Day 12 - Jan 18
Here begins the real reason to be in Africa. Airport, Joburg, airport, small plane to Skukuza. There we were met by the Rangers from Mala Mala, specifically Kirkman's Kamp. Mala Mala is a private game preserve and consists of 3 camps, Kirkman's being one of them. It sits on the border of the Kruger National Game Park which is the size of Israel. Mala Mala is only 55,000 acres. Game cross borders without passports, we stick to Mala Mala. In the "public" parks the "watchers" must stay on the roads, be in closed vehicles, and are usually on their own without guides. We rode in open Land Rovers, everywhere and anywhere the vehicle could keep at least two wheels on the ground, and has trained guides and trackers. The first afternoon we went out at about 4 PM and within 10 minutes found a small pride (4) of lions. Too hot for then to be doing anything except lie about panting. It is hard to explain how (or why) we could get so close to these wild beasts.
As close as 15 feet in some cases. Our ranger explained at the outset that the animals are used to the vehicles and "see" them and non-threatening, but that we were not to stand up or hang out of the vehicle for that would present a different picture to what are very dangerous animals, especially the cats. So of course when we first saw the lions, one lady was on the wrong side to see well and stood up. Rowan, our ranger, just said "SIT DOWN" in a very sharp tone. That cured everyone for the rest of the trip. We continued for another 2 hours and saw many animals. At about 6:30 we met the other vehicles (there were 3 in our party all going separate ways but kept in touch via radio) in a fairly open area where the rangers and trackers set up a small cocktail party. Pretty tough, what? On into the night with the tracker (Simon) who rode in back up high using a powerful searchlight to pick out some night animals like servals, jackals and owls. The night noises were awesome when we stopped to look and listen. Back at the camp (I can't write Kamp more than once) we were advised not to wander onto the lawn in front as there were about 60 Cape Buffalos grazing and thinking about going for a swim in the pool. Eerie shapes in the night. Evidence of their visit was all over the lawn the next morning plus they had broken up several lawn chairs by the pool.
Dinner was in the Boma - a place for eating. It is laid out in a semi-circle , open air, bamboo walls all around with a fire in the middle and buffet table off to one side. Each person has their own table. I guess it is a throw back to early camping times in the bush. Long day ZZZZ!

Turn to day thirteen - ROADBLOCK

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