Kruger NP Day 1

I have been excited about this part of the trip for a long time, but I really understand how excited I should be now, being here and seeing the park for the first time. It was a very long drive today but we had good highways for the bulk of the trip. We have been enjoying South African road signs, particularly one with a possessed-looking deer in the midst of flames that is supposed to advise you not to have fires on the side of the road. The first part of the drive was not very pretty and full of toll roads. The second part was much more scenic and full of lots of local color. We are spending the first night in Kruger at Punda Maria rest camp which is in the way north of the park. Our reservations said that we had tent accomodations for the night, so I was prepared for a very rustic experience. If this is rustic, then I'll take it. The "tent" is a lovely log structure covered with canvas and mosquito nets that has electricity, this awesome open-air shower and the most idyllic deck overlooking the park with an outdoor kitchen. I sort of never want to leave. I am blogging underneath more stars in a night sky than I have ever seen in my life and soaking in the peace and quiet of a night spent far away from my normal life in many ways.

On the drive here we drove past many more townships and lots more shacks. We had to keep an eye out for monkeys and goats, two things that are pretty different from the common roadkill we see in the US. Once we had to stop for a herd of cows to cross the road. There were lots of banana tree fields as well as other agriculture that I couldn't really identify just from driving by, but it seems like a fertile area, lots of agriculture. Arriving at the Punda Maria gate was somewhat anti-climactic. We had been in the car for almost 7 hours straight and were very happy to arrive but it was unceremonious and quiet. However, not two kilometers into the park, we looked to our right and there, directly by the roadside, was an elephant, happily munching on his dinner of the better part of a tree. A very nice welcome to Kruger if you ask me.

I thought the park would be much busier and we'd have problems with overcrowding. Not so, at least in the Northern reaches of the park. It's very quiet, (save for some crazy Germans who seem to be rehearsing a play of some sort...) and it feels like there is no one here, although that's certainly not the case. We had availability trouble in the park even as far out as 6 months ago when we were booking, so I am very thankful to be here and in this awesome tent.

As we were registering for the accomodations and checking in at the camp, the reception lady gestured to a gentleman behind us and said "Hey A-rod, here you go." Looking at the register, we are the only Americans in the camp. There is a guy from a big radio station in SA, Jacaranda 94.2 FM, who was looking for foreigners to interview on his morning show about the world cup and travels. He is keeping a twitter and facebook page up about all his travels. The reason I know this is because he wants to interview us tomorrow morning for his show. So at 9:30am local time, we are supposed to get a call from A-Rod of Jacaranda radio FM and we are going to be called-in to his show. Crazy!

After checking in, getting a radio interview, and falling in love with tent-style bush living, we had a pretty good dinner with a glass of wine, a pinotage from SA, that made my entire day 10x better. After that we went on a nighttime game drive where we saw lots of impala, one striped Genet, a few steenboks and about 7,000 spring hares. Spring hares are a cross between a bunny, a squirrel and a kangaroo. They have the cuteness of a bunny in the body, the tail of a squirrel, and the legs and hop of a kangaroo. These were everywhere. Other than those sightings and a few Nyala we had seen before getting into the camp, it was a pretty uneventful game drive. We are hoping for good luck in the morning. Talking to a few people who live in Kruger who were on the drive with us, we have a good chance to see leopards and elephants in this area. Gotta get an early start though, that's the best time to see the animals we're told.