Well, we've been in South Africa several days now, so let me go back and catch up. After the 15 and an half hour flight here, I felt sure I would crash as soon as dinner was over. How wrong I was. I slept but fitfully that first night; however, I was up early the next morning eager to get to Ezulwini and not only catch up with Amy and Erin, but the animals which were, after all, the reason I was here.

Wednesday morning the temperature was near the freezing mark. Knowing that I was bound for warmer climes and that I would be outside for only a short time, I chose a golf shirt along with my safari vest. I had a quick breakfast of eggs, bacon and fruit (though there was a plethora of choices including kippers), and, commandeering the hotel shuttle, made for the airport.

Now, in my aborted first attempt to get here, I had contacted my travel agent, one Travelocity, where I talked to a number of their agents including Bob who sounded suspiciously as if he were located in Mombai, and was assured that I my booking on the Tuesday South Africa Airlines flight to Hoedspruit had been rebooked to Wednesday. I had now arrived at the crux of the matter, and, having only faith on my side, if stumbled my way to the South African Airlines counter where I presented my hand written booking number stapled to a stack of papers and dutifully explained my predicament to the rotund lady behind the counter. She boredly listened to my tale, looked me in the eye, sat my stack of papers to the side and said "Passport!" With a humble look on my face, I passed her my documents and, with but a few key strokes, she asked, "Baggage?", after which I placed my bag on the scale, she handed me my boarding pass, I pointed to my left with a quizzical look on my face, she nodded and I went merrily on my way.

I arrived at the security check point and discovered that I could keep my shoes and belt on, along with my hat to pass through the metal detector. (Which is good because every time put my hands above my head for the full body scan, sans belt, I have to make a quick grab for my pants. I usually exit looking like a gang banger holding my pants with one hand while I walk out of the scanner.) I arrived at my gate a full two plus hours before boarding (a product of my ticket anxiety.) However, it gave me plenty of time to observe the local folk and to catch up on my entertainment, sports and political news via the airport telecast. (I learned that Nelson Mandela's health was improving, something that has had me concerned for several weeks, the local rugby team is losing four players and Jennifer Anniston has not had time to plan her upcoming wedding.) Probably the most interesting were the commercials which can give real insight to the local way of life.

Finally, we were called to board and we went out to take the shuttle bus to our plane. We boarded our twin propeller De Havilland Dash-8 aircraft where we had a delightful trip across the Drakesburg Mountains to the small town of Hoedspruit. As we landed, I spotted my first African wildlife - a pair of giraffes at a watering hole, one of which was drinking.

The airport is actually a military base with a quite large runway network. After landing, it took us a good ten minutes to taxi to the terminal. Actually, it was more of a building that just happened to be located adjacent to the tarmac. Here I was met by my driver, Peter (which he pronounced Peetuh) dressed in the native dress of khaki cargo shorts, short sleeve military type shirt, boots and knee socks. He took me to what appeared to be any American crossover SUV. I proceeded to the passenger side which, of course, turned out to be the drivers side.

Leaving the airport, we immediately passed a pair of zebra grazing just outside the fence. (Tall electrified fences are common where they are attempting to keep the indigenous life, especially elephants, on one side or the other.) And then a small herd of McDonald's Impala (which I was told I would see many of on my stay. Turns out, they are as common as castles in Scotland.)

As we headed toward Ezulwini, Peter shared many facts about the area. When I remarked that the airport seemed quite large, he told me that, as a military facility, it had to be capable of accommodating many types of aircraft. In fact, during the Space Shuttle flights, it had been an emergency landing facility in the case of an aborted take off.

Leaving Hoespruit, we started up the R40, a wide two lane highway (similar to an A road in Scotland). (Peter explained that the name Hoedspruit meant hat, hoed, and creek or small stream, spruit. The word is Afrikaans, which the local language derived mostly from Dutch with some English and local African dialects thrown in. As Peter talked, his manner struck me as a cross between Germanic and Australian.) The drive took about 45 minutes, but not because of the distance, but due to the nature of the road after we turned off of R40. On the safari lodge lands, the roads are strictly dirt/gravel with sharp humps every 30 to 150 yards or so. There are a few stretches where you can get up to maybe 30-40 mph (as I learned that evening),

I found Erin on the observation platform overlooking the small camp watering hole. While Joburg had been a brisk 0°C, the River Lodge temp was more like 26°C (80°F) and I was quite comfortable in my golf shirt. Amy joined us shortly and I was able to catch up on their time here. I quickly found out that, the day before, they had seen a herd of elephants on their evening safari and that, both morning and evenings are damn cold on the open air safari vehicles.

And with that, I see that our lunch time approaches, so I will take a moment to add a few pictures to this post and put my gear away. (At this time I am sitting on the observation deck overlooking the watering hole at Billy's Camp. Again, it is rather warm, with a cool breeze and a promise of a cold safari at 4pm.)