Kruger National Park

To be honest about it, it is difficult to describe Kruger. You visit Kruger or any other similar game reserve in Africa not just to see the animals but to experience timeless Africa within your heart of hearts. Earnest Hemingway did it, so did Robert Ruark and Peter Hathaway Capstick. Even President Roosevelt had felt it in his veins when he took a long safari in East Africa way back in 1908.

And we felt it too as we entered into the vastness of the twenty-five thousand square kilometers of Kruger National Park in South Africa about a month ago. But we were also lucky in several respects. One of the Kruger’s Big Five that consisted of elephants, buffalo, leopard, lion and rhino chose to appear and block the road in front of us as we crossed the gate to proceed a couple of miles inside. Imagine a towering tusker looming grotesquely large a few feet away from your windscreen with swinging trunk almost touching the bonnet of the Toyota. We had nothing else to do but to wait and see. So did a lot of other cars that piled up behind that of ours. However, after several long minutes that felt like hours the pachyderm finally decided to leave us alone and ambled off into the nearby bush.

We traveled by asphalted road and gravel tracks all through the day and saw many animals, save and except the rest of the big five. There were zebra, giraffe, impala and wildebeest in great number. We came across warthogs wallowing in the sludge at many waterholes and a family of baboons foraging at the roadside meadow. But what amazed us most was their camouflage. You see a giraffe now and the next moment that tall fellow is lost to sight as he stands next to a baobab, trying to rub his chin against its loftier branches.

Even though there are several lunching spots spread all over Kruger, we chose the Satara Campsite that had a fine restaurant. We ordered steak but were offered omelets. ‘No meat, Bawana’, lamented the cook-cum-steward, ‘the baboons had raided the camp before lunch hour and everything has been pilfered. Only a few eggs kept in the cupboard have been saved’. We had no other option but to gorge as many omelets as possible and then leave the place in search of the lions as these predators are often seen in late afternoon, stalking an impala or a kudu straggler that has come out of the herd and then feels difficult to rejoin.

And indeed this happened right in front of us. On taking a turn towards Szukuza Camp we suddenly came across a lioness stalking a larger kudu through the grassland, its belly almost touching the ground while three more lionesses simultaneously charged at their prey from three other sides. Needless to say, the prey animal was run down and killed very shortly when a strange thing happened. A massive black-maned lion appeared from behind the bush a few feet behind our vehicle, ambled over leisurely towards the kill and literally toasted the meat. I was later informed about this strange custom among lions in which the male leads a lordly life, doing nothing except eating and mating while his harem members provide his food on their own.

Garden Route Entry Into The Tsitsikamma National Park

While the Park basically is a coastal reserve, the route (Garden Route) covers a scenic stretch of the coastline that starts from the Mossel Bay in the Western Cape to the Storms River that is crossed through the N2 Coastal Highway. Then it goes over the Paul Sauer Bridge right up to the Eastern Cape. Garden Route is a befitting name since it takes the traveler through a garden-like country dotted with numerous ecologically different plants, lakes and blue lagoons. The route also covers several towns that include Knysna, Oudtshoorn, Nature’s valley which is a holiday resort tucked between the foothills of the Tsitsikamma Mountains, the Indian Ocean and the Groot River lagoon. George happens to be the largest city as well as the principal administrative centre of the Garden Route.

Above all, it boasts of a fantastic climate, considered as the second mildest type of weather after Hawaii, according to the Guinness Book of Records. Temperatures rarely go below 10º C (minimum) in winter and seldom climb above 28º C (maximum) at the height of the summer. Precipitation is year-round with a tendency to peak during the spring, caused no doubt by the moisture affected sea wind coming from the Indian Ocean. In short, it is credited with Maritime West-Coast Climate with mild to medium summers and mild to cool winters, allowing visitors to enjoy the trek all through the year.

The mesmerizing trail carves its way between the Tsitsikamma and Outeniqua Mountains with the Indian Ocean keeping constant company. The local forests appear to be an assortment of Cape Fynbos and Temperate Forest, providing excellent hiking trails that include eco-tourism activities. The bird life in this region appears prolific, varying from fynbos to woodlands to wetlands.

There are altogether 10 nature reserves embracing the ecosystem of the area plus distinctive marine reserves that are home to dolphins, seals and many other aquatic fauna. What is more, several bays along the Garden Route function as nurseries for the endangered Southern Right Whale that reaches the bays to calve during the winter and spring.

Even though people usually explore the Garden Route in cars, some of the more romantic type prefer rail travel provided by Africa’s last remaining steam-engine train, the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe.

Ever been to the "Ostrich Capitol of the World"?

