With rainy weather on the horizon today and tomorrow, we all decided to chance it and go to Kruger National Park this morning. We realized the risk of a rainy and windy day existed, but we were all willing to give it a go. By the time we left, it was drizzling, but we were happily on our way.
Fortunately, we spotted some decent sightings before the rainfall escalated about an hour into the drive on the paved road. It always surprises us when we see so much wildlife when driving on the only tarred road in the vicinity of the Crocodile Bridge. But sightings are galore, and we’re rarely disappointed.
No more than 40 minutes into the drive, several “parades” of elephants gave us quite a show, and Tom and I were excited for our three friends to experience the sightings. It is an exquisite joy to share this with our friends from afar. They often expressed their utter pleasure in these experiences.
The rain impeded our views from time to time, but we forged on with enthusiasm and commitment to see as much as possible. We were lucky to see what we did and look forward to sharing more photos in days to come. We didn’t get back to the house until almost 5:45, which meant we spent a whole day in Kruger after arriving shortly after 10:00 am. Often people say you can’t see anything of significance unless you arrive at the break of dawn, but we’ve never found it necessary to arrive so early in the morning. We don’t like getting up at 5:00 am to go to Kruger.
We stopped for lunch at the ever-popular Mugg & Bean, enjoying a nice meal and conversation! How fun it is to share the wonders of the bush with our friends who have never been to Africa in the past. Connie, Jeff, and Lindsey were shocked by the reasonable prices of the food and the quality of our lunches.
The bridge over the Sabie River offered some good hippo sightings. We took many photos of hippos, as shown in today’s pictures, let alone the many others we’ve yet to post. After lunch, we headed to the Sunset Dam to see crocodiles, storks, herons, and hippos, which further rounded out of viewing experience.
We didn’t return to the house until after 5:00 pm, 1700 hrs., which was too late to defrost meat for dinner, so we decided to order takeaway from the Tin Shack restaurant, the first experience for all of us. There were leftovers from last night’s dinner that I opted to eat as opposed to ordering takeaway for myself. There’s rarely anything on a takeaway menu that works for my way of eating.
It was a great day with friends, sharing Kruger National Park, including their shopping spree in the fantastic gift shop at the Mugg & Bean. They loved every moment and made several purchases.
It rained most of the day, and the rain continued as we rolled into the evening. We dined indoors at the dining room table, which was lovely. Tom and Jeff watched the Vikings football game together while seated at the dining room table while we all had dinner and much delayed sundowners.
Be well. More to follow tomorrow.
