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| Pier in Durban, South Africa |
The Amsterdam quietly sailed into the first port of South Africa, Durban, around 5 am this morning. Anticipating a busy morning, we were already awake well before we sailed past the bright lighthouse that took us into the harbor. Everyone onboard was going to be required to pass through a mandatory immigration inspection with the local officials. Our time slot was moved to 6:30am, which was fine with us. All of the independant overlanders like us, were getting this process out of the way, so they would be able to leave as early as they needed to. We were in no hurry, since our scheduled ride was at 11am, giving us plenty of time to enjoy one last breakfast in the dining room, finish packing our few things for the trip, and let our waiters and room stewards know we will be away for 5 days.
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Clear and cool day
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The process was not as quick as usual, since the officials really took their time with each person. Complicating the inspection, were many people who chose to go early, even when they had a later number. No one was checking. Even though they tell us to bring the letter with us, no one ever reads them. From the way most people were dressed, we would say they had come straight from bed, and were heading back there afterwards. This check was still taking place when we were watching for our ride from the promenade deck at 10:30am. The ship was docked in a different berth, with another ship in the pier where we were tied up last year.
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MSC Opera in our slip today (actually, their slip bi-weekly)
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At the same time we were waiting for our ride, the entourage for the Archbishop Tutu's arrival were coming to the ship a little at a time.
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The red carpet is ready for the "entourage" Henk, Captain Jonathon, and Gene waiting
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A red carpet had been rolled out, and the head staff were present for the greeting. In this crowd were the Captain, Henk and Christel, Tom G, the dining room manager, and Shiv, the head of housekeeping to name a few. Although we did not see the special guests arrive ( Stein Kruse, his wife, Gerald B., Arnold Donald and his wife, Sally Andrews, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, his wife, and several of his family members), we did see the red carpet come flying out for the new President and CEO of HAL, Mr. Arnold Donald. With all the special fuss, we wondered if the port gate had been closed to all traffic. We were told that it did delay the tour buses and pick ups. So we went back to get our stuff, and go outside to wait.
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| The Soweta Gospel Choir has arrived |
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Still waiting for Stein Kruse and his group
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Our driver did arrive about 10 minutes later, which was great news. The Amsterdam was actually docked in a different place than last year, because the MSC Opera was in the regular terminal. We had no terminal and no way to check on our ride, so like we said, seeing our driver from Thompson's was a good feeling. Our driver placed our 2 HAL duffell bags in the back of the four seater car, and we were off and running to the airport by 11:15am.
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| On our way to the airport in Durban |
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| Very green hillsides |
The King Shaka Airport was about a 45 minute ride from the port, so we got there with time to spare for our 1:45pm flight to Nelspruit, South Africa.
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| King Shaka Airport |
Now, the check-in and security checkpoint was a piece of cake. No long lines, no shoes to be taken off, no small ziplock bag with small toiletries to be taken out. Our bags were well under the limit of 50 pounds, and they never weighed our carryon camera bag and purse. They could weigh as much as 18 pounds, which one of them came close. The plane we were flying in was small with only 37 passengers. That meant that there were more restrictions with weight.
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There's our plane, a 135 - LR jet that held 37 passengers
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King Shaka is a very small, but modern airport, so there were only a handful of stores near our terminal. Mostly souvenier shops, perfumeries, and jewelry and watch outlets. The only thing we were interested in buying were two small bars of chocolate, just in case we had no snack on the flight. Gosh, you would think we should be able to go for at least a day without food with all of the over-indulgence on the ship. In fact, it would do us good. Come to think of it, we did pack a few small bags of beef jerky, so we were covered.
Boarding time was 1:15pm, but instead of going through the tunnel hook-up, we went on a stand-up bus that took us on the tarmac directly to the waiting plane. The seating was cozy, but we had enough legroom. Still, we were glad the flight was only one hour.
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| Coastline of Durban |
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| Lots of beachfront |
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| Very big city |
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| Many acres or hectares of wine grapes |
And we did get small bags of nuts and fruit chews with a soda before we landed. With the help of the flight instruments, the two lady pilots landed the plane at Nelspruit's Mpumalanga Airport through the many layers of thick overcast. And it got here right on time....2:45pm.
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| The Mpumalanga Airport in Nelspruit |
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The neatest and one of the smallest terminals in South Africa
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This has got to be the smallest airport we have ever been to, but one of the most unique. Uniquely Africa. It is situated on a high bluff overlooking the fertile valley below. There is one restaurant and perhaps four or five shops. After grabbing our bags on the turnstile inside the terminal doors, we met up with our second Thompsons driver of the day. He greeted us with a sign, then grabbed our duffels as soon as we said we would love to make it to the afternoon game drive at the camp. Once again, we had a four seater car with only the two of us as passengers. Nice.
Driving a bit aggressively, we ended up at the bush camp after passing through the Sabi Sabi Wildtuin Gate at 4:30pm.
