Our last day in Joburg was boring. We had nothing left to do and with cabs costing almost $100 to go anywhere we were content to stay in our area until that night. We had to cab over to meet the tour group later that night so we knew we were already going to be spending a ton of money. So most of that day was enjoying the last night in civilization before heading out to camp with 12 strangers. That night we got a car from the Hyatt to take us over to the meeting point. It happened to be a Mercedes so we knew we were going to labeled the rich, snobby Americans when we showed up in for a camping trip. But the driver didnt seem to know where he was going and we got lost in Joburg at night, not the best thing to do, especially when in a Mercedes and looking for a place that is nearby a tent slum on the outskirts of town. After 45 minutes our driver noticed a dark sign that we had passed, backed up the car and found the place. Luckily we pulled in late and no one saw us get out of the car.
The meeting was taking place in the bar part of a deck tent lodge. We walked in and met the guide, Garland, and paid our local payment. With the driver waiting we did no want to stay to long and Garland didn't want to make any big speeches until everyone was there, so he decided to do it the next day. We met a few of the people on the trip, mainly the single travelers before heading back to the car and the comfort of the Hyatt. Before leaving we had made plans with Garland to get picked up at a hostel that was closer to us than the deck tent lodge because he already had to pick 1 other person up there, so that would save us 100 bucks. Before getting out of the car we arranged with the driver to take us over there at 6 in the morning to catch the bus with the tour group (as we came to find out later this single action got us labeled as the asshole Americans by 5 Aussies because they thought we had asked to be picked up across town rather than meet the rest of the group).
We were up at 5:30 the next morning, the first of many early mornings, to pack up, shower in a real shower for the last time and check out. At 6 we met the Mercedes again and had the same worries that people would see us show up in that car and get the wrong idea about us immediately. But luckily when we got to the hostel our group was not there yet. There was another tour group packing up though, loading into there huge overland truck, a hybrid bus and tractor trailer with personal lockers for people, tons of room and sitting about 7 feet off the ground. The group seemed to have a few attractive girls on it and as we watched them drive away we let our hopes get up that we might have some also. Justin also made the comment that he hoped we would not be on a big truck like that because he felt like it was cheating being that far from the people. Much to his regret he got his wish when minivan loaded to the gils with people and bags pulled up and Garland jumped out. We had to climb over people and bags to get to the our seats in the back of the van, directly on top of the wheel well. At 7 in the morning, in a cramped van this trip was not off to a good start.
The plan for the first day was to head out to Blyde River Canyon, the 3rd deepest canyon in the world. Things went bad quickly when we got a flat tire half way there. We pulled over to the side of the road, changed the tire and were back on the road after 30 minutes. We made a quick stop in a small town so our guide could buy food for dinner. He gave the 14 of us R400 and told us to go find lunch for ourselves. Now I am not sure who thought giving 14 strangers a limited budget and forcing them all to eat together was a good but it didnt go well and Justin was ready to rip someones head off by the time we found a place. I will take a quick minute to introduce the group - Imogen, Alyssa, Linette were 3 Aussies together, Adam and Daniella were an Aussie couple, Carla and Graham were a Kiwi couple, Ben was alone, from the UK but lived in Aussie, James from the UK alone, Lisbeth from Denmark, Victoria from Australia, and Vera from Finland. Garland and Gordon, the driver, rounded out our group. After lunch we loaded back into the van and headed out for the Canyon.
Things had been going slow all day. The roads are a little rough and our minivan was not equipped for this type of driving. We found out later that Gordon and the van were actually rentals, not normally doing this type of driving or trip. Gordon was actually a driver for Soweto tours, day trips around Joburg, had never camped before and didnt have much experience towing a trailer. If you can't tell this all does not add up for a perfect trip. We didn't pull into Blyde River Canyong until around 3 in the afternoon and because we were running so late we had 20 minutes there, barely enough time to grab a picture. Also going to the canyong had caused us to be 2 hours away from Kruger still, our destination for the night. On the way we got our second flat tire. The first was on the trailer and this one on the van, so we luckily had a spare tire. It took us longer to change since the van was loaded with gear and the spare was under the van. But we got it changed eventually and continued down the road. As we headed down the hills Gordon thought the breaks felt weak so he pulled over to give them a chance to cool down, delaying us again. By this time we were losing sunlight and setting up in a national park in the dark was going to be a disaster. So to Garlands credit he arranged for us to stay at a 3 star lodge just on the outskirts of Kruger, getting us close enough to get in early the next day. The lodge was great, served us a huge dinner and had really nice rooms. But it still didn't make up for the fact that we lost half a day of animal spotting in Kruger and also missed out on optional activities like a night walk and a sunset game drive. We also had to travel for 11 hours this day and were only 4 hours from Joburg.
The next day Garland wanted to leave early, so we had to get up at 5 again to shower and load the van. Seeing big game like leopards and lions is easier in the early morning when it is still cooler out. So most of this day consisted of driving through Kruger spotting cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, monkeys, hippos, crocs, hyenas and all sorts of gazelle. The only complaints with this day was that we stuck to the main roads in the park and the driver went to fast to easily spot animals. We never took the side loops that go more into the bush and get you off the main road and away from the other traffic. And Gordon seemed more intent on driving to the next destination than slowing down to spot animals. By the end of the day we had seen just 3 of the big 5 (lion, elephant, leopard, cape buffalo, and rhino being the big 5). We pulled into the camp in the park close to dusk and set up shop. It was our first camping night so we didnt quite know what to expect. Garland was good though because he handled all the cooking, grilling up some steaks and sausage plus potatoes and corn. We just had to do dishes which was fine with me. Being up since 5 am everyone was pretty much out by 8:30, knowing we had to get up at 4:45 again to make breakfast and pack up.
The next morning it was cold as hell and packing up was a pain. We got on the road around 6:15 with the plan being to head through Kruger some more on the way to Polokwane, where there was a private animal reserver with some white rhinos. The trip out of Kruger was the same as the one in, Gordon going to fast and us being in to much of a general rush to stop and look for animals. Half way to Polokwane we stopped off at a shopping mall, not exactly the outdoor experience we were hoping for. At the time I thought it was just a bad place to stop chosen by Garland but looking back I think it the only type of place to stop in South Africa that would actually have something. We pulled into the camp site in Polokwane around 2 and made lunch. Gordon went off to find new tires for the van and also get his spares fixed. He ended up taking longer than expected so we didnt get into the rhino park until 4:30 or so. We drove around the park for a while, Garland driving this time and going at a much more reasonable pace, but we still did not spot any rhinos. We set up shop on a small hill in the reserve to watch the sun go down before heading back to camp for the night. That night it got colder than ever and 4:45 in the morning the next day felt rough. But we had a long way to go and wanted to cross the border into Botswana before 9 to avoid the rush.
