was possible. Don't worry, I'm over it now. Mmmmm, bacon ;-)

After breakfast, we first headed in the opposite direction to where we were going next (Sani Lodge Backpackers) but we wanted to find a local winery. After an hour of driving we still didn't find it, so we stopped at a farm stall instead and bought some proper ginger beer. It had been ages since I had that. It was made of ginger, sugar, lemon, and water. Nothing else. You don't need anything else. Most certainly not any ingredients that require a degree in chemistry to understand. I wish more people and companies would get that *sigh* I'm going to have to try making it here at home. It shouldn't be too difficult...

We eventually took the R617 to Sani Pass. It started out kind of boring but got really nice in the end. The very last part of the journey was on a dusty, unpaved road...

We arrived at Sani Lodge Backpackers just before 2 pm. I noted the time as we were hoping to catch a rugby match, but Sani Lodge didn't have a TV anyway, and if we wanted to go to a pub, we'd have to drive back to the nearest town and that would take a while. Sani Lodge is a sort of "middle of nowhere" place, and very simple – the rooms are very basic but suitable for the environment and (for the most part) the kind of people who typically go there in the first place. It's not a bad place though; it's brilliant if you want to get away from it all. They have a café there (Giant Cup's Café), so we went there for lunch. We had smoked trout with mustard sauce (I pushed that aside as mustard makes me sick for some reason), pickles, and wholegrain bread. It was delicious. I washed it down with milk that comes from Jersey cows farmed in the area. Very nice.



After lunch, we hiked on a trail in the area. There were a few birds and some very nice orange flowers, and the scenery was lovely. Absolutely lovely. I would love to go back to the area and do a much longer hike. They have a set of trails where you can hike from cabin to cabin over a period of several days, kind of like what they have here in Norway. That would be so cool. They really should market that to Norwegians; they would really go for that!



We had booked dinner at the backpackers' and it was served at the café. It was simple but worked for us – chicken, rice, and vegetables.

We read a little bit after dinner, and then went to bed at 21:00. On a Saturday night. Hah!

(We also got up at 5 the next morning. Voluntarily :)

mountains, Midlands, and microbrewery

Harrismith to Howick, 21/09-2007
A quick note – I didn't write too many notes for today's events. So I'm basing things on the sparse notes that I have and my Teflon memory...

After a very good night's sleep in the very comfortable bed, we (at least I) got up early and hung around the yard looking at birds, both wild backyard birds and "domesticated" birds. Like our hostess' black swans. The guard swans. You don't mess with swans. We then had a very tasty breakfast...

South African breakfasts are interesting. At least the breakfasts served to tourists; I hope they don't eat like this all the time. You usually start with some cold cereal or maybe oatmeal, followed by fruit salad and yoghurt (sometimes these two are switched around), followed by eggs along with bacon, or sausage, or fried tomatoes, or fried mushrooms, or all of the above :) That's a lot of food...


We started with fruit salad and yoghurt, followed with eggs and bacon and sausage (don't remember what else) and toast, along with some coffee. It was all very tasty and filling. While we were eating, one of the hostess' dogs approached me and sat down next to my chair, looking at me with her big brown sad eyes (more extreme than the photo shown), as if she hadn't been fed for weeks hehe... very funny...

Dogs are very popular pets in South Africa. While one may think that people would want them as guard dogs, because of the crime and all, it seems like people genuinely enjoy having dogs for the sake of companionship. At least this was the case here at The View and in other places we visited, both this year and last year.

After breakfast, we headed towards our next destination, Howick, in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. Here are some of the highlights of the drive over:

Sterkfontein Dam Nature Reserve. We really didn't have time to look around here, but there are supposed to be loads of birds. The scenery is also very beautiful...


The Amphitheatre (Northern Drakensberg). The view of it though; we didn't actually climb it or anything. Quite spectacular.

