Kruger NP/NP Kruger

Dorothee jsem slibila ze prijedem kolem 17hod. Cesta trva asi 4.5 hod. Zacaly jsme tak, ze jsme se museli vracet protoze jsme zapomnely nechat klice od chaty nasemu koordinatorovi, ale on si za to mohl sam, mel mit svoje. Zpozdeni - 20 minut. Pak jsme sly s Caroline do obchodaku, potrebovaly jsme trochu zasob, bonbony, suseny ovoce, colu pro Marion, na postu (kdybychom se nahodou nevratily): zpozdeni: 1 hodina. Pak jsme odvezly Caroline do jejiho bytu a jely jsme smerem k dalnici ktera mela hned za rohem, nejze nam nikdo nerek ze je to za rohem a my jely rovne, nemely jsme mapu Johannesburgu ale jen Jizni Afriky, ztratily jsme se centru, zpozdeni 45min. Nebojte auto bylo zamceny kdyz jsme projizdely ghettem. Nez jsme se dostali na dalnici na kterou jsme potrebovaly bylo 14hod. Zastavka na kafe se zvrhla v pozdni obed, zpozdeni: 1hod. "Dalnice" se po zaplaceni cla 300kc zmenila na tri proudou silnici ktera vedla mezi krasne zelenymi kopci. K Dorothee na kliniku jsme dorazily po zapadu slunce cemuz jsem se snazila od rana vyhnout. Mely pro nas propravenou veceri a tak to slo. Na severu je vedro a dusno, nespaly jsme. Bylo tam velice utulno a do sprchy mi oknem spadl maly chameleon. Roztomile sebou splouchnul o zem a snazil se vylezt po mokrych dlazdickach. Neuspesne.
Rano jsme vyrazily v 7 a dorazily k brane parku za dve hodky, jeli jsme vic na sever nez jsem myslela. Po dvou hodinach rozhlizeni se po zveri jsme videly zebry a spoustu zpevneho ptactva, sloni zadni.
Zato mraky a priroda krasne. Po trech hodinach pozorovani me zacaly bolet oci a hlava. S auta se vylezat nesmi a pak jsme potkaly nadsene turistu kteri nam rekli ze po asi 2km narazime na zver a ze pak po 2oom se na strome sluni leopard. Tak jsme nadsene vyrazily a po dlouhem hledani jsme objevily leoparda u silnice, prebehl silnicku a vydal se do bushe, po druhem podrobnem zkoumani jsme dosly k zaveru ze to nebyl leopard ale cheetah, mensi odruda... ale taky se v parku nevidi kazdy den... na rozdil od slonu, my to stesti na slony ale v sobotu nemely.
Vecer jsme sly s Marion na vecerni jizdu parkem, videli jsme hyeny, jsou velky jak bernardyn a oci jim svitili ve svetlech nasich reflektoru. PO chvili jizdy jsem si uvedomila ze jsem za tu jizdu nikdy zeplatila... Uuups.
V 5:38 rano jsme potom opet vyrazily, nasli jsme lvi a videli jak lvice vyrazila za stromy, po asi 20 vterinach jsme slysely kvileni kozoroha, chytla ho a meli ho s rodinkou k veceri, teda k snidani. Hotova lvice Elza. Pak jsme videly spoustu zeber, prase bradavicnate, zirafy, pohledly na Mozambik z posedu, jelikoz Kruger NP souseni s Limpopo NP ktery se uz nachazi v Mozambiku.
Sloni porad zadni, nakonec jsme si rekly ze kdo prvni uvidi slony dostane bonbon, tak ja koukala jako diva i kdyz to byly moje bonbony. No nakonec jsem vyhrala ale jen proto ze jsme videly auta u silnice ktera uz pred nami ty slony objevila. Takze nakonec i ti slovi vysli. Skvele. Nemusim vam rikat ze po prvnich trech hodinach nic nevideni, jsem pokladala zadny stin za lva a kazdy vetsi stin na slona... ale pak to stejne nakonec vyslo. Opel Corsa neni to nejlepsi auto na pozorovani dive zvere, pokud mohu doporucit tak neco vetsiho, vys od zeme, jelikoz trava je vysoka a vegetace husta.
