Day 13 Sabi Sabi

Our wake up knock at 6:00 AM caught us already awake and partially prepared for the day. We actually had time for a coffee and croissant this morning before the Land Rover left on its morning drive. Being awake is a much more pleasant feeling than not being so yesterday. The hot water bottles were, nonetheless, much appreciated as were the blankets

Our game drive expectations for the day were to find the every elusive zebra and giraffe. We went all over the private reserve of almost 100,000 acres to seek them out. Of course, when you are looking for something in particular you seem to find everything else but that animal. We enjoyed seeing the other animals so plentiful in the bush, though. Kruger National Park removed its fences so that animals could follow their natural migration paths, which meant that they were free to roam into the Sabi Sands Reserve where we were staying.

Our morning walk was only the English/Australian/South African couple that had shared both our dinner table and our Land Rover with us. They were very nice and up for doing just about anything, so when the kids begged off to nap a bit after breakfast, we four plus Jonas went on a game walk. As we left the compound we took a left and about 100 yards down the road we came upon a grizzly old bull elephant with an unpleasant temperament. So, we quietly reversed course and went the other way down the dirt road. About 300 yards down that road were more elephants grazing near the road, so we took off on a dirt track across country. This was a much more intimate and pleasant experience than yesterday’s walk as fewer people were on it so we could stop and ask questions and see the various game that was non-threatening.

Upon our return I was able to finally dig into my Wilbur Smith novel, The Quest. He is one of my favorite authors and the best pure story teller I have ever read. I had the chance to meet him back in 1979 when we lived here as he was a dear friend of Graham Peters, managing director of Premier Metal in Cape Town. I have read every one of his books and this is the second to last that he has written. The final one, Assagai, just came out in late May and I will read it next. Wilbur is a true white African having been born in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), and educated at the University of Cape Town. He knows and understands Africa like no other novelist.

Lunch was uneventful except for me speaking with the Brazilians in Portuguese. The little boy was confused because he couldn’t figure out where I was from since I spoke Portuguese and looked either white African or British or one of their former colonies. I set him straight, I thought, when I said that I was from the United States (Estados Unidos in Portuguese). He looked perplexed and asked “Which United States” in Portuguese, so I told him “of America.” He was finally satisfied. He could not have been older than 6.

Our afternoon drive was more eventful and we finally found both the giraffe and a small herd of zebra. That was the highlight of the trip thus far for Susan. She wanted to see both these animals the most. After that she was satisfied to do whatever and go wherever as she had achieved her goal. More than anything, the beautiful aspect of the afternoon game drive was the “sundowner,” a quaint English custom of drinks at sundown to watch the sun set. We had to preorder them before we left the lodge, so a single glass of wine was our drink of preference in the bush. The sunsets are spectacular, although the actual sunset is no prettier than those of my native Oklahoma. The difference is that these were in the middle of the African wilderness with different sounds and vegetation that what we are used to back home.

Another wonderful dinner in the boma capped a perfect day for us. We are all ready to retire at the end of dinner even though it is just 9:15 PM. Some folks head to bar for a night cap, but the majority head to bed because of the early morning game drives. Apparently, Reese and Greg were some of those who went to the bar, because they did not show for the morning drive. Neither did Susan or I was we needed to have time to get packed. We were to depart for the Johannesburg right after breakfast, which we did.