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Sabi Sand Wildtuin Gate Entrance to Sabi Sand Game Reserve
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According to our travel documents, we were supposed to pay the entrance fee directly. But our driver reached in an envelope, handed it to the gate keeper, and we were on our way. The same thing happened last year as well......no charge.
We arrived at the camp around 5pm, were greeted by Dale, the current manager we met last year. He asked if we wanted to join the game drive in progress, and of course, we said an absolute yes. With that, one of the staff members took our duffels and led us to our "home" for the next five days.
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This was cabin # 6, ours last year
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What a surprise to find we had unit # 4, which was twice as large as the one we had last year.
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| Our bed for the next four nights in cabin # 4 |
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| Living room, not bad for a bush camp, right? |
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| Clothes closet and bathroom door |
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| Boy, this is "roughing it" on our balcony deck |
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| Outdoor shower |
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| Instant coffee, tea, sugar, cream, and hot chocolate....oh yeah, complimentary wine |
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| A bathtub with a view of outdoors and of you in the tub |
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| Double sinks |
We'll go into details later, because we really did not have time to even see it all before grabbing our cameras and jackets, and heading for Dale's vehicle.
We met our driver, Jeffrey, and tracker, Kenneth, and two couples that had been here for two days already. Lucky for one of us, the front seat was vacant, and the perfect place not to have to climb into the higher rows of seats in the back. One couple, Freida and Keith were from South Africa, traveling with friends Lynn and Jack from Maryland. All close to our ages, they seemed to welcome us to their ever-changing group, as we would when we got new folks in a couple of days.
Anyway, we saw two female elephants and two twin babies, a rarity among elephants.
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| First sighting was an elephant |
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| Foraging as they do all day |
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| We got very close |
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She had two twin babies, a rare site
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| Time to leave them alone |
Sightings of wildebeests, impala, zebra came next. A big herd of impala hang around the game lodge, so if nothing else, you always see them first. Birds were abundant today with sightings of guinea fowl, goaway birds, and francolins. A big fresh pile of rhino poop indicated that he was here recently, but had moved out of sight.
At one point, when the sun was beginning to go down, we stopped for "sundowners", their form of snacks and cocktails. Choosing an open area with a few shrubs nearby for bush pit stops, the fellows set up a make shift bar with wine, beers, and mixed drinks. Beginning with champagne shared by Lynn and Jack, we further enjoyed ice cold local beers with snacks of beef jerky, corn nuts, and rusks, a type of African biscotti. They are addictive for sure. It soon got dark, and we loaded up to head back.
On the way back in the dark, the tracker lights the roadsides with a spot light, while our driver went slowly looking for game. We did see a lone hyena and a couple of chameleons that were hiding on the tree branches. They turn completely white in the light, and they were almost impossible to see.
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A lone hyena on a hunt at night
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Back at the camp, we joined with the rest of the guests including Margaret and Keith who had not gone on their drive when they arrived. It did make it an extra long day. Another new couple had arrived today named Emily and John. They seemed a bit shy, but would soon get over that with us. The camp was full with a few more guests....making the total number 16. Joining us tonight was Dale, the manager, and Sheldon, one of the young trackers. Six square tables were placed in a row to make it a complete long table for 18 of us.
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The dining room table set for 8pm dinner....elegant
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The dining room is covered with a roof and the wall of the living room, but the sides are opened to a view of the field down below. While dining, you get to watch for game that comes to their waterhole on the gentle slope.
With a little time before dinner was served at 8pm, we all had another cocktail while we got to know each other. Did we mention there are no electric lights in the camp? All we had were numerous lanterns, candles, and a fire in the pit nearby. Very neat in the living area, but not so easy in our rooms. But we'll get to that later too. Here is a quick list of our dinner items, beginning with a served potato leek soup with fresh slices of whole wheat bread and butter. Followed by a salad of a half of avocado filled with langostino shrimp and thousand island dressing. After that, we were directed to the side table that was set with plates and bowls of mixed salad, sweet corn cut off of the cob, steamed sweet potatoes and carrots, rice, and roasted potatoes. The meats were leg of lamb and roast beef, as much as you like, with gravy too. Dessert was a slice of lemon cake with cream. Amarula, a local liquere made from the marula fruit was offered to each of us. Similar to Irish creme, we sipped a shotglass full every evening. Dinner was over by 9:30pm.
It was great to take a shower in candlelight, and slip into the sleigh bed in our double-size room. The only light was from two large lanterns and some candles in the bathroom. Of course, there are no TV's or radios, but there are a few plugs for cameras and computers. And over the bed and sitting area are two ceiling fans. Perfect, because it was warm and sticky humid. In fact, the last customer in this room had a pedestal fan, so we also ran that all night. We slept like babes. It was one heck of a long day, but the perfect start of an excellent adventure.
More to come...........
