South Africa Day 11: Last day in the park

Today, I had a nice, lazy start. We're talking breakfast after nine. I left the hotel at precisely 10AM and noted that the drive to Numbi gate was 27 minutes (and this was not during the morning rush) and not the TEN/FIFTEEN minutes advertised.

With the formidable Hlengiwe, who rules the Rissington Inn with an iron fist in a velvet glove. The hotel frequently makes use of the term "home" in its advertizing, but with these guys its more than a gimmick, they actually make you feel so welcome.


I drove straight to the Voortrekker Road, my beloved but oh, how kidney rattling route roughly southeast in the park. First, I came across four giraffes walking across a plain and one of them was limping rather badly. I fear he was not long for this world, as the Kruger is many things but not a welfare state.

Video of the limping giraffe.


McGoof w/bird on the shoulder.


Later, I happened upon a troop of baboons which kept me entertained for several minutes with their antics. At one point, a young 'un was picking on a wittle baby and then promptly chased off by an adult, who in turn sadly got scared off by the presence of yours truly.

Otherwise, they were doing their freestyle gymnastics in the branches of a tree and chasing one another and playfighting and generally taking it easy. It was a cloudy day (it later rained) and the temperatures were in the lower 20C (mid 70s F), so nobody was in danger of getting a heat shock.

Video of the baboons. Dey be funny.


At Afsaal, I stopped to use the facilities and to see if I knew any of the staff there. Then, almost as soon as I'd swung out on the road again, I looked around on the plain that stretches out around the picnic site and idly noted zebra and wildebeest moving across the horizon.

At first, I thought the black lumps on the edge of my vision were ellies, which can often be seen here. It took a second or two to register that they were, in fact, six rhinos peacefully grazing. I hit the brakes and grabbed my camera. I also noticed a couple of other cars had done the same a little farther up the road.

It was a forceful reminder of the captive beauty of Kruger that one could see these almost prehistoric animals in group size; from the looks of it, three adults and three babies. My personal record from before was a group of five that I had spotted on the road to Berg-en-Dal with my American friends three years previous.

Video of the rhinos.


So lovely.


Family picnic.


Nom, nom.


More nom, nom.




I then pressed on to Malelane gate and the Hamilton restaurant, which was chosen as my lunch place for the day by my friend Debra, who you may remember from 2018 and 2019, when she worked at Afsaal. She was still with the same company, but now ran the curio shop & spa dept. at Pestana Lodge, a place also right outside Malelane.

We sat and stuffed face and just talked and talked for over two hours (the perks of being management, according to her). The jokes and banter flew, Debra possessing a sense of dark humor that would go way above the heads of most of her countrywomen.

The food arrived fresh. Very fresh.


I had sweet, sweet duck for lunch and then a horribly unhealthy dessert because what's a vacation without them?


I then drove home the same way I came, minus rhinos, baboons and giraffes who were all gone. The night ended with me stuffing face on curried croc tail, which tasted pretty much like chicken. Unless I was had, and it was, in fact, chicken.

The croc tail curry.