I would have loved to stay longer in the Northern Drakensberg (and the Midlands too for that matter), and at the very least see Royal Natal National Park (we skipped this due to lack of time). However, as someone (*cough* *cough*) insisted on wine tours, I had to compromise on certain things, as that someone was going to do all the driving ;-) The positive side was that we got a nice “sampler” of everything and ideas of what we would like to do "in depth" next time...

Bergville B&B/Restaurant. We had lunch here. I'm not sure how much it's a "highlight" compared to, say, the gorgeous mountains, but it was a rather amusing place. We had hamburgers with lots of stuff in it – cheese, bacon, a fried egg, sausage, pineapple... It was very strange, and very filling, and actually tasted pretty good... :-) The milkshake I ordered, however, was not so good. Bah...

Nottingham Road Brewing Company. Finally, something for Mini Wolfgang to enjoy! ;-) A proper microbrewery with lots of good things to drink! Unfortunately, we arrived too late for a tour and talk about the brewery. But we were able to buy stuff in the shop – a t-shirt each and some beer to take with us to Stocklands Farm, where we were going to be spending the night. I also had a "sampler" of four different kinds of brew, all named after animals. They included the Tiddly Toad Lager, the Pye-Eyed Possum Pilsner, the Whistling Weasel Pale Ale, and the Pickled Pig Porter. I liked the Pale Ale best. Boyfriend of feitpingvin could only take a sip of each, as he was driving. Mini Wolfgang took more than just a sip, and ended up drinking most of everything ;-)



(To those of you tuning in for the first time, Mini Wolfgang is my travelling penguin. He loves beer and wine more than he loves life itself. This can sometimes cause trouble when we visit wineries and breweries.)

We finally made it to Stocklands Farm late in the afternoon. We had originally hoped to stay in Nottingham Road, but everything was booked. This was the Heritage Day weekend so it was difficult to find accommodation at all in the area. So when a room was available in Stocklands Farm, we took it right away. And we don't regret it one bit!

The farm area itself is huge and has lots of gardens, perfect for attracting birds. Our hostess said she started planting a lot of indigenous plants and flowers, and once she did that all the birds showed up. The farm is also right next to a game reserve, so there's the chance of seeing game animals, though from behind the fence.

Our room (uh, "apartment") was very nice and cosy... check out the teddy bears on the bed! ;-)



Dinner was at Yellowwood Café at Fairfell Farm, about 500 meters away from Stocklands. Neither one of us was really hungry for some reason or other. I ordered tagliatelle with shrimp and calamari in a tomato sauce, and boyfriend of feitpingvin had pasta with asparagus, bacon, goat cheese, and cream sauce. It was excellent, but we could barely eat half of our portions and ended up taking the leftovers back to Stocklands with us, just in case we got hungry later on. (Our "apartment" had a fridge.)

We chatted a little bit with a retired couple, who told us that there were a lot of retirement communities/housing in Howick. I don't really blame them for wanting to live there. It's nice and peaceful.

The evening was spent drinking the beer we bought earlier, as well as some wine, and watching rugby on TV...

the harrowing journey to Harrismith...

20/09-2007
So we were done with our safari and had plans to drive to Harrismith (in the Free State) this evening. Getting the car at Avis went smoothly; we got a nice shiny new Volkswagen Polo. Not a bad car, but for boyfriend of feitpingvin's sake it was not a good one either. No cruise control for one. And most certainly not the Mercedes we got last year ;-)

It was kind of a pain in the ass getting out of Johannesburg, but we managed to get out and properly on our way on N3. I called the B&B we had booked to say we were on our way. That way, they could call out the troops if we didn't show up within a certain amount of time :)

As we drove along, we finally understood why they say you should never drive at night/when it's dark in South Africa. The roads are lit poorly. All the big transport vehicles are out, and they drive like madmen. There's crap on the road, and you don't see it until you're about to drive over it... Yep. We were driving past a big truck, and suddenly there was something on the road. Probably tire scraps though it looked like a rock at first. Boyfriend of feitpingvin had no choice but to drive over it; there was no way we could switch quickly to the other lane or swing anywhere else, or brake without causing the truck behind us to ram into the car...

