Dave and Dad…
Are in the bush after a long day of driving.
More specifically we are Umlani Safari Camp which is in Timbavati which part of the greater Kruger area. Kruger National Park covers almost 19,000 acres and is one of the largest game reserves on the continent. Timbavati is privately owned game reserve that borders Kruger. The border is unfenced so the animals wander back and forth between Timbavati and Kruger.
The big difference between the two is that whereas in Kruger you often do your own driving tour in your car and are restricted to staying on the road, at Umlani you have safari trucks with guides and they can (and apparently do frequently) go off-road in pursuit of wildlife sightings. That’s really all I know about the place. The Old Man was completely in charge of setting this up. He’s been all gung ho on safari-ing, whereas I’ve been a little bit less so. Not so much about the whole getting up at 5am to stare at animals. The Old Man definitely did not spring that little detail on me till the last minute. I hate getting up in the mornings.
You know what I am also not a fan of? Seven hour drives that were billed as 4-5. But then of course we decided to go the long way through Pretoria to ensure we didn’t get lost, and then the directions to the safari camp decided they’d like to be off by one intersection or stop sign at every turn, and yeah, suddenly it was 7 hours.
On the plus side we discovered this rental has a USB port so we can plug in our IPods and not be forced to an endless cycle of the seven cds I’ve accumulated in this country. (I love Gazelle as much as the next man who appreciates genius, but seriously that’d be a lot of Super Sonic Lazer Beams over the next two weeks.)
But I digress. We made it here eventually. And here is Umlani Camp. Where we are provided with scenic huts, that are deceptively luxurious with big elegantly mosquito netted beds, open air showers and…no power. Or cell service. Or internet.
Buuuut, all inclusive food and drink. And I guess when you have to get up at 5am to watch animals, and you can’t leave your hut after nightfall without an armed guard because of the possibility of getting mauled by a wild animal, there really is no reason to want to stay up late.