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So this past Friday we set out on a trip to Fruger NP. The trip is usually about 4.5 hour drive, just like to VT in a snow storm. We were extremely happy to rent our Open Corsa, since the trips to the outside of our compund are highly random and restricted to the mall and back.
After leaving all excited, we forgot to leave keys from our cottage so we had to go back. Delay: 20 min. Then we had to go the mall, ofcourse, since we were out on our own to buy candy and stuff for the road. I really like sour candy, just an FYI. Specially ahere with all the salads we eat, sugar has been essential.
The mall delayed us a little, and then after dropping off Caroline we kind of got lost in JoBurg since the highway was supposed ot be right there, except Caroline's aunt forgot to say around the corner, after going straigt for about five minutes we knew we were lost. 45 minutes later, I finally found a road on the map that was actually infront of us as well as marked on the map and we got on our way. The feeling that we will have to look for Dorothee's clinic in the dark, in the mountains was creeping upon me. Half way through we stoppen for a coffee, and a milk shake - milkshakes are very popular here in SA. The coffee break turned into an hour delay. Yes, we are definitelly arriving in the dark. After paying 15USD for tolls on the highway the road became a Rt.1 type without the fence. However, with a very beautiful landscape consinsting of green hills rock formations.
Dorothee's directions worked well and although we arrived in the town in the dark we found it. Their place looks much cuter than ours and more focused and well run. The weather is hotter in the north, and we did not sleep. I cute little gecko plopped on the floor of the bathroom just as soon as I was getting out. He was desperately trying to climb the slippery steemed up walls.
7am was our departure time and 9am arrival time at the Orpen gate. Driving on the left side is great, everyone should experience it. We made the mistake of not following the water, actually we did attemt to do that , but it was all dried up. After about 2hrs of seeing one pack of zebras all we saw were birds, ( I thought of Kim a lot on this trip). Then we met these excited tourists who told us about the masses of animals that are awaiting us around the corner, and a leopard chilling on the tree, just past the pickinic place... we headed that direction as fast as the park speed limit on teh dirt road allowed us a whole 20mph.
In the mean time the leopard got off the tree and rested by the road, as she saw up she ran accross and then deep into the forest. After a second look and comparing notes with others we came to a conclusion that it was a leopard after all but a cheetah, also rare sighting though.
Still no elephants though. I was not going to be discouraged because Dorothee kept saying that everytime she comes to the park (past two times) she was a lot of them, although they have just killed some off, I hoped it was not the ones I was supposed to see this weekend.
Marion and I went on a night drive with the rangers and after seeing hyennas (which are BTW as big as a St. Bernard's dog) we almost ran over a male lion resting on teh road in front of us, he just ate so impall since his belly was huge and he could not even breath. It almost looked as if the rangers just put him there so that we see something, since we saw less than I expected. He was like a statue of honor and power, it was great to see him, and he did even mind, as he put his head down and went to sleep.
At 5:38am, after a dream about a lion, we left for the morning search. Sun rises and sun sets as well as clouds here in SA are gorgeous. The light made the grass silver and the shades all looked like animals, so I think I drove the girls a bit crazy because I saw lions and elephants next to every bush.
We came upon a lion family after the people who thought they saw somehting left teh spot. She came out and behind her a baby, and then the daddy. She waited and then started running behind a tree and bushes where we could not see, then we heart what she went to do, breakfast time - the impalla cried a lot before it was over. The lions were not going to go hungry that morning. Amazing, wouldn't want to see it though.
After getting a bit discouraged by the lack of elephants we did actually see a few and from pretty close. After announcing a contest involving candy for an elephant sighting we all looked desperately out of the windows... of course we only saw them because hte cars were stopped at the side of the road. Then we also saw another lioness, but after our night and morning experience that was just another lion, I know, how could we.
The only thing to recommend is to take an SUV with you instead of a tiny Opel Corsa rental :) I know you know how I feel about SUVs but just this one time, I could have used one.