Kings Camp and The Big Five

Big Five.........elephant, lion,buffalo,leopard, rhino

Everything about the D'Oreale was grandiose; the rooms, service and food. The buffet this
morning is hard to describe. In a setting that rivals Maui. It's the first buffet spread I've seen that included freshly shucked oysters on the half shell.

We're now ready for hour two hour flight from Tambo airport to Hoedspruit SA where, hopefully, will be met and taken to Kings Camp and finally to glimpse at rougher part of Africa.
We checked our largest luggage pieces with the hotel and took the shuttle to O.Tambo
Tambo is a first rate airport, entirely modern in all respects. We did manage to find our way after asking help from a number of airport personnel, all of whom who speak a form of English coated with native dialects from various regions of the country. They all seemed to know we were
from the US. Luckily, we arrived at the correct gate, not a minute too soon because the shuttle
to the tarmac was set to leave. There it sat, a propeller driven De Havilland, ready to take us to the bush country. to our great surprise, we were served a small lunch with polite service
included, no longer included on short flights in the USA.

Someone was supposed to greet us at the terminal and transfer us to Kings Camp somewhere
in Kruger Nat'l Park, not far from the border deviding SA and Zimbabwe.

The small airfield came into view, carved out of the surrounding bush country. After landing,
we walked through a small terminal to the outside. Mike was there with the HENRY &
ANNABELLE poster. Outside, there were a number of Safari Wagons. We boarded a van for the two hour drive to the camp, however, midway we stopped and transferred to another van, driven by Warren, the camp's manager.Lo and behold, on the right side of the road a herd
of zebra were grazing, then on the left, a group of impalas jumped near the vehicle.

Kings Camp is comprised of eleven thatched roof lodges, a library (Joan, no librarian, here's
your chance) with a very slow computer, dining facilities and office, run by Mellisa who
knows most everything about the area and inhabitants. We occupy Lodge 7 not too far
from the dining room. It's quite elegant inside with a king size bed, lots of furnishings,
bathroom, tub and shower plus a large glass pitcher filled with sherry on a sizable coffee
table sitting on a zebra skin and a bowl of fresh fruit continually replenished by some unknown person who slips in the door then silently disappears before you can thank her or him.
We are allowed to roam the camp during daylight hours but must call Oscar, the night
watchman to escort us to evening meals at night then back to our lodge.

A game drive was scheduled for 4pm the first night we arrived. Our guide, Colbert, who drives and a tracker, Sam both large black men but soft spoken and gentle in helping us climb
the safari wagon. The wagon is large and rugged somewhat like a military personnel carrier.
It has a high freeboard and sports a fierce looking elephant gun on the dash. Sam, was situated on a type of jump seat attached to the left front fender. Away we drove, following a skimpy dirt
road. Sam blurted out something in Zulu an off we dashed through the bush, shrubbery flying to the right and left, tree branches crackling as we ducked low to avoid the debris.
I might add that the first thing we had to do on arrival at the camp was to sign a waiver of
liability.

It would take too much time on this outdated Dell to describe our adventure on the first
game drive but we followed a female elephant and her calf, getting within ten feet of both. Later
Sam picked up the tracks of a leopard while we crossed a dry river bed. He pointed to a tree on the other side and we spotted a female leopard slumped over a wide limb. Just below there
lay a partially consumed impala. We drove next to the tree and sat looking eyeball to eyeball
with that leopard who was too full to bother us. Later on we watched two hyenas waiting for the leopard to leave his perch and depart. Just like you see on the Nat'l Geo channel. Perhaps
the most interesting sight was a pride of female lions dozing, two females with 3 cubs. Two of
thye cubs were almost entirely white, a rare event in the animal world.

Our game drive this morning began at 5:30am. We followed a large herd of about 200 African Cape buffalo to one of the large water holes. These were monstrous creatures right next to us.
So far we've seen four of the Big 5 plus many colorful birds who are spending the winter
here from chilly Europe.

There are Vervet black faced monkeys all around the camp, especially near the dining room
waiting for a chance to dart in and grab a slice of bread or whatever. The other evening
while we were scanning the waterhole from the observation platform, a monkey slipped in
and grabbed a gal's backpack. It was humertous to see both woman and monkey struggle
with the pack until she screamed loudly and won the tug o' war when the monkey let go
and fled.

Fri. Feb. 18 evening game drive was one of the most exciting. We now saw three rhinos
which completed thye Big 5 combo. Also, watched a group of giraffes nibbling on tall trees.
One had a very young infrant who looked at us and scampered away. There was a male
leopard in a amarula tree, a lone wildebeast, probably lost from the herd. Of course, the
three rhinos including a youngster.

Tonight, we have a brilliant full moon, so round and tinted yellowish orange. Driving back
to camp you could hear sounds in the bush and see critters darting to and fro. Camp was
a welcome sight. We were bushed, mostly by sitting for 3 hours in a spartan vehicle.
I was still aching this morning and decided to sleep in but Grandma Annabelle rose to
join our team for the 5:30am game drive, Watta woman!

While having lunch this noon, a funny thing happened. A male and female wart hog
couple with three young'uns in tow walked out of the tall grass, looked our way, then nonchalantly strolled on. Luckily I had my trusty Cannon at the ready and snapped a few gems.
By the way, our dinner last night consisted of grilled wart hog. Fortunately, I chose chicken.
Lunch today included French onion soup, and either a Greek salad or smoked salmon.