South Africian Safari: a review

You can do it to!!!!!!

 

It was sad to leave Africa, all four of us would like to have stayed longer.  We were delighted with the ease of the trip.  We were awed by the amount of game and how easy it was to see.  Kruger National Park was amazing, but game viewing was not limited to Kruger and St. Lucia,  the two national parks we visited.  We saw game in the wild every day of our trip whether within a park or not.

In general the roadways were good and the traffic light.  Drivers seemed to be on constant lookout for game both in the park and out. During our trip we only saw one dead goat along side the road.

The local craft markets were a delight and the practical  questions of what we could take home in our luggage was always a painful decision.

Patsy's first craft purchase was a sculpture for Steve.

As beautiful as the scenery, as gracious the people and as good the roads and sanitary conditions it was the wildlife that had me squealing into the 2 way's constantly.  Who could be calm when spotting elephants playing in the river or....

A lionese casually strolling down the pavement directly in front of you?

 The animals in the national parks are generally not spooked by automobile traffic, allowing great viewing opportunities like the lioness below...

who just lay on the side of the road allowing us to take scores of photos of her.  Patsy had her finger on the shutter as the lioness became bored with us and yawned largely.

One of the joys of doing a trip like this in a RV is that we would roll off the air mattress at dawn and head for the nearest water hole where we would make coffee and breakfast and wait for the wildlife to come to us.  Amazingly we never had  to wait for long.

We had sightings of both the Black and the White Rhino, although it took us a few sighting to be able to tell the difference between them.  Don't be fooled into believing that these animals are not a serious threat to one's safety,  just because they generally are not shy of auto traffic.  Remember you are never allowed out of your car while cruising the park, in fact the rules are that no part of your body can extend from the vehicle.  There are designated picnic areas and authorities are serious about using only these picnic areas to exit the car.  This confinement to your car  is another reason for the motor home, it is comfortable to always have your facilities and fridge with you.

The beautiful pictures I am posting today were taken by Patsy.

Patsy spotted this one of a kind photo opportunity from the road.  On this occasion the tele-photo lens was handy.  All our photos were taken with  Canon digital camers with the lenses built in.

This photo is an example of how prolific the game is out side of the parks.   The giraffe were crossing the road as we were leaving a private RV Park.

There are many ways  to go on Safari in South Africa.  The Internet makes it possible for anyone with the time and the inclination to plan the  trip of a lifetime from their living room.  There is the  all inclusive luxury trips straight out of  the movies or   at the other end is  the cheapest rental car available,  a tent,  map and a sense of adventure and all the excitement is yours.  Because of South Africa's infrastructure, many choices for  self drive tours are available on the Internet.  I know people who  booked a tour that included a rental car and B&B's or Lodge reservations  and they had a great time.  My advise is to choose your budget, your level of comfort, a good GPS program and get ready for a trip that will blow your mind.

Don't wait we are never getting younger!