Dorothy & David Case ...Meandering the World: Feb 7, Johannesburg to Mjejane Lodge at Kruger National Park, S. Africa

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Feb 7, Johannesburg to Mjejane Lodge at Kruger National Park, S. Africa

At the airport in Joberg we got a complimentary local newspaper. The headline was Trunk Call Saves Young Jumbo. The large photo is of an elephant with a crocodile biting the end of his trunk. Apparently he was saved by nearby elephants trumpeting which scared away the croc. Other news was about how Putin may have Asperger's syndrome, a list and photos of top African celebrities who were judged worst dressed, and ideas about how to alleviate load shedding of electricity which we call rolling blackouts. Coal is used for fuel for power, as well as one lone nuclear plant. Scars of coal mining were seen from the air as we traveled to Neilspruit.

Flight to Nielspruit

We flew to Nielspruit. It is a low risk malaria area, but we started taking our malarone the day we flew from Orlando. Since it is the rainy season, there will be more bugs, they said. We took a bus from Nelspruit, about 1 1/2 hours to our Mjejane lodge at the South East border of Kruger National Park.

On the drive from Neilpruit we saw banana farms, papaya, macadamia nuts, cabbages, and sugarcane. We even saw an African tulip tree, just like in Kona. We drove on the same road you would take to Maputo, Mozambique. Many people from Mozambique and nearby Swaziland come to S. Africa to work on the farms.

Entering the Kruger park, we had to pass through two sets of electrical fences to keep the animals inside the park.

We arrived early and went to the lawn overlooking the river. Immediately we saw hippos in the river and Cape Buffalo resting on the shore.

Some of the rules of the camp include wearing Closed toed shoes outside. Warthogs are not scared of us, but too pushy. Monkeys will unpack for you unless you lock your windows and doors. Our water is from the crocodile river. This river is the southern border of the park. I had my shower in crocodile water!

After our briefing we were escorted to our room. Our deck looks out onto the crocodile river. After a delicious lunch we watched a big bull elephant come to the river and take a drink and a bath. There is an electric fence around the immediate camp. We go on our first game drive at 4:30 this after noon.