The Journey Inward

Because I teach at an American school, we get American holidays off. I had a bit of an unconventional Thanksgiving by traveling less than two hours northwest to Pilanesberg National Park. I find the holiday a bit fraught anyway, so aside from missing my family and the food, this was a pretty splendid idea!

I did some errands in the morning and packed a cooler full of snack foods and drinks for our weekend. Walter picked me up a little bit after noon and we headed out in his truck affectionately named Betty. Betty morphed from its title of battle truck or BT.

The drive was such an interesting one, through some towns that looked a lot like the townships of Soweto. But in the midst of the tiny little homes were bigger homes that were more decorative and with columns. It would seem that as people were making money they stayed in their towns and added on to their plots at every corner and these little towns, people were selling produce and plants and crafts.

The mountains were gorgeous as we left Tshwane and Gauteng Provence.

We passed many platinum mines, which are also a source of uranium. By day, they reminded me a bit of quarries, but with the big drill rigs looming large like a monster from Stranger Things. At night, these were lit and looked quite pretty, and on a misty morning they looked a bit eerie.

Arriving at our lodge, Kwa Maritane, meaning Place of the Rock, we checked in and walked around the facility.

There were little vervet monkeys running around the grounds!

It was much more beautiful than I had anticipated. R10,000 covered three days and two nights, breakfast and dinner buffets every day, and one guided game drive a day. For those not up on their rand conversions, that’s about $550.

We took our first game drive that evening, leaving at 4:30. We sat up front right behind the cab and driver. He was a terrific tour guide, with great information about the land and animals. He was also very responsive and encouraging of us to stop him if we spotted something. I am not a terribly observant person, but I soon found myself scanning the Landscape and being able to make out the now familiar shapes and movements of the animals.

Here is our guide showing us a pile of rhino dung or middens. It is a huge heaping pile that contains mostly grass, as that is what the white rhino eats. The rhino uses this to mark his territory. He also kicks it back like a dog does.

The first thing that struck me on the drive was the land. I was so taken by the bushveld that I felt certain that even if we saw no animals, I would be enchanted.

The truck was large and had high sides. The drive was bumpy and noisy. We snuck up on nothing! The views were spectacular from the elevated seats. The Pilanesberg mountains and crater were formed from a volcanic eruption about 1300 million years ago! It is one of the largest alkaline complexes in the world and has rare rock types that make it quite unique.

Heading out of the park after 3 1/2 hours, I was happy that we had seen three of the big five and dusk fall across the land. With just a half hour left before we arrived back at the lodge, this giant appeared on the road ahead of us like an apparition.

The big five are considered to be the leopard, rhino, lion, elephant, and Cape Buffalo (Black Death, so called because of how it kills so many hunters. They think they’ve shot it dead, but it stands up and charges, goring them to death). This is because they are the deadliest animals in the world. We had seen four of the five!

Once the sun set, it was quite chilly and the wind hit us hard in the vehicle. I was feeling pretty numb by the time we reached the lodge. We walked right into dinner and it was spectacular! It was buffet style with a huge salad bar and carving station of lamb and chicken, plus endless pots of South African dishes, which I appreciated since I have not had any traditional South African food since I’ve been here. Even though we had been sitting all day, we had really worked up an appetite! It was Thanksgiving and I was excited that there was something that resembled mashed potatoes and green beans and there was a bit of cranberry sauce!

It was fun to take this trip with Walter. He is very knowledgeable about his country, its history, and about all things Nature. I take a lot of notes and ask a lot of questions. He says it is nice to see his country anew through my eyes.

Addendum: I was talking to Kristi tonight and when we talked about the game drives, I told her that although I’ve seen these animals at a zoo or Great Adventure Drive Through Safari as a kid, you know where to go to find the animals. This way to the monkeys, that way to the lions. Maybe they’ll be inside resting or out of view, but you know what and where. On a game drive, you have no idea what awaits you where. You turn a corner and there’s an elephant (or 45) in your path. Where the animals are one day, there are none, or different ones, the next. It’s the unpredictability that makes it so exciting, I think. It’s impossible to feel disappointed.