*KA-THUD*

The rest of the drive over was spent recovering from the shakes and from worrying about the state of the chassis...

We finally arrived at The View, shaken and stirred, and hungry. Fortunately, we had booked dinner. We were fed with a fantastic home-cooked meal of chicken, lots of yummy vegetables, and a tasty Greek salad with a fantastic vinaigrette of South African olive oil and orange balsamico (if I remember correctly). The vegetables were especially appreciated, as we had nearly no vegetables at all during the safari. We had a nice Rosendal rosé wine (Summer Blush) to wash it all down with. This was a very pleasant end to a somewhat stressful evening...



I wish I had taken more notes about this meal, and at least wine notes, but I was just too tired and frazzled I think. At least boyfriend of feitpingvin remembered to take a photo... ;-)

Viva Safaris - days five and six

Day Five - 19/09-2007
We started the day with a visit to the Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre. This place is amazing! I have never seen a place oozing with such dedication and passion, where the people working there truly believed in what they were doing to the extent I saw it here... it was fantastic... inspiring...


Moholoholo is a place filled with sad stories. The first eagle we met, a black eagle, lost its wing after flying into a power line. Fortunately, it did not lose its life. It was one of the lucky ones. There were lots of stories like this. Too many...

The story that really made my blood boil was one about one of many eagles that can never ever be released into the wild again. It had been captured by some waste-of-space people who had pinned it down; one guy was cutting off its wing with the intention of keeping it as a souvenir! WTF?! I had tears in my eyes. And I was angry, as in shaking-with-rage angry. I wanted to find that useless bastard and pin him down and slice off his arm. And smack him with it. Oh, and keep that as a souvenir of course, sheeeeesh!

A bittersweet story that really touched my heart was the story about this beautiful female eagle (don't remember the species, crowned eagle I think) that was imprinted to think it was a human. When we first saw her, she was chirping really sweetly. Like a cute little songbird would chirp. One doesn't think that a big raptor can chirp like that, but wow! Our guide told us that she was chirping like that because it was mating season. And the object of her affection? Brian Jones, the man who founded Moholoholo. He told the story of this eagle and many others. Everyone on the tour just stood there, captivated, as he spoke. He's one of the most passionate people I have ever come across, which makes it understandable why this eagle fell in love with him...

It's very interesting to see how affectionate raptors can be, not just this one but a few others that we saw! They're really quite cuddly!

Brian and the eagle have been a "couple" for quite some time; being his mate she would lay eggs for him during breeding season. Duds, of course, but still. This and many other species of eagle lay two eggs – one that is going to be raised and the "spare." What happens is that the first bird hatches, and the second usually hatches a few days later. The first chick, who has grown considerably in that short amount of time, kills the second. The parents can only afford to raise and feed one chick. Someone got the idea that it would help bring the eagle population up if they took the second egg from a wild eagle's nest and switch it with one of the dud eggs in this eagle's nest. They had to get special permission to do this, but in the end it worked... the eagle managed to raise something like 6 or 7 chicks that were able to be released into the wild. That's so cool...

The best part of the whole Moholoholo experience, at least for me, was "playing" with the vultures. We were in a vulture enclosure with lots of Cape vultures, and our guide asked if anyone would like to hold a vulture. Immediately, I raised my arm and was all like "me! me! me!" So I got to put on a big leather glove, and the guide gave me a bit of meat to hold. Then suddenly, a bunch of vultures flew up on my arm to try to get the meat! Wheeeee!



The next best part was "cuddling" with a baby rhino. It liked being scratched under the belly and it had a rather soft belly! Our guide was the one who raised him, and in the process had to be with the baby rhino 24/7 and even sleep with the baby rhino. This resulted in facial injuries and the such (when the baby rhino rolled over on top of him in the middle of the night). Nonetheless, our guide was "mom" and when we approached the enclosure where the rhino was being kept, it started running over to our guide, like a puppy. Very cute :-)



Finally, we saw a some honey badgers and one of the workers gave a little talk about them before heading out...

