Kruger is why I’m behind. Yesterday (Day 1 here), I was up until nearly 10 p.m. editing photos — and we had to be “at the gate to Kruger” at 5:00 this morning. Guides get priority entry into the park for the first half hour. Yesterday we did not. Today we did. Worth the 45 […]
Safari
Day 11: Elephants in the Street, Empire Lessons, and Arrival at Buckler’s
We didn’t have to get up too early — bags outside the door, breakfast, and off we went. The drive to the airport wasn’t long, though it was punctuated by an elephant calmly blocking the street. As one does. Lynn had taken my shaving kit into her checked bag (which is now about ten pounds […]
Day 10: Rhino Sleuthing, The Big (and Ugly) 5, and the Lovely Livingstone Lodge
Today was our Zambia day — passports in hand, dual-entry visas at the ready. No issues heading into Zambia (aside from the ever-present copper bracelet hustlers). Coming back into Zimbabwe was more dramatic: about half our crew had visa issues, while the rest of us — the dual-entry visa crowd — slipped back in without […]
Day 5 p.m.: Sad Truths, A Crash of Rhino (Almost), and a Happy Braai
This afternoon we drove to the Rhino Orphanage, where we learned a great deal about South Africa’s long and heartbreaking history with poaching. Through the 1960s, the numbers were going down, down, down — to roughly 370 rhinos killed in a year. But then, decades later, the crisis surged again after a very specific spark: […]
Day 5: Downward Cheetah, Dirt Baths, and a Wee One Testing Mom’s Forebearance
Up again at 5:00 a.m. For some reason my alarm didn’t go off — but thank goodness this lodge operates on the very practical system of knocking firmly on your door until you rejoin the living. I was especially tired today. I haven’t been sleeping particularly well, and I’ve been battling a growing frustration with […]
Day 4: Breakfast, Buffalo, and a Smartwatch With No Sense of Timing
Morning We are eating too much and moving too little — though today, due to the colossal amount of jostling in the jeep, Mary’s smartwatch went off – with fireworks – telling her: GREAT JOB! You have completed your workout by 9:00 a.m. My smartwatch, on the other hand, chose the exact moment we were […]
Day 3 (Part 2): Teeth-Loosening Glory
We headed out this afternoon for our first official game drive — in what I can only describe as a safari vehicle engineered by someone who thought, “What if we made a jeep… but also a small apartment building?” It’s a very (very) tall open-sided truck with three rows of covered seats. Getting in requires […]
Day 3: Bags Outside the Door by 7:30, Safari Begins
Well. Bags outside the door by 7:30, breakfast at 6:30 (“…at the buffet-a…”), wheels up (well…van wheels up) at 8:00. Safari logistics have officially entered the chat. We left Pretoria this morning and began the drive north toward Entabeni, which Abe (pronounced “A.B.”) cheerfully informed us would be about three to three-and-a-half hours…with a snack […]