Day 7: Nobody likes me… except maybe the rhinos

Last year, I had taken the hotel receptionist, Shirley with me on my last half day into Kruger. We'd seen hyenas and a leopard and really had a blast. Since I was driving alone (and had the money) I had asked her if maybe she could organize it so that other employees at the hotel could come along too, all expenses paid. She did but had grown increasingly weary of the project's chance to succeed and before I left, I think maybe a dozen of over 30 employees had expressed any interest. In the end, only four participated, plus some of their family members.

Monday morning at 5:30AM, I was supposed to meet three young male employees outside the main entrance, but when I got to the parking lot it was deserted. Then, I drove out to the employee's building outside the gate. If they had their cars with them, they would park there. Empty. I went back in and parked outside the entrance again and walked up and talked to the guard, who gave me the cell phone number for the "leader" among the three. It went straight to voicemail.

I finally left the hotel at 5:50 and it was well over 6AM when I hit the park. Not many people at Numbi, as usual and I can't for the life of me understand why this gate isn't more popular. Oh, well, shorter lines for me!

Almost immediately, I hit a little traffic jam. Apparently, someone had spotted a leopard up in a tree in the half-light and this had caused the traffic on both sides to halt to a crawl. Immediately, I felt the urge to hit the gas and almost physically pushed the car through the crowds and out the other side, where I floored* it. (*At no point did I exceed the 50km/h speed limit. I'm not an animal!).

The Boer family I'd talked to at Orpen the day before had said they'd seen cheetahs near Pretoriuskop, and I knew that it was a hotspot for these cats. Additionally, I wanted to check in on the hyena den and its inhabitants that I had found and photographed last year. Sadly, no cheetahs and no hyenas were to be found, so I set out on the Voortrekker road down to Afsaal.

Last year I had found the road undriveable, but this year I thought it was slightly better. Or maybe I was less cranky; the one does not exclude the other. Just after a waterhole, I saw the car in front of me stopping abruptly, and a few seconds later a rhino appeared from the bushes. In tow came the cutest wittle rhino baby, trotting along after his giant mother.


Look at that cute little butt.


All mammals of any size provide a free ride for the park's many birds.


A few miles down the road, I spotted some grey boulders out of the corner of my eye. What was special about these boulders was that they were nibbling from the bushes. More rhinos! I hit the brakes, but the car in front of me kept going, so he couldn't have seen this group. I pointed my arm out the window in the direction of the rhinos and the two cars behind me also hit their brakes and I saw camera lenses poking out of both.

A little while later we hit sweet, sweet paved road and I immediately stopped for brunch at Afsaal. You may remember my waitress from last year, Debra? She sure remembered me and even gave me a hug when I walked in. Apparently, my written recommendation to her bosses had been the first of several positive responses and she had now been appointed floor manager. As with my two previous visits there, we spoke at length about this and that and again I was taken with the genuine cheerfulness, positive attitude and obvious intelligence of this young woman. If this is the future of South Africa, the country is in good hands.

I then drove towards Skukuza and soon happened upon the third group of rhinos for the day; two adults and one baby, this one slightly larger than the first but no less cute. The rest of the day was one long blur of various animals I'd photographed umpteen times before and none of them really in any special circumstance, so I left the park early; around 2PM. Near the Paul Kruger Gate, I encountered my second traffic jam caused by a distant leopard and for the second time that day, I sped on as fast as I could. So now I guess we know that I hate people more than I love leopards. Good to know!

Grown rhino.


Baby rhino.


Goofy McGoof is everywhere.


Earlier in the day, I had found that the batteries in my blood sugar measuring apparatus was dying, so I had decided to pop by the Hazyview Mall to try and find new ones. South African traffic is confusing enough at the best of times, but I thought it was extra especially insane this day. The mall was crowded to the brim with people shopping and the lines in front of the ATMs were unbelievable. The reason was explained to me later by Shirley; people got paid on the last or first day of the month and many (black) South Africans for some reason still felt that only paper cash was real money. And so, they lined up.

Shirley thought this to be moronic, as people could lose, misplace or be robbed of paper money, while a credit card was safe as… well, the bank. She then launched into several horror stories of people who had lost their monthly earnings and more, her story weaving from the crime rate in SA, through various wedding customs to drunkenness and unluckiness. At this point, if it's not already apparent, let me clarify that an answer from Shirley is rarely short nor boring.

I also got to talk to a retired Norwegian/Swedish couple who had just sold their vacation home in the country and were planning to drive all the way up to Uganda before flying to Bergen. They were very nice people and we had a long and wonderfully rambling conversation, but I'll never understand why people will choose a retirement in snow and cold.