We spent a lot more time at Moholoholo than planned, and had to inhale our lunch to keep on schedule. After lunch, we went on a bush walk in Kruger. With two armed rangers. We drove out to this remote area, and the moment we got out of the jeep, we heard rustling... looked around... and saw two big bull elephants! We walked some more and encountered fresh rhino dung (but no rhinos), giraffe, and a big herd of buffalo...



The buffalo were interesting. They noticed us, and at first kept their distance. Then one big male moved forward. And as he did, the rest of the herd moved forward. He moved forward again, and the rest of the herd followed. This went on a few times, while one of the rangers explained that buffalo can come as close as 10-15 meters to you. He said that while they can be quite dangerous, they were also the easiest animal to scare away. And he demonstrated this by jumping straight up into the air. The buffalo turned around and ran about 20 meters away. Good fun :)

Tonight's dinner was soup (oops, didn't write down what kind) and a braai (chicken and woers).

Day Six - 20/09-2007
Today was our last day at Viva Safaris. It was sad to be leaving (I was getting very attached to the treehouse and the nyalas), but at the same time we were ready for new adventures!

We started with an early morning bush walk. We didn't see much other than dung and lots of birds (yay!). Including a woodland kingfisher (double yay!). But no matter, it was nice to be up early and walk around. After breakfast, we headed back to Johannesburg.

We had a scheduled stop at the Blyde River Canyon, where we could see and photograph the river, canyon, scenery in general, and the Three Rondavels. It was very beautiful there. There was a bunch of vendors where we stopped, and I ended up buying a necklace. The vendors were somewhat pushy, but not obnoxiously in-your-face like in Thailand or Egypt...



We had lunch at The Flying Dutchman again, and we got the duck and cherry pie this time (one of their specialties) – also very tasty! We encouraged one of the other travellers to have the pan-fried trout, and she too thought it was wonderful :-)

We finally got back to Johannesburg around 4 pm or 5 pm and were dropped off at the car rental area at the airport... now it was time to get our rental car and drive to Harrismith!

Viva Safaris - days three and four

Day Three - 17/09-2007

Another full-day game drive on the agenda! This wasn't on the original schedule, but no big deal. As long as we got to do what we paid to do (or more) then we were open to schedule shifts...

It was cooler and windier this time, and in addition to most of what we saw yesterday, we saw lions – a big male and three lionesses. They were 50 m.away from our vehicle, lying under a tree being lazy. I don't blame them one bit. They were probably wondering why we weren't chilling out under a tree...

Today's theme was "animals crossing the road."



There were elephants crossing the road. And impalas. And zebras (zebra crossing hah! I'm so original!). And impala. Can't forget the impala ;-)


Speaking of impala, they were nicknamed «McDonald's» because of the "M" on their bums...

Tonight's dinner was pea soup and then spaghetti with salad. It was very good.


Day Four - 18/09-2007
We started with a morning game drive. I was excited as I saw several eagles and some mystery owls (not sure what kind they are – perhaps scops?), but as for other animals, there weren't too many out. The park itself, a private game reserve, was very nice...



We then had lunch at Cheetah Inn, which is the conference center part of Viva Safaris. The decor was, well, "interesting," and played on a cheetah theme. We all just had to chuckle. My lunch – piri-piri chicken with vegetables and rice, washed down with Windhoek Draft, was quite nice.

After lunch, we went to the Cheetah Project at the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre. They rehabilitate cheetahs and other animals. We started the tour watching a 20 minute DVD about cheetahs in general, with a few blurbs about the center. There were some blurbs about poaching. This really upset me. People really suck sometimes :-/


After the DVD we drove through the park to see cheetahs close-up, as well as a few other big cats. We also drove to a "vulture restaurant" to observe the action; this is an area where the big cats' scraps are thrown. The vultures (and Marabou stork) are guaranteed a poison-free meal. Unfortunately, a lot of people put out poisoned meat to kill predators, and then vultures eat the dead predators and get the poison in them :-( Anyway, I like how nothing is wasted – the scraps from the cats go to the vultures, and then the resulting bones are ground into powder to mix into the cats' food, to give them extra calcium.


