Wednesday, June 18, 2025

We got up at 4:15 to get ready so we would be ready to load up at 5am. We drove to look for a gas station to refill the tank, but the gas station was closed. We decided to just pay extra to have the rental company fill up because we didn’t have extra time to drive around to find gas. We turned our vehicle, checked in, and went through security. We had an extra half hour so we went to the bathroom and several people got coffee. After a final passport and boarding pass check, we walked out the door, down a sidewalk, and onto the tarmac to get to our plane. 

Tammy and I sat next to each other. We worked on Battleship and Sudoku puzzles that were in the flight magazine. We had breakfast on the flight. I had fruit salad that was really good with papaya, pomegranate, kiwi, grapes, cantaloupe, and pineapple, peanuts/raisins, and dried fruit cylinders that were dyed rainbow colors.

I also had coffee and water. The flight was a little less than two hours. When we landed in Johannesburg, we had to exit and get our luggage (all accounted for), recheck our luggage, go through security, and go to our gate. It was confusing because our gate was E1, but there were only two terminals: A and B. We saw a bunch of high school students singing and waving flags in the atrium. The South African cricket team, the Proteas, had just won against Australia and they were celebrating. 

We figured out that we needed to go to terminal B. We made it to our gate and took turns walking around. Tammy and I finished our Carioca game. I was way ahead, but Tammy won the last two rounds so she beat me. We got on a shuttle bus after a final passport and boarding pass check. There weren’t very many people on the shuttle. It was a small plane with one seat on one side and two seats on the other side of the aisle. Tammy and I sat in front of each other so we could have the single seats (the advantages of the window and aisle!). 

On this flight, we just had a snack. I got the same colorful dried fruit to save for later, a tropical fruit juice box, and a water. The juice here is really delicious. There are lots of flavors mixed in and some of the pulp/pureed fruit so it’s more like nectar.

The flight was only about an hour. We could see tree plantations from the air and beautiful mountains. 

The Nelspruit airport we flew into was really cute. It had nice flowers and looked like a log cabin. 

There was only a tiny baggage carousel. We went to the bathroom and I found a woman’s phone on a shelf in my stall. I gave it to an airport worker, but we figured out that it belonged to a woman who was on our flight and she went and got it. After we got (all) our luggage, we went to three rental car counter. Sandra bought some biltong and I tried another piece. Dried meat isn’t really my thing, but I did agree that this was better than the biltong we bought at the grocery store in Johannesburg.

We walked out and found our van, a Mercedes Vito. All 6 of us (Kelvin, Sandra, Tammy’s parents, Tammy, and I) were all sharing one vehicle. We managed to get all the luggage in the back besides our backpacks. Tammy and I sat in the back. Thankfully, we had a lot more leg room than we did when all six of us were in our 4x4 vehicle in Namibia. Kelvin started driving. The van was supposed to have options for both automatic and manual, but we couldn’t figure out how to make it automatic. We turned around and headed back to ask the rental car company, but on the way, Sandra figured it out on the screen. We turned around again. We were supposed to get to Sabi Sands Game Reserve in two hours, but we got lost several times and stopped to grab food for lunch at a Mugg & Bean On the Move (which means grab and go options inside a gas station). The drive took longer than anticipated and we weren’t sure we would make it in time for the 4pm game drive. 

We got to the turn off and saw several elephants. They were behind a high fence with barbed wire facing out to protect them from poachers. The road was rough, especially in the van. The seatbelts in the back are very safe (i.e. when you go over a bump, they lock you in place against the seat and won’t loosen again). We had to drive on that road for 20-30 minutes before we reached the gate for Sabi Sands. We had to wait there for 5-8 minutes while the gate attendant radioed our lodge for confirmation. We then had to drive 10 km more to get to Umkumbe Safari Lodge Riverside where we were staying. Colin tried to drive quickly so we could make it in time for the game drive. At one point we had to stop because the road was blocked with a herd of Cape Buffalo. 

When we arrived at our lodge, we saw several duiker (small brown deer) and a nyala (larger brown deer with white stripes on its sides). 

Jessica (our guide) was waiting to help us. She carried two of our suitcases to our rooms. We quickly went to the bathroom and got ready for our game drive. They don’t have keys for the doors; everyone just leaves them unlocked. We walked out and met Jessica at our Land Rover. Jessica drove and our tracker, Forget, sat on a foldable seat that was on top of the hood. There was room for 10 guests. The other people with us were friends of the owner and we could tell that Jessica was catering to them. We saw a surprising amount of animals on our first game drive. We saw lots of impala. They look like reverse cappuccinos with a dark brown layer on top and a lighter tan on the bottom. 

We saw a mama giraffe with her baby from a distance but they were kind of behind some trees. We saw three Bushbuck (small deer with white spots), zebras from a distance, and lots of wildebeest. 

We went to a water hole where a hippo was relaxing. Jessica said he has been there for awhile. We got to see him yawn. 

While we were at the water hole, 6-8 elephants (including a baby!) came to drink. The sun was setting behind them so it made a great photo.

 We saw four warthogs under a tree from a distance. 

We saw chocolate brown Dwarf Mongooses. We also saw a hornbill (like Zazu from The Lion King) and a Lilac-Breasted Roller (which is a beautiful blue and lilac bird). 

One advantage of going to a private game reserve rather than Kruger National Park is that the guides can go off the road for a Big Five sighting (Cape Buffalo, lion, leopard, elephant, and rhino). We stopped for our sundowner snack and drink break. There was dried meat, chutney flavored chips, and nuts. I had water to drink. The sunset was beautiful! As soon as we loaded back up, we saw a hyena running. 

After dark, the tracker uses a strong white light to sweep back and forth to look for animals. If he finds an animal that is awake during the day, they don’t shine the light on them because it destroys their night vision which could leave them vulnerable to predators. Interestingly, the bright white light doesn’t seem to bother the nocturnal animals. We saw bats zooming around our heads. Forget spotted a genet (which is somewhat similar to a civet). We could see its spotted fur, but it was kind of far away. My photos didn’t turn out well, but Kelvin got a good shot. We saw several scrub hares, but it was hard to see them well and impossible to get a picture because Forget couldn’t shine his light on them.

We got back to the lodge at 7. Someone met us with warm washcloths to wipe our hands and faces. We quickly stopped by our room before heading to dinner. They served the dinner in the boma, which is a round circular pen made of sticks. They had a fire going in the center and had fancy table settings. We found the table set for six. The food was set up in a buffet with plates in a plate warmer. I wish I could remember exactly what we had to eat, but this is what happens when you get behind. We had rice with some kind of meat cooked in sauce, delicious vegetables, and malva pudding for dessert (trust me, I do remember the dessert). We had some hot tea and then walked back to our room. We got ready for bed and read a bit before going to sleep. It was pretty early, but we set the alarm for 5:15.