Day 5 - let the African adventure begin

So, our arrival in Hoedspruit was quite pleasant. It was the kind of airport you walk right out of the plane onto the tarmac. You're hit with a waft of the tropical air, and you just know amazing things are ahead! We were greeted by the friendly staff of Kapama Game Camp. Kapama is the largest game reserve next to Krueger National Park, and committed to preservation of the animals, and educating people about them. They hold some 14,500 hectares of land! There are numerous "camps" (mini-resorts) spread throughout the reserve, each owned by a different member of the family (mother and children). After grabbing our luggage, we were all escorted to a number of large modified Toyota Land Cruisers. They hold a driver and passenger in the front and then 3 rows of 3, theatre style. If you're in the back row on safari, you'd better be paying attention, lest be hit by tree branches. We made our way down the road and immediately passed through the gates and cattle grids into the Kapama Game Reserve. On our short 10 minute drive to the Kapama Southern Camp we saw a black mamba snake cross the road in front of us (no, I didn't scream), a few giraffe, zebra, warthogs, and impala (African deer). Upon pulling into our camp, we were greeted by a welcoming committee with drinks in hand. No need to grab your bags, they take care of everything here. I've never been so blown away by service in my life. After a few pleasantries, we were escorted to one of the many thatched roof buildings and welcomed with yet another drink by the entire management team and given our keys. The camp is made up of a series of thatched buildings connected by brick paths and surrounded by foliage and grasses. The camp has an electrical fence around it to keep the big guys out, but the warthogs, monkeys and impala all seem to find their way in. In fact, within a minute of being in our room, we looked out the window and had the cutest female impala and her baby staring back in at us. As soon as they passed by, we noticed a few monkeys hanging out in the trees. What I thought was cool about the service here is that our tracker is the person who brought our luggage to our room. Each day here we get a morning and afternoon game drive and a nature walk. You have a ranger who drives the jeep, and a tracker who sits on a chair attached to the front bumper. Our tracker, Richard, brought us our luggage and introduced us to how things would work. See, the staff here all seem to chip in and have multiple jobs. And, they all do it while smiling, whistling, and singing! It's so spectacular!
We quickly changed into our swimming suits and went to the pool. Against dear Nancy's advice, who suggested not using the pools while in Africa, we decided to wing it and go for it. We spoke with a few health offices before going who suggested if we were staying in upscale resorts and had all our shots, etc, we would be fine! But, you gotta love our circle of mothers with sound advice and concern. (I may live to regret that, but time will only tell!). We spent a few hours at the pool relaxing before our first afternoon game drive. Each game drive starts with tea (drinks and appies) in the lounge hut before heading out. While we're here we will be with the same ranger, tracker, and guests.
The game drives are spent driving around bumpy dirt roads through various terrain from open fields, to thick bush (watch out for spiked branches!). Any time the ranger spots an animal or learning opportunity, he stops the land rover, turns it off, and educates us, or lets us snap pictures of the wonders before us. Here's a few highlights of what we saw our first day out:
- giraffes, zebras, dung beetle, spider nest, water buffalo, leopard, and elephant
It can be hit and miss what you see, as we discovered while talking with other guests later that evening. We were quite lucky to see everything we did the first night out. In fact, while driving around tirelessly without seeing anything for a while, our ranger suddenly hit the gas and rushed to another part of the reserve. We were on the chase for the elusive spotted leopard. It had been almost a month since the leopard had been seen. We took that land rover into some pretty rough country, shutting down and remaining silent every so often. Our patience paid off, the leopard showed herself! What an absolutely outstanding sight to see. She wandered around us a bit, and then carried on into the bushes where we couldn't follow. But, we had a great opportunity to snap a lot of photos. On our way back to the direction of camp, we came across a herd of elephants. There were already 2 other safari vehicles down that road, so we had to respect their space, and the privacy of the elephants and carry on. But, just around the corner, we came across a massive male elephant grazing by the side of the road. He let us sit about 6 - 10 feet away before turning to face us and flap his ears at us. This is the warning an elephant gives before making a charge. Our ranger quickly started the vehicle and backed away. What an amazing experience!
Before heading home, every 3 hour safari ends with a drink and some socializing. At this point, it was pitch black, the stars were beyond abundant, and our group had more than enough stories to help us introduce ourselves and get to know each other. We finished our refreshments and headed home under the guided spot light of our tracker Richard, and the expert driving skills of our ranger Bethwell.
We returned to camp by 7:30 and had time to quickly freshen up before heading to dinner at "The Boma", which means outdoor eating area by the fire. Each table sits with their respective group that you were out on safari with. It gave us a great opportunity to get to know each other better and share more stories. We enjoyed oxtail for the first time, and were treated to a serenade and dance while eating by the staff who had prepared and served us only moments before. This was an incredible way to end our evening! Cam and I have had very little sleep at this point and excused ourselves early to head back to our room. We tried to stay up to update our blog and review our pictures, but were falling asleep as we were moving from slide to slide on the camera and decided it best to shut down for the night. This was my first night with a full 7 hours sleep before the 5am wake up call for our 5:30 morning safari.