One of the neatest things we saw was the interaction between wild ground hornbills and two captive hornbills. The wild hornbills would give the captive hornbills food, in exchange for rocks. Or was it the other way around? No matter; I just found it quite interesting. Ground hornbills make a really interesting sound by the way... just listen!

Other cool things that we saw – a spotted eagle owl (and I saw it first!) and a baby nyala that was no more than a week old!

When we got back to our treehouse, it was still daylight, and the others at the camp were still out on their game drive. We spent the rest of the afternoon washing clothes; we only took clothes for 5 days or so to cut down on luggage weight/clutter. So we borrowed a big plastic wash tub from the treehouse staff, and with Biotex and water from the shower we were in good washing action. We had to hang things up to dry inside the treehouse, even though it would have been preferable to hang them outside and get that «fresh air» smell. If we hung our clothes up outside, the vervet monkeys would have had a go at everything. Imagine – the alpha male running around with my underwear on his head OOH OOH OOOOH AAAAAH!

Anyway, while the clothes were soaking, I went out of the treehouse to take a peek, There were giraffes in the vicinity! How cool is that?! And of course, as usual, the camp was crawling with nyalas...



Tonight's dinner was butternut soup, followed by chicken with potatoes, rice, salad, and sauce. We learned that another group who were out on their full-day game drive saw, among other things, lions mating!

Viva Safaris - days one and two

Day One - 15/09-2007
Finally... on our way to Marc's Treehouse Lodge for our six-day safari with Viva Safaris!

We were taken there in a mini-bus, together with four other people – an Irish couple, an Australian, and a Pakistani. We drove past several insteresting little places, but our first actual stop was for lunch, in a city called Dullstroom, at a restaurant called The Flying Dutchman. Boyfriend of feitpingvin and I ordered the pan-fried trout, along with some mango juice as a sort of "starter" and some white wine to go with the fish. This particular area (Highlands Meander) is a touristy area focusing on trout fishing. And the trout was... mmmmmdelicious!



When we finally arrived, we were first greeted at Viva Safari's more "upscale" lodge. It had electric fences to keep the animals out. I guess some people prefer that. Anyway, we were given some guava juice, and then we all hopped into an open jeep for a night game drive in a private game reserve.

The first thing we saw was a dead giraffe, killed by lions. But we didn't see any lions around. We did see some giraffes (living ones), various antelope, a big porcupine, a hyena, and a rabbit. After the game drive, we were taken to the treehouses where we were going to spend the next five nights.



Now, the treehouses were the reason why we chose Viva Safaris in the first place. We wanted a close-to-nature experience and hey, we got it. In the treehouses, you could hear the river and all the animals, day and night – frogs, birds, vervet monkeys jumping on the roof, the mooing of African buffalo. You also ran the risk of frogs in your bathroom and lizards on your walls. One couple had bats in their treehouse. Another left the door open, only to return to a treehouse invaded by vervet monkeys. The monkeys took this poor guy's anti-diarrhea pils and ate them. And the whole camp was crawling with nyala. They were everywhere. You literally get up early in the morning, sit on your treehouse balcony, and watch the nyalas...



We loved it! It was the next best thing to sleeping in a tent. Who needs a posh luxury lodge... this is luxury! Animals, birds, fresh air... who could ask for anything more?

After dumping our luggage into the treehouse, we had dinner. We were really hungry by then, and the meal was very welcome. We started with a nice carrot soup, followed by a lovely potjiekos (meat stew) with rice and salad. This was washed down with red wine purchased at the cash bar. Yum yum...

Everyone staying at Marc's ate dinner together. Not everyone started their safaris together, nor was everyone doing the six-day safari, so it was interesting to talk to people from all over the world about what they've experienced, to get/give tips (mine was "take advantage of all toilet breaks" and "sit close to the food buffet table"), to discuss things in general. I really enjoyed the social part just as much as the animals and nature. I've promised several people to e-mail them the address to this blog. Hopefully they're reading ;-)

Day Two - 16/09-2997
After a nice breakfast of fruit salad and eggs and bacon, we were off on an all-day game drive in Kruger (Orpen Gate).


