We got to Jo'burg after nightfall. People had warned us that it's a very dangerous city & on no account should you stop at traffic lights when it's dark because you might get mugged or carjacked. We rented a car, & let me tell you, Jo'burg is not a good place to get lost at night. They have hardly any street signs, unless we just couldn't see them, & you do have to stop at some lights because other people are going. Usually we only stopped at the ones where there were other cars around though. We were trying to get on a highway & couldn't find the on-ramp! We could see the road above our heads but kept getting lost in dodgier & dodgier areas until we were passing people huddled around small bonfires in tires. At that point I was trying to figure out how to read the map without holding it up or turning on the light so as not to look like tourists & therefore targets. SE's navigational skills prevailed in the end, & we got safely to Thulangi Lodge in Melville, an area of Jo'burg. They were very friendly & our room had a canopied bed! I've wanted one of those since I was a little girl. We had dinner at The Loft, which was great. We just picked it because it looked the nicest & it turned out to be fantastic. The dessert called something like "Mom's homemade" is a must. They have very inventive cocktails as well.
We played Scrabble when we got back to the room & tried to stay warm. South Africa has quite a pleasant winter - it's up to maybe 70˚ during the day - but it gets really cold at night. The bathroom was so frozen by morning that we were like, "Forget it, we'll shower when we get to the next place." We needed some supplies so we stopped by Sandton Mall which was supposed to be quite nice & was. It took about 4 hours to get to Kruger National Park. The N4 highway is reallly nice, better than roads in America. It's very smooth, hardly any cracks, & just seems to unspool for mile after mile. We noticed that South Africans love to tailgate though. (The driving-too-close kind, not beer & hamburgers.) No wonder they have such a horrible accident percentage. The speed limit was usually about 120 kmph (~70mph) & the other drivers were definitely not leaving enough distance to brake without causing a pileup. There were very few cars on the road though, which may have had something to do with the tolls or it being a weekday.
Around evening we finally got to Kruger Park Lodge, after some confusion over whether Skukuza Road was actually the Paul Kruger Gate Road we were looking for. The Lodge is a large complex of chalets including a hippo & crocodile area, its own golf course & a herd of impala. Since it was the off-season we were lucky enough to get a 3-bedroom chalet to ourselves. It was quite overwhelming. We should have brought some friends.
The next morning we arranged evening & day safaris. We had some time before the trip that night & wandered around the very scenic Lodge & into the surrounding town of Hazyview. We also tried to play golf but I didn't have a collared shirt so they wouldn't let me. Finally it was time for our first safari. A guy drove us to the Lion Sands private game reserve right next to Kruger & we were off in a very big Jeep. We had a guide, Andrew, & a spotter, Kruger (yes, I'm sure that's why). It was just me, SE & 2 trainee guides in a Jeep that could comfortably hold 12, so it was great. I pestered Andrew with tons of questions as we looked for animals. We spied a duiker briefly, which is a type of antelope. Then we saw an elephant in the distance. SE & I started snapping pix, amazed at our good fortune since in winter it's not always easy to find the animals. We thought that was cool - Andrew said, "Let's get a closer look!" & vroom drove right into the bush! As we smushed small trees & acacia bushes he explained that the latter have been known to rip holes in tires but elephants chomp happily away on them without any apparent discomfort. We pulled up maybe 30 feet from the elephant, a young bull. It didn't seem bothered at all by our presence, & in fact ate its way closer to us, so close that I really wanted to touch it.
Interestingly, though the animals can see us, the Jeep just looks like a unit to them & they don't really differentiate the people from the vehicle. If you stretch an arm out or stand up, though, they do, & will either run away or charge so everyone has to stay seated at all times.Some more bush driving later, we saw a mother & baby giraffe, which were just as cute as in cartoons. Next was one of the highlights of our whole trip. We saw a leopard! They are nocturnal & elusive so seeing one up close during daylight is really rare. They are so beautiful. We followed this one around for a while - it was a male that had fed very recently - as it padded lazily along for a bit & then decided on a good lick & nap in a likely patch of tall grass.
Unbelievable. We quickly stopped getting excited about impala, which were as ubiquitous as deer in the US though much lovelier & more graceful. Their legs are so slender they look as though they should break on impact & they have intelligent little faces with very high cheekbones. We also checked off kudu & bushbuck, which are like bigger-boned, wider-eared impala. Andrew pointed out a funny bird that people call the "vomit comet" because that's what it looks like. I guess maybe if you eat blueberries.
As evening fell, we found a skittish rhino family. We tried to get closer but Mommy & Baby wheeled & ran. In the distance we also saw a zebra herd, which was surprising because the South African winter is too cold for them & they should have been up north already. They were even more skittish than the rhinos. Our last big sighting - so 4 of the Big 5* - was 2 males & 1 wounded female lion. The poor thing was limping along on 3 feet, quite gracefully considering. It was pretty much dark & cold at this point, though we managed to spot a bushbaby (tiny weird squirrel-looking thing) & a mongoose. We had dinner at the lapa at the Kruger Gate Protea Hotel which was good. A lapa is a big barbecue-type setup with cold, stew & dessert buffet sections too. SE & I got home tired & happy.*Leopard, lion, rhino, elephant, & buffalo. These were chosen because they were the most dangerous animals in the area to hunt.
The next morning a guide picked us up at 5:45 for our safari in Kruger proper. Winter is no joke there - we were frozen until about noon. I had on a sweater, down jacket & blanket & still couldn't stop shivering. This is where we learned the difference between private game reserves & Kruger. There's no offroading on government property & everyone with a car is welcome to drive through looking for animals. There are a lot more regular cars without guides, which means that they sometimes do silly things or get in the way. We got lucky with a rhino fairly soon & saw some more giraffes & elephants before seeing #5, the buffalo. They are not very interesting to watch, although our guide told us that they are fierce fighters. Apparently a buffalo kept 8 lions at bay once, by goring them & staying in front of a big tree. We didn't see any aggression though. They seemed to be chewing their cud, carrying their enormous balls, & letting little birds eat their ticks off. Later we saw a group of male impala fighting. They make funny grunting noises & actually lock horns. We saw some vervets, which are small adorable monkeys, & also baboons with their babies. When female baboons are in estrus they get the most unattractive-looking red butts.
We even 
saw warthogs, which are very hairy & nowhere near as cute as The Lion King would lead one to expect. & speaking of lions, we saw a whole family! Mommy & 2 cubs were walking on the highway, which seems to be easier on their paws, & Daddy brought up the rear. Mom & babies quickly ran away from the procession of cars but Daddy padded along majestically. He was even closer to us than the elephant & leopard the day before - it was amazing. We caught sight of some hippos quite far away on the riverbank as well.The next day it was time to say goodbye to our lovely chalet & head back to Jo'burg. We drove up to Blyde River Canyon & God's Window, which has a small rain forest at the top. I have no idea how that's possible, but I think it's natural. The drive back was pretty uneventful; we decided to stay at the airport InterContinental this time because we had an early flight to Victoria Falls & it just didn't make sense to test our luck in the city again. The hotel is wonderful & the room was such welcome luxury. It's really expensive though, so not for backpackers. We played in the pool which overlooks Jo'burg, then had dinner downstairs at Quills. So yummy. The service was a bit slow but the food more than made up for it. Plus, compared to the absolutely crap food at the Lodge it was like manna from heaven.
I was going to do this post on all of South Africa but decided that would be too long. I deducted points for being freezing cold & the mediocre Lodge food. It was amazing overall though, & I definitely recommend it for everyone who's got at least a week to look at animals & explore.
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