Doug and Paisley in SWAZILAND: Part I: Blank/Thiel Christmas Vacation 2009

Elizabeth (a.k.a. Biss) and Josh came to Swaziland this past Christmas for a fantastic roadtrip/safari/beach vacation. They arrived on the 19^th of December and it was the best birthday present that I’ve gotten in awhile (no offense, Doug, I love you and your presents). Given that there were over 1000 pictures taken, celebrations when their flight home was delayed 5 hours, and withdrawal symptoms once they really, really left…it is safe to say a good time was had by all. It was a 13-day trip, so there is no way around it; this blog entry is going to be a beast. I’ll do my best to stick to the highlights and to recap our adventures with photos, but keep in mind this is also kind of a marketing opportunity for me to entice YOU to come visit, too (as long as you are related to us or we are already friends…we’ve had some randoms reading our blog; so, I just wanted to clarify who we are actively trying to entice).

Part I: Safari

On Sunday, December 20^th (Happy Birthday to me…) we piled into the Rav-4 (affectionately known as ‘Little Lemmy’ – short for ‘Lemon’) and headed for the Ngwenya/Oshoek Border enroute to South Africa. Unfortunately, we had to leave without some of their luggage, because it didn’t arrive on their flight on Saturday and there was only a 50/50% chance that it would be on the 11:10am flight on Sunday, and we were supposed to check-in to the game reserve at 2:00pm. Fortunately, it was Josh’s bag that didn’t arrive (thank goodness), so we simply packed him a new suitcase full of Doug’s clothes and were on our way. Our safari was hosted by Africa on Foot which is on the Klaserie Private Game Reserve which is part of the greater Kruger National Park. Kruger is 63,000 hectares and the Klaserie is 5000 hectares in the northwest corner of the park. There are no fences anymore, so animals can roam freely between Kruger and the neighboring private reserves.

Packing Lemmy

Sardines, yet very happy sardines

South Africa welcomes you! (that's what the little green guy says behind Doug)

Rural South Africa

Nelspruit. This is the closest 'big city' to Swaziland and while I'd never been to Nelspruit before, many of our expat friends make the 3 hour drive to see a movie in a theater, eat at McDonald's, and/or to loot the Woolworth's which is kind of like a Whole Foods for us. Anyways, I was still surprised when we arrived that it was a very western-feeling city and now I understand why folks venture there when they need a dose of home (although, I don't eat McDonald's in the States, so...but if there were an In-n-Out, that'd be a whole different story!).

Day 1: We arrived safe and sound at about 3:30pm on Sunday afternoon and were greeted by Jan, one of the rangers, who escorted us back to camp and got us all check-in/settled.

The main lodge

The dining room and campfire

Our bungalow (Biss and Josh's was basically identical)

The schedule for the safari was as follows:

04h30 Wake-up call

05h00 Coffee, tea and biscotti

05h15 Depart on morning game walk

09h00/10h00 Return to camp

11h00 Brunch

15h00 Tea and a light lunch

16h00 Depart on afternoon game drive and night drive

19h30/20h00 Return to camp

20h15 Dinner

21h00 Drinks, coffee or tea around the campfire

Since we arrived just barely in time for the afternoon game drive, one of the rangers, Daniel, came back to collect us.

Ranger Daniel

A reminder that we are just visitors and that wild animals really do live here

Very excited to be on safari

As soon as we pulled out of camp on the first game drive we saw a herd of elephants at a watering hole. Score one for 'big five' game sightings.

After watching the elephants for a while, Daniel got a radio message from another ranger about a herd of buffalo, so off we went to find the buffalo. In order to track the buffalo we had to take the jeep off-roading and stalled out. Luckily, we had some volunteer pushers...Doug and Josh are in the middle.

After rescuing the jeep we continued our search for the buffalo and instead surprised a rhino family in the bush! For as big as they are, rhinos are very skiddish; therefore, this was one of the best glimpses we got of the creature all week! Score two for 'big five' game sightings.

Finally, we found the herd of 50+ buffalo. Score three for 'big five' game sightings (man, this safari stuff is easy!). The buffalo were very funny with their 'Swiss miss' horns.

After watching the buffaloes for a while, we visited another watering hole and received quite a show from the resident hippo

In order to stake his territory and to remind us who's watering hole it was, the hippo jumped and tossed water and rolled over and over. It was the most active I've seen a hippo, ever...as Lonely Planet describes them, 'the hippo is like a large beanbag with tiny legs.' Totally.

