Friday, January 21, 2005
Day 19 Kgautswane & Kruger
21 January 2005
In addition to Mark's entry I thought I'd add a few notes about the day for the rest of the group.
Our day started with a breakfast of eggs, toast, and a tomato dish in Kgautswane. Though a few took a hike up a nearby mountain in the very early morning to see the sunrise.
After breakfast, we packed up and pilled into the vans to visit the village chief. Unfortunately, his wife was having a baby so we instead met with three of his counselors and presented them with gifts we had brought along. We were greeted by traditional dancing and presented with some gifts of pottery, mats, and bundles of sticks used in the dance.
From there we visited a successful small store sponsored by the community development center and sang for the owner (it has become a very frequent occurrence). He showed us his business and offered us some cold drinks. Finally, we briefly visited the home of a local priest before saying goodbye to the rural village.
It took us a couple hours to drive from Kgautswane to Kruger National Park. We stopped at beautiful Blyde River Canyon on the way to enjoy the spectacular view of the landscape.
En route to our first rest camp at Lower Sabie, we saw many herds of antelope, a buffalo by the water, and a small lake filled with Hippos (and a few large baboons who were patrolling it). The gates closed at 6:30 and Grandma and Mark still hadn't arrived which, but fortunately they were able to get in late at around 7:30.
We ate burgers at the take away place in the rest camp and went to the thatched roof huts, which were our rooms. Fortunately they were air-conditioned since the heat and humidity was quite intense. For most of us, their were five in a room. Today was an early night for the half of the group who have a morning walk at 4:15 AM. Goodnight.
~Scott