Kruger

       So yesterday I was up at 4:30 and ready to go on my Kruger Park safari by 5 am. It was already quite warm by then, which was a good thing since we were traveling in open vehicles and we know how easily I get cold. The first time I heard about Kruger was in my Conservation Biology class my 4th year of college. (Technically my senior year but I graduated as a super senior so I clarified by using 4th year) Anyways- we did a unit on how to conserve the ecosystem of a place through the use of culling animals. We ended up studying Kruger National Park and worked out how many elephants they would have to cull per year in order to keep the environment stable. Culling is the term for- oh I guess it would be called justifiably killing something. So anyways I learned all about Kruger and was studying its elephant population before I realized that it was an actual real place and not just some park my professor made up. Once I found out it was real, was one of the largest area of protected land on the earth (it’s about the size of Israel at the moment and still expanding) and home to thousands of different animals coexisting in their natural habitat- I wanted to go there. I never really thought it would happen however because Africa still seemed like this dream land I would one day go to and yet never thought I would actually go to. If that makes sense. But lo and behold, yesterday I got to spend about eight hours inside it’s gates.
       First off, it is beautiful. It is massive and I only saw a tiny fraction of the whole thing. I think we may have only traveled about 100 km in our vehicle by the time we entered and exited. We were lucky in the fact that we ended up seeing about 90% of the animals that one would think of seeing when you go on a safari. We ended up seeing elephant, rhino, hippo, antelope, kudu, warthog, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, lion, water monitor, vultures, eagles, numerous birds, water buffalo, and turtles. I think that’s all I can remember. We got into the park by 5:30ish and drove around stopping at anything of interest until 9. We then stopped and ate breakfast- I had already eaten a peanut butter and banana toasted sandwhich at 5 but was of course lured by the café. I ended up having yogurt with granola, a café latte and a scone with butter and jam. It was delish! Then we piled into our vehicles and rode around until noonish where we stopped again for lunch. I had a PB&J sandwhich prepared by yours truly, an apple, and bought some wonderful baked red onion and chutney chips. The place where we ate lunch had a hut to sit under and when you looked up- you found yourself staring into the eyes of about 100 fruit bats. They were about the size of my hand from wrist to middle finger and I was absolutely fascinated with them. Some of the girls had to act like girls of course, but I had my camera out and was seeing how close I could get to them. They were all hanging from the grass roof by either one foot or two and had their wings wrapped around themselves Dracula style. It was a great time! After lunch we drove around some more before leaving the park around 3:30. It was a grand day, not too hot and just the right amount of wind. I absolutely loved riding in the open vehicles, but the annoying part was that most of the roads we were driving on were gravel/dirt and so every time we stopped we would run to the bathroom and wipe off a thick layer of dirt from our faces. We all looked like we were either really tan or had applied thick stage mackup. A shower at the end of the day felt like heaven and Q-tips were glorious!!!
       I am writing this blog sitting down by the river. It is just riddled with hippos and one just let out a snort and surprised me. It’s not everyday that I get to blog while staring at hippos. I’m certainly not complaining! Supposedly elephants can get close to us too, but I haven’t seen any here yet. I guess they have come up to the fence before and people have fed them oranges. Fun fun!
       Steph and I have our own little room here and I am so excited because it has air conditioning!!! Ya can you believe it? I haven’t slept in a place with that since I left Wales. Haha I do have to admit however that I have turned it off the past two nights because I got too cold! It probably doesn’t help however that I have no sleeping bag, blanket or pillow with me. I wasn’t thinking that when I came to Africa I would be needing any of those things, but while I’m here I do and when we are in Swazi we are camping. I must say that I have been pretty resourceful. The first night I laid Steph’s sarong on the bed for a bed sheet and slept in my pants and a sweatshirt. I used my towel and her rain jacket for a blanket. For a pillow I stuffed my purse with clothes and then put a scarf over the top to keep it all together. Yes, it sounds comfy but I unfortunately didn’t get too much sleep. Last night someone gave me their sleeping bag to use and so that was partly shoved under my head as a pillow and partly covered my top half as a blanket. I think tonight I’ll be tired enough to not even realize what I sleep on- plus we’ve got wine and that always helps ☺.
       I am pretty sure that this blog is all over the place as far as grammer and staying in the correct tense- whether it be past or present, but hopefully you can still enjoy it. I keep looking up from my writing and getting distracted by the hippos and pretty butterflies that keep coming near. Perhaps that means I should end. We are here a few more days and then off to Swaziland. I am spending the day reading, writing, relaxing, running, stretching and swimming. How weird that I’m down to my last month, huh? Pretty sure I will not be extending my plane ticket and staying another month. I think it might be smart to have some money when I get home, right mom and dad?! ☺. Cheers!