Had it not been for Carl, we would never have made it. He took us up through the Robinson Pass to Oudtshoom, which is believed to be the ‘ostrich capitol of the world’ for the simple reason that wherever you happen to look, you sure would see hundreds of these over-sized birds moving about or feeding. It was more or less like the cattle in WY! However, the mountain pass was fabulous and we enjoyed every bit of the journey with the foaming coastline serving as the backdrop as we descended through another hilly pass.

But Carl knew the place like the palm of his hands. The first stop was at the wonderful Cango Caves with their bushman paintings. Call it primitive if you like but the figures were almost alive and breathtaking even after they have been exposed to the elements all these years. Among the many graphics, the image of an elephant was stunning. However, it was time to leave and Carl stepped on the gas as soon as we fastened our seatbelts.

Our next stop was for lunch at the Oudtshoom Inn, appropriately festooned with ostrich feathers and the lunchroom filled with palate-tickling flavor of barbequed ostrich fillets. Since this appeared to be the customary dish at the Inn, we ordered a plate each for three of us (that included me and wife Barbara plus Carl) and when it arrived with mouth-watering French Dressing and a side dish of French fries, well, we forgot about everything else and just tucked in till the plates were polished.

But the real fun of the day started as we reached the Cango Ostrich Farm, a fantastic farmhouse teeming with birds of all size and shape. There were large male birds that could be ridden; temperamental females not to be touched for fear of getting pecked and tiny ostriches herded by mother birds that wouldn’t let anyone come near them. However, the height of entertainment a-la-ostrich style comprised “Ostrich Kissing” comprising a man holding a ostrich food pellet between his lips and at a given command a male bird will come near and gracefully pick it out of his lips, simulating a kissing effect.

However, we were mistaken in thinking that the farms were making most of their profits out of selling ostrich meat. In reality, they got 15% of their income from the sale of feathers, 25% from the meat but the lion’s share comes from leather products made that are out of ostrich hide, which is fairly expensive in the open market. As for ostriches ‘falling in love’, we were told that when the male bird gets really horny, its beaks and long legs turn red and, true enough, we found a mating ostrich with the male partner sporting a pair of bright red legs !

Cape Town

Located on the shore of a natural inlet of the Atlantic Ocean called the Table Bay, Cape Town is a prominent tourist destination in South Africa. Legendary African leader and South African President Nelson Mandela was kept imprisoned for decades in an island known as Robben Island in the Table Bay, seven kilometers off the coast of Cape Town. The island and nearby Whale Rock attract many tourists who go there not only to visit the inglorious prison cell but also to view the surf of the open Atlantic Ocean thundering ceaselessly against its margins where many ships had perished during the earlier days. Rumor has it that a Dutch ship laden with thousands of gold coins disintegrated here many years ago while a few coins are often found washed ashore on windy nights.

Originally developed by the Dutch East India Company way back in 1652 as a supply station for sailing ships going to Eastern Africa, India and the Far East, Cape Town today is a sprawling metropolis with captivating features that include the Table Mountain National Park, Cape Point, Signal Hill, Chapman’s Peak Drive and many more.

The Table Mountain National Park, earlier known as the Cape Peninsula National Park contains two distinctive landmarks – the Table Mountain for which the park is named and the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost extremity of Africa. Visitors wishing to go up the mountain can either hike all the way to the top or take the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway (TMAC) to reach the so called table top. The TMAC also happens to be the most popular tourist attraction of Cape Town whose lower cable station is situated at Tafelberg Road near the Kloof Nek. Its upper cable station stands at the westernmost end of the Table Mountain plateau at an altitude of 1067 m, offering panoramic views of Cape Town, Table Bay and the Robben Island to the north and the Atlantic seaboard to the south and west.

Here are some of the major tourist attractions of Cape Town

• Cape point is located within the southern part of the Table Mountain National Park which is accessible from the Cape of Good Hope side. It is amazingly rich in numerous kinds of flowering plants and has largely remained unspoilt even though it is located quite near to the bustling port city of Cape Town. There are two lighthouses on Cape Point, the higher of which can be reached by the Flying Dutchman, a funicular that can transport up to 600 people at a time.

• Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa that was once believed to be the diving point between the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. The Oceans, however, actually meet at the site where the warm water (Aqulhas current) clashes with the cold-water (Banquela current) and then turns back on itself – a point that oscillates between Cape Agulhas and Cape Point, around a kilometer from the Cape of Good Hope.

• Boulders Beach located in the Cape Peninsula, near the Simon’s Town is somewhat of a sheltered beach not far from the city. It hosts a colony of African Penguins which attracts a lot of visitors. Even though set near human habitations the defenseless birds can be observed at close range, moving freely in a protected natural environment.