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July 14th, 2000, Kruger Park Lodge, Hazyview, South Africa
On Sunday, still sans vehicle, we brave our way to the local Mall - just 1 Km away. We leave the kids to their new found friends, and head off to check out the neighbourhood. A whole new world for us. There are many folk wandering around with pump action shotguns (it's ok - they turn out to be on our side), another "armed response security" mob. Gives me the willies. Everything, even the ATM machines, are shut down. Wow! Nothing to buy, so we end up with 15lbs of oranges from a street vendor - R5.00 about $CAN1.15. At least we will not get scurvy this week. Dinner at the restaurant, followed by a stroll around the swimming pool to check out the Southern Cross with the kids. We are interrupted by rumours of a hippo wandering around the mini putt golf course. Sure enough, no more the 50 metres from the restaurant, a very fat hippo is helping the groundsmen with the grass. There is only a slight crescent of moon, so you can only see it in the dim moonlight. These animals can really move when they want to and can become quite ornery; we keep a reasonable distance.
Secure in our luxury estate, we head off to the hippo hide, chat to the other guests, no, we could not find anyone who admits to carrying any kind of weapon with them, but talk always turns to the "security" problem, which appears to be endemic, not just to Jo'burg, but to all of South Africa to some degree. Tuesday, we lock the car doors, and close the window when we go to Kruger. We are all tired, not many animals (that we see). Inside the park, it seems that the "jungle" is in fact, outside of the park. There is a "bring & braii" on Tuesday evening upon our return. We barbeque and dine at a wonderful location in the resort which is right on the upper Sabie river. The February floods washed away several parts of the dining area, but it's still a beautiful place even if you just want to sit there. Pure luxury at the executive level - just what I need.
For a day's outing, we head off to "The Cheetah Project", about 80KM north of Hazyview on Wednesday. My first drive in Africa for 20 years or more! This is another large game reserve which specialises in breeding cheetah. We do the tour of the cages of young, adolescent and adult breeding animals. Also, a pack of wild dogs in the reserