April 6, 2011 started off with our 9:00am arrival at Maputo, Mozambique. Today, we began our 3-day overland trip and safari. By 10:00am we were on our tour bus headed across the city and on into the countryside for the border between Mozambique and South Africa. By 11:00am we had made it to the border and waited while our tour guide took all the passports and had the Mozambique officials check each of them. This took about 45 minutes and we were cleared to drive about 100 yards to the South African customs and immigration buildings. Once there, everyone was directed off the bus and on to process through immigration. This took longer than expected. All in all we were at this check point for almost an hour. Then we headed out again on our trip toward Kruger National Park. By 12:30pm we passed through the main gate of the park at the Crocodile Bridge entrance. It was after this point that we disembarked our bus and boarded 4x4 vehicles for our drive to the Shishangeni Private Lodge about 14 kilometers away. Within minutes we began seeing various wildlife (White Rhinoceros, Giraffe, Elephants, Impala, and others).
We arrived at the lodge late due to the border delays, but immediately were given our chalet. Shishangeni has 22 individual chalets that can accommodate a 44 guest maximum. Each chalet has a fireplace, large bathroom with tub, outdoor shower, lounging area, private deck for game-viewing, and large king sized bed with large mosquito net cover. The chalets cannot see one another due to the heavy brush and distance between each of them. Ours was approximately 1000 feet from the main lodge. The walk to the chalet is on an elevated wooden walk way approximately 5 feet above the ground and surrounded totally by brush on the sides and above. This is to keep you off of the ground and away from animals, snakes, and insects. But on our first walk to the chalet, we encountered a 4 foot long tree snake on the walk way. We immediately dropped our bags and headed back to the lodge for lunch. The Lodge served an afternoon tea at 4:00pm and by 4:30pm we were out in our 4x4 vehicles with our Tracker/Guide on our first wild game drive. Unlike some private game reserves, Shishangeni is located within Kruger National Park where the animals roam freely. The park encompasses 7,580 square miles of land with varying topography. There are some 20 different ecozones in the park and each has its own animals. Within minutes we were alongside Giraffes grazing on the tree tops and Zebras eating away at the tall grass. It’s hard to believe just how close you can get to the animals in the 4x4 vehicles. But, most animals were within 20 feet or so and didn’t run from us unless you were to move your arms or speak loudly. As the sunset several of the lodge’s 4x4 vehicles gathered in a clearing and had Sundowners and light snacks. Then we continued on a night wild life game drive for a couple of hours. We saw plenty of animals on this night drive. We even saw two Hippopotamuses about 5 miles away from their river home grazing in the bush. Then we were back at the main lodge by 8:30pm for a great dinner in the open air, thatch covered main dining room. By 10:00pm it was bedtime.
Our wakeup was at 5:00am on day two of the safari. By 5:30am we were in the dining room at the Lodge having tea, coffee and pastries prior to leaving on our 6:00am game drive. Within minutes of leaving on our drive we began to spot animals of all types. We continued on this game drive until 9:00am when we returned for a wonderful breakfast. The remainder of the day was free time where we could engage in viewing from our chalet’s private deck, swim in the pool or just catch up on needed sleep. The schedule picked up again with lunch, afternoon tea and our game drive at 5:00pm. We returned at 8:00pm for dinner hosted by our private Tracker/Guide who answered all our questions.
On day three we again had an early 5:00am wakeup and departed the Lodge by 5:30am on a game drive. By 8:30am we were back for breakfast and departed the Lodge at 9:00am for a 2 ½ hour road trip to Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport. At the airport we boarded our chartered DC-9 aircraft and made the one hour flight to Durban, South Africa. After getting to Durban and collecting our bags, we boarded a tour bus for the one hour drive through Durban to the ship.
It was nice to get back to the ship, which many passengers were fondly now referring to as “Home”. Just for informational purposes, here are the exact animals we saw during our safari in Kruger National Park: African Elephant, Warthog, White Rhinoceros, Black Rhinoceros, Bushpig, Hippopotamus, Buffalo, Giraffe, Vervet Monkey, Hyaena, Jackal, Zebra, Porcupine, Tree Squirrel, Eland, Nyala, Wildebeest, Impala, Kudu “Kruger National Park symbol”, and many different and varying birds. Sadly we did not see any of the cats. This was due to the amount of rain that this part of the park had recently. In the two days before our arrival they had rain. When this happens the cats don’t move much and hunker down in the tall grass.