We saw: giraffes, elephants, zebra, wildebeest/gnu, impala, kudu, waterbuck, warthogs, one almost-submerged hippo, crocodiles, spotted hyenas (including a mother with her pup), ground hornbills, yellow-billed (flying bananas) and red-billed (flying chiles) hornbills, leopard tortoise, African fish eagle, steenbok, African buffalo, springbok, tons of birds... I'm sure I missed something...

Our guide, "King Charles," was really cool. He had lots of stories about how stupid and stubborn some tourists could be. For example, he had a group that insisted that warthogs were baby rhinos and that wildebeest were buffalo...

He also told us some interesting animal facts. Like how the kudu got its name. Kudus can jump two meters high from a standing position, and they're otherwise known to jump away from danger. They got the name kudu because of the sound they make when they land after a jump... *ku* *du*

It's a true story! Really!

It was really hot and sunny today. Except for at the end of the day; it suddenly got very windy and cloudy.

Tonight's dinner: vegetable soup, braai (chicken and woers) with pap and salad, and some dessert (I didn't eat that or dessert any other day for that matter), washed down with Windhoek. Very lovely.

The unpleasant journey to the most pleasant place...

Yep. I think our trip to Johannesburg was the most unpleasant trip to somewhere, anywhere, I have ever had in my entire life. We had actually been looking forward to flying with Air France, as they had better luggage (especially carry on) rules than British Airways, and that we didn't have to go through Heathrow. Now we're going to have to find another airline for our next trip to the region... *sigh*

So what went very, very wrong? First of all, after waking up at 3 am to get to the airport in time for a 6 am flight to Paris, the plane was late leaving from Oslo. Because of some fuck-up with somebody's tickets. Because we departed late, we knew we would arrive in Paris late. We told the flight attendants about this (three flight attendants, all three male in case you're interested, as I personally found it amusing) and asked them to make sure they didn't leave without us and that someone is at the arrival gate to point out where we are supposed to go. The Three Stooges said it would be no problem catching our plane to Johannesburg, that we would arrive on time. They said we would have plenty of time. They said it would be no problem switching terminals...

What a load of merde. When we landed, it was well past the boarding time for the flight to Johannesburg. And not only could we not find the right terminal, none of the Charles de Gaulle staff that we asked for assistance was willing to help us. In fact, they went out of their way to be very rude and unhelpful. So we were running, literally, from one place to the other. We finally met one guy at the gate where we were supposed to go to in the first place who helped us to the desk where we got booked on the next flight to Johannesburg (to leave in the evening). He didn't look ethnic French though. North African, I think...

So we were stuck at CDG for 12 more hours (I guess the Three Losers were right in saying we would have plenty of time - hah!). Nobody was giving us any information. Nobody knew anything or spoke English or both. For being stuck in the damn place for 12 hours for something that was not our fault but Air France's, we were only given some lousy vouchers for a sandwich and a drink at the café at the terminal. These sandwiches looked very unappetizing; you'd think they'd manage to serve something decent in a country that prides itself on its cuisine, but no. They couldn't do something as simple as that...

After making a few phone calls (I had to cancel for the guest house we were going to stay at in Johannesburg and re-arrange pickup for our safari) and reading for a little while, we needed some food. I was able to get a salad instead of the nasty sandwich (I can't eat white bread as it bugs my stomach) and some Perrier. We also bought some mini bottles of really lousy wine (Just Merlot, by Paul Sapin) at the café, to go with our free "food." We found out that we were supposed to be in a different terminal for our late flight while trying to find out where we could get a proper meal. You know, at a restaurant or something. We were told to go to that terminal for our flight and that there were restaurants there. When we got to that terminal, we were told that the restaurants were in yet another terminal, not the one where we just moved over to. This terminal was like the other one – only a substandard café serving unappetizing baguette sandwiches. However, we weren't allowed to leave the terminal we were in...