About dusk on the game drive we usually stopped to stretch our legs and to have a drink...Biss and Josh used our first stop as an opportunity to lead the safari.

Following our break, Daniel received another radio message - this time it was about a leopard siting! Apparently, a leopard had killed an impala and then dragged it up into a tree to eat later. So, one of the other rangers had spotted the impala in the tree and also seen the leopard circling around. By the time we arrived, only the hindquarters of the impala were left slung over the branches and the leopard was nowhere to be seen. So close, but yet so far from the ever elusive leopard!

Here's a picture of the tree where the impala was stashed. Unfortunately, with the spotlight and the flash you can't see much...

After a 4+ hour game drive and 3 of the big five ticked off of the list it was back to camp for dinner.

Day 2: There was a crazy storm in the early hours of the morning on our first morning in camp; therefore, we did not receive our 4:30am wake-up call for the walking safari, as planned. Because of the rain, the rangers let everyone sleep and once it stopped we were woken up for breakfast and a morning game drive, instead. Each day, upon return from our morning activity, we had a solid chunk of time to hang out prior to afternoon tea and our next game drive. Most days we took naps, read our books, took a dip in the 'pool,' or played cards. As you can see from the schedule, there was no shortage of meals, either!

Guilty

Three readers [Biss and Josh brought a National Geographic over for Doug, Josh was reading some 'counterinsurgency' warfare book, and I was reading The History of Love (of course, I recommend it)]

The pool (that was more like the size of a hot tub, but whatever)

More game drives!

On Day 2 we saw less of the big five and more of the 'DLT' variety (deer like thing). But, one of our favorites was the dung beetle. After the elephants or rhinos poop, the male dung beetles swarm in and literally roll the poop into a ball. Then, they roll it around looking for ladies. When they find a female dung beetle, she hops on the poop ball and the male rolls her away to a safe place. There, they dig a hole in the ground, do it, and then bury the fertilized egg inside the poop ball and bury it. It is a marvel to see a beetle do all of this...but, it is also really funny to see a lady dung beetle riding around on a ball of poop being woo'ed by her suitor.

The black dung beetle riding on top (no pun intended) is the female and the upside down, lighter colored beetle rolling the poop ball is the male.

A bachelorhood of impala

Male kudu

Leopard spotted tortoise

Elephant crossing the road and then moseying away from us

Another beautiful sunset

And back to camp for dinner

Day 3: With beautiful weather overhead we got up at 4:30am on Tuesday morning for our first walking safari. While there weren't many opportunities to see big animals (funny how they don't walk you to those parts) it was interesting to learn about the different tracks, scents, insects, and habits of the smaller creatures in the bush.

Sunrise at 4:40am

The walking safari started with a few reminders from the rangers

Then we were off

Enormous millipeed. Gross.

Furry caterpillar

Birdwatching

Look closely; there were about 6 frogs on this 'nest' that was created from secretions from the frogs. Once the eggs laid within hatch, the tadpoles drop into the water below.

We all still like each other even before 6:00am

These were bird nests of the 'weaver' bird. The entry into the nest was from the bottom since the top was attached to the tree and there's a little shelf inside on which they laid their eggs.

This was the rhino and elephant mud bath; kind of like their own little spa. Biss wanted a spa treatment, too.

On the afternoon/night drive on Day 3 we were charged by a male elephant in musk. It was a thrill, to say the least. He was tracking a herd of female elephants and we surprised him on the road, so he let us know it, in a hurry. The first picture shows him with his ears out which was our first clue he was pissed. Then, there was really no doubting his feelings as he started RUNNING toward us. The picture is blurry because he was moving and we were moving, but you can see how much dirt he's kicking up. Needless to say we retreated quickly enough for him not to feel threatened and eventually he turned around and marched on his way.

In much tamer news, we also saw a few solo giraffes

And what would a night drive be without a beautiful sunset?

Full blown over the Drakensberg Mountains (could be a screen saver)

Day 4: After another walking safari, lazy afternoon, and plenty of good food (see below for a sample spread), we went on our final night game drive. We never did get to see the pride of lions (16 strong!) or our friend the leopard, but we did have an amazing time together on safari. And finally, here are our 'bird' shots. There were lots of people who were 'birders,' and we weren't one of 'em...but, there are some pretty cool, out-of-the-ordinary types so I've included the highlights, here.