Wednesday, August 5th
Our wakeup call came at 5:15am, which is quickly becoming a
norm on this trip. After grabbing a
quick cup of coffee and a box full of breakfast snacks, we boarded the bus for
our first safari. The Africans must
think we eat a lot because our snack boxes weighed about 10 lbs and they were
full of chips, lollipops, apple, banana, muffin, chocolate bar, juice, water, a
cucumber sandwich and there were probably more items at the bottom but I couldn’t
get through all of the other items to see what was at the bottom. I only ended up eating about 3 things out of
the box, then gave the rest to the staff at the safari park. We had 3 safari vehicles waiting on us when
we arrived at the park. This was going
to be a 3 hour safari, just to get our feet wet for Friday’s adventure.
We left the parking area with our safari guide and started
out to the park. The trails throughout
the park lead you around the perimeter and through the middle of the park so
you can get good views of the many different animals. The first animal we saw
was a Cape buffalo. He was a lone wolf,
all by himself, grazing on grass and living out the rest of his life in the
park. He used to be a pack leader, then
another buffalo took over and forced this old guy into retirement. He didn’t look like he was unhappy about the
retirement though.
After the buffalo, we saw a herd of elephants running across
the road up ahead. I got a few shots of
them with the camera, then one of them started flapping its ears and making an
elephant sound because it was afraid of us.
Elephants give warning signs when they are uneasy with their
surroundings. Theirs ears start to move
in and out and they start making a sound with their snout. It’s time to move on when you hear that. Elephants can weigh up to 2 tons and they can
move vehicles with their tusks. Needless
to say, we moved on.
Throughout the park, we spotted rhinos, baboons, zebra,
giraffes, various sorts of birds, deer like creatures (I can never remember the
name of these because we keep calling them deer), kudu and a few other animals
which I know I am forgetting.
 |
| Cape Buffalo |
 |
| Our ride |
 |
| Baby Cape Buffalo |
 |
| Oh deer...not sure what the real name is. |
3 hours went very quickly when we are spotting so many
animals and having a great time. The
weather was sunny and perfect again and we couldn’t have asked for a better
morning to start our Wednesday off with.
It was time to depart for a bus ride into Swaziland, the 2nd
smallest country in Africa.
After a 2 hour bus ride through the mountains and farmland,
we made it to Swaziland. We got out of
the bus and walked up to a counter at one of the buildings on the border and
got a South African departure stamp.
Then, we walked over the border into Swaziland and got our passports
stamped with an entry stamp. We got back
on the bus and continued on our route.
We drove past villages of authentic Zulu (original African natives)
huts, women selling grilled corn on the cob and some towns that had some very
nice tile roofed houses. Many South
Africans go to Swaziland to retire because you can live relatively well for a
smaller amount of money. Swaziland’s
people have an AIDS epidemic though.
People between the ages of 35-45 have a 56% HIV positive rate. From ages 25-34 they have a 45% HIV positive
rate and ages 18-24 have a 30% positive rate.
When we crossed the border into Swaziland there were boxes of condoms in
the office. There is help available for
those that want it, but many people are mad, or they are not allowed to speak
of their condition when they are HIV positive, so they pass it on to
others. Poverty, lack of education and
contracting it as child from their mother are the main causes of HIV. It is very sad to hear about countries like
this that have a lot of potential to be something very good, and not living up
to it. There are people trying to make
it better though, and one of our tours on Thursday will show us that.
With a stop by the candle factory on the way, we arrived at
our hotel, casino, at about 5:30pm. Yes,
I was excited about staying at a casino for a night. I finally get to have a little fun because I
have been very patient waiting out the shopping stops that we continue to stop
at. It seems there are only things to
buy that are directed towards women. I
know why that is, it just doesn’t seem right though. J I don’t see any guitars or things that I
would be interested in purchasing from Africa. That’s okay, my big night was
here.
Bag porters unloaded our suitcases and took them to our rooms. We never have to handle our suitcases for any
of the stays with this tour. It’s
awesome! We ate dinner at a place across
from the hotel called, Mugg & Bean. It’s a coffee shop/restaurant that was
located in a mall. It’s very odd to see malls and nice grocery stores out in
the middle of nowhere Swaziland. The malls
are well kept and the restaurants are very clean and accommodating as well.
We ate with Mo, Mrs. Healy, Matt, Marg and our Aussie friends
Karen and Ian stopped by for some dessert and coffee. I forget if I have mentioned this yet, but
everyone on this tour is very nice and laid back. There is not one trouble maker or difficult
person. I could travel with this group
again anytime. We closed down the Mugg
& Bean that night…at 8:15pm and dodged traffic on our way across the street
to the hotel. We dodged traffic, not
because it was busy, but we because were crossing in a roundabout, with traffic
that drives on the opposite side of the road from the US. Plus, KFC was bringing
in the cars pretty steadily and we were crossing in front of the KFC as
well. There are KFC’s everywhere in
South Africa!
I was determined to play some blackjack in the casino that
night, so we all wondered through the small casino doors, got wanded for guns
or knives or whatever they use he wand for, then ended up at the table
area. Matt and I were the only ones that
were gambling that night, so Matt put down some money on roulette and it didn’t
turn out like we had hoped. I sat down
at a 3 card poker table for a few hands until another blackjack table opened
up. It was pretty busy in the casino
that night, and smoky as well. Everyone
huddled up behind Matt and myself as we played a few hands of blackjack. It was
mentally challenging because I bought in with 300 Rand (South African currency),
which ends up being about $25 US dollars. The minimum bet was 25 Rand and I
kept thinking to myself that I was betting $25. I ended up sticking it out
longer than Matt and was winning some and losing some, until Laurie went off to
the room. I started winning almost every
hand at that point. Mo, Matt and Mrs.
Healy left after a few more minutes because of the smoke and I really started
winning. I would win 3 and lose 1 and it was a roller coaster. My adrenaline was flowing because I had a
nice stack of chips in front of me and the thought that I was using Rand to
bet, was escaping me right up until I cashed out. On the last hand I bet 75 rand and I got a
blackjack on it. It was getting late…9pm
and I was getting tired from a long day, so I decided to cash out. I won 275 rand! No, not 275 grand. I did the math on my
winnings and it totaled up to a whopping $22.
Whew, I could really enjoy playing in Swaziland’s casino again. One night at those tables and I could win $50
probably. That’s okay, I still came away
the big winner (not wiener) and was the talk of breakfast the next day. Everyone else had gone to bed early and didn’t
get a chance to play, except Ian and I think he won a little money on slot
machines.
It was another wonderful day of travel for us. Our first official safari was exciting, with
many animal sightings that we had never seen before. Plus, the mountain views,
a new country that we had never been in and a winning night at the casino. I would say that it was a pretty successful
day. Good night!
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