We first headed south, to do the loop roads around Pretoriuskop. We visited the hyena family, which was in the exact same place as the day before. They probably use a shallow hollow right beside the road (but under some bushes) as their den. After that, we saw nothing so I headed north to Shabeni, where Shirley saw her first elephant. Then followed a quick break at Pretoriuskop camp.
I had to be back at the hotel around 11, so time was running short. I headed for S65, with quick stops at Shitlhave, which held lots of zebras, impalas and some waterbucks. One of the zebras was running around trying to scare away the impala and largely succeeding. I'm not sure if he had anything against them or just chased them because it was fun, but it was an amusing sight. The followed Napi Boulders and Transport Dam, which were both devoid of anything interesting. The road from Numbi to S65 was also strangely empty this day, only a few zebras and impalas were to be seen.
We took the S65 and at first, I drove at a normal pace. The road is not as bad as Voortrekker, but it is still kidney rattling in places. Then we met some people who told us there was a leopard in a tree, with a dead impala, a few kilometers back. I put the pedal to the metal, even zooming past the waterhole, which was empty; par for the course that day.
We managed to make the leopard, but he had descended from the tree and was lying on the ground. Three or four cars were jockeying for the best position, and after a couple of minutes, he'd had enough. He got up and crossed the road to disappear in the tall grass on the other side, but not before leaving us with another memory of the wild beauty of Kruger. The road back to Phabeni was devoid of anything but impalas, some far off ellies and a huge herd of hippos at the waterhole. Still, Shirley was very happy when I deposed her at the staff's quarters about 20 minutes after exiting the park.
The leopard.
My last picture from inside the park.
I packed, checked out over half an hour late and finally got going toward Johannesburg. I took a couple of wrong turns in Nelspruit and had to ask for assistance, then I hit roadworks a couple of times on the way. The final challenge came just outside Johannesburg, where it looked like a big truck was partially blocking the road and traffic stood almost still for about 20 minutes. For a while there, I feared losing my flight, but I made the plane with plenty of time to spare.
The flight to Frankfurt was long and boring and, sadly, as sleepless as the trip down. I had a brief moment of panic when a woman with a baby sat down next to me. She assured me that the baby was calm and mellow, which in my experience are famous last words. However, she was true to her word. The little one made a few gurgling noises but otherwise slept the whole night through. I had almost five and a half hours to kill in Frankfurt before the final flight home. I felt tired and stiff and in sore need of a vacation from my vacation, if you know what I mean.
I was deeply, deeply skeptical of Oliver Tambo airport.
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