The Journey So Far...

We have now been in South Africa for 8 days (with an exciting, yet unexpected, day spent in central London along the way) and have been overwhelmed with the beauty of the weather, the difference of the landscape, the size of the wildlife, and the cultural importance placed on the “braai”. Eric made it to SA on time and met up with some new friends (many thanks, Elani and Chantelle) at the airport while the rest of us were making the most of our 8-hour layover in London by seeing the major sights. Ben, Grace, Vicki, Francois and I arrived the next morning at Eric’s hotel with the “Kombi” (VW minibus) to begin our trek around SA prior to beginning the next 4.5 months in Swaziland.

The first leg of our trip was spent in Kruger National Park. For those of you who do not know much about SA and its national parks, Kruger is a wildlife mecca made up of gently rolling “Mopani veld” hills with the occasional “koppie” (really big rock mounds) jutting out of the landscape. I can easily say that I have never found a place more centered on nature (in fact, the animals have free reign here while we are the ones behind fences or relegated to our cars). To give you an idea of what I am saying, I am currently staring at a herd of elephants about 100 feet away as I sit here writing this on the back porch of our rondavel. The first thing we saw when we got into the park was an impala. Actually, it wasn’t an impala—it was an IMPALA!!!!! (said with all the excitement of a child after receiving a pony for her 7^th birthday). Things have changed since that first day—after our thousandth IMPALA sighting, they are now just impala (said with a draw and a yawn). We have also seen enough elephants to outweigh the QE2, enough buffalo to make Ted Turner’s herd look diminutive, and enough zebra, giraffes, hippos, crocs, kudu, francolins (African pheasants that make a skull-splitting sound right around 5:00 am), baboons, bush buck and water buck to rival Genghis Khan’s raging hordes. On the short list have been seven lions, three grysbok (imagine a two foot tall antelope), a genet (like a house cat-sized leopard), a few steenbok, a hyena, and some really cool eagles and storks. We haven’t quite finished off our list of the “Big 5” (we’ve seen buffalo, elephant and lion but we are still missing rhino and leopard) but we have seen enough of everything else to make up for it!

We have had quite an adventure already but have also had the opportunity to slow down from our typical American pace. We drink tea at least three times a day (we even take it with us when we will be away from the rondavel at 11:00 and/or 4:00 tea times) and watch the sunset every night. I can confidently say that each of us is relishing our newfound life tempo. As nice as a slower pace is, though, getting stuck behind an elephant walking down the road is cute for 5 minutes…not 45….

Well, next up is the beach! We’re heading to Uvongo for a few days on the Indian Ocean. As much as I will miss the peace and quiet of Kruger, I am ready for a new place and a new culture. Hopefully we’ll be able to post a little more often coming up (we haven’t had phones, internet, or electricity for a while now).

Thanks again for following along with us on our journey so far,

-Brad