Adele and Jennie had scoped out the safari company last year and were happy with what they found. The safari was organized by Indula Safaris and Tours of Pretoria, SA. Our guides were Alvira Wiemann, Theo Maeder, and Marthie De Wijn. Theo can be contacted at theo@indula.co.za. They worked long hours, provided us with much interesting information, cooked wonderful meals, and generally took very good care of us. We highly recommend them.

Seventeen of us signed up for this safari. (The photos here come from different members of the group.) At 8:30 a.m. at the hotel, we filled three vans, each capable of carrying eight people including the driver. One van pulled a trailer. We had divided our baggage into safari and non-safari, the latter of which was shuttled to the hotel where we would be staying upon return. One of the guides drove someone to a local store for the purchase of a rugby ball. (Rugby is a major theme connecting many of the seventeen.) So the rugby ball was passed about while we awaited the arrival of the last of our party from the airport. Then we were off to Kruger National Park, a drive of several hours to the east of Johannesburg..

The roads were good and the terrain along the way was interesting. The seasons are reversed in the southern hemisphere. Things are brown in August, the end of winter, but the promise of spring is visible. Fields were being prepared for planting. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant beside a lake. Jennie and Adele were happy.

We passed orange groves and banana trees (the blue plastic bags are protecting the bananas) and interesting road signs quite unlike those found here in the U.S.

We arrived at the Paul Kruger Gate around sunset. The gate and the park are named in honor of the man who first proposed the establishment of a national game preserve.

Kruger park was established in 1898. It abutts Mozambique and Zimbabwi, and both countries have more recently established preserves that connect with Kruger. The entire park is fenced to separate the park from surrounding land. The separation is taken seriously, considering the many predators that exist in the park. The rules are made quite clear. Rule number one: Do not get out of the vehicle.

We continued directly to Skukuza, the camp where we would spend the first two nights. The low light made it difficult to see the little game that was visible, but we were eager for daylight the next day.

We settled into our huts prior to dinner. Most of the huts had three beds, electricity, showers, and the roofs were thatched. We found them a most comfortable accommodation.

Theo's charcoal grilled chicken and baked potatoes were a hit at the candlelit table.

After dinner, we heard from Theo on the plans for the morning, then retired to our huts. It had been a long day. Katie and I got together on the porch of her hut to move photos from her binocular camera into my computer. Some terrible screeching came from just around the corner from her hut, but we couldn't see anything. It was a slightly disturbing reminder of the natural surroundings. There was some concern that the fence surrounding Skukuza might not be a sufficient deterrant to a hungry predator. Nonetheless, most of us slept well.

Continue on to Safari Day 2

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