Drastic measures had to be taken. I started crying (literally – flood out of my eyes) and whining about low blood sugar and how I needed to eat and not just any kind of food but proteiny meaty food and that I was allergic to wheat (not true) and thus couldn't eat bread and that I was going to be sick. Finally, after a bit of drama and pretending to be nearly fainting and more crying, we were allowed through to the terminal where they had restaurants.

And you think that was the end of the story? Ooooh, noooo. After checking out the dumps, we ended up in a place called Maxim's Restaurant; they had the best menu and seemed like an OK place. We sat down and ordered duck confit and some red wine. The food came quite quickly, and we both started to eat. I started chomping on my duck, potatoes, and salad and boyfriend of feitpingvin started chomping on his duck, potatoes, and... what the? There was a spider in the salad. A big, long-legged spider. Dead, but still...

We looked at one another and burst out laughing. There really wasn't much more we could do. What else could possibly go wrong?

Boyfriend of feitpingvin called the waiter over to our table (he was and probably still is a lovely South Asian fellow). He was horrified at the sight of the spider. He called his manager, who was also horrified. They whisked the plate back into the kitchen (and we could hear some yelling in French) and brought out a new one pronto (and no, it wasn't the same food re-arranged, it was a new plate). We were nice about it though (hard to not be nice while laughing and snickering) – the waiter was really a nice guy and well, shit happens sometimes and they were professional in dealing with it. Boyfriend of feitpingvin got his meal on the house, for the trouble...

The food wasn't too bad. Neither was the wine:

Cotes du Rhone Reservé Honoré Laubanel
color: deep red-violet
nose: red apples, (dark) red roses, flowers/perfume
palate: sharp with a hint of bitterness. Dark chocolate, plums, prunes. Pleasant tannins but on the soft side. Very nice with duck and probably other food, but not really a wine to drink alone.
grade: :-)+ with food, :-) alone

When we went back to the terminal for the flight to Johannesburg, the «security» peon took away this little lightweight aluminum ring that was on my backpack. Apparently, it could be used as a brass knuckle. At least it is what Security Peon claimed. Now this takes the cake when it comes to the kind of bullshit "security" staff come up with. This ring could barely go around my knuckles to be used as a brass knuckle to begin with. And if I did have small enough hands to use it, I seriously doubt it would do much damage. But there was nothing I could do, as useless clods like that stupid bitch are on constant power trips on the job, as that's the only place where anyone even bothers to sort of notice them.

What makes this incident all the more bullshit, and convinces me that "security" is all for show and nothing else, was that we saw this woman with an armful of metal bracelets. Now if anything could be used as a weapon, that could. Yet she had her big metal bracelets and I didn't have my pathetic little aluminium ring. What's up with that?

We finally got on the plane, and to make a long story short, the flight was unpleasant. The food was surprisingly quite OK though...

Arrival at Johannesburg was a relief. Going through passport control, customs, and getting our luggage was very pain-free, plus it took less than an hour from when we landed. Another plus was the staff working passports, customs, etc. They were very friendly. And smiling. Who would have thought it could be so difficult?

I'll write more about O. R. Tambo International Airport later on. CDG has lots to learn from Tambo. CDG is an unbelievably bad airport where only a minute minority can do anything right (I mean, even teeny tiny airports in the middle-of-nowhere Norway can manage to serve travellers a hot meal), and a shame for all "first world" nations everywhere. Just like most "first world" air travel these days, I suppose...

After the quick jaunt through customs etc., we finally met our contact for our safari, took some money out of the ATM, met some others who were also going on the safari, and we were on our way to Kruger...

you know you're in love when...

...you're really missing the screeching of the hadedas early in the morning... *sigh* ;-)

I'm quite busy for the time being - lots going on at work, conference coming up, etc. But I'll try to get the trip report going as soon as possible. Some of the photos are already available on my flickr site or boyfriend of feitpingvin's flickr site...