I'm alive....not much sleeping done last night as expected. Must have woken at least five times in anticipation for sunrise, eventually it came at 530am, not 11pm, 1am, 2am,3am or 4am as I had hoped....Dana had been up since 5am and had two coffees in him already so was jumping around the campsite with the music blaring from the Jeep- there's got to be something extra in his coffee I'm thinking...
As I staggered out of my tent breathing like a bulldog in a sauna, I was greeted by a big ugly looking assassin beetle staring at me- another spider that bites- and so another day begins!
At 6am, Larry picked us up for another day of animal searching. Was gearing up for a long day of seeing endless amounts of giraffes and impalas when about 15 minutes in, we came across a group of three lions- four of the Big Five seen now(muted applause). As we watched them play, a retarded looking wildebeest (I christened him Willy) came strolling around the corner and we geared up to watch the lions hunt their breakfast. The lions slowly approached and Willy walked straight towards them without realizing they were there- then LION ATTACK....insane...but Willy wasn't as retarded as I thought as it eventually escaped with just a few chunks taken out of it...it's only 730am now, but I'm sure the rest of the day will struggle to grab my attention after that!
Animals, animals, animals- was getting a bit sick of looking at the dirty yokes now but watching a group of monkeys steal an elderly couples breakfast was highly entertaining. The old man looked very pissed off especially when everybody was laughing at them- silly Germans!
We had lunch by the riverside and watched a bunch of elephants bathe and play in mud to protect their skin from the sun. In the restaurant, there was a map of Kruger where you could pin the areas you spotted the most sought after animals including the Big Five. The one that everybody was looking for including ourselves was the Leopard- it had been spotted in two locations and not too far from the restaurant, so obviously we 'relocated' the pins to other parts of the park to send the other tourists off on the wrong routes!
Off we went again after an assortment of wild animals were devoured for lunch. I think we saw every animal possible except for the leopards..karma eh?
Back to the lodge at 3pm, all of us physically and mentally drained- it's not easy being a tourist in South Africa you know- I'm yet to see a beach and a cocktail...We decided to take photos of other tourists passing us in game drive vehicles and asking them what species they were- some angry responses.. people need to relax or they'll be next on the endangered list!
Larry was telling us because most of the hippos were out of the water during the day today that heavy rains are on their way soon, as in the next few hours...I'll make sure to blow up the armbands before bedtime.
We took a stroll down to the shops in the lodge, where we came across some angry warthogs- a quick jog in the opposite direction and all was good! You can't even grab an ice cream here without some sort of animal popping up from somewhere to keep you alert, mentally draining...I'd swear I was hallucinating earlier on the safari when I was convinced some bushes looked like a rhino,a siesta is well needed but there's nowhere here to escape from nature so we're sipping on a few beers staring at hippos at the moment!
After a good sunburning by the pool, we headed back to camp where Danny Coffee( formerly known as Dana...) was cooking up a storm literally...the BBQ was more like a bonfire, there was no chance of any insects attacking us tonight,but I was a bit more worried about the scent of the steaks attracting the roaring Lions in the distance....was class to have dinner outside under a sky full of stars while a million animals grunted,growled,hissed, heckled and whatever other verbs can be used to describe it....sounds like something an old man would say but I'm not getting any younger and neither are you!
Early night tonight as we're off to Swaziland first thing, which apparently is in the middle of a reckless storm and high levels of flooding-will have to keep the armbands inflated it seems for a few days! The Frenchies are gone off on a hunt for scorpions with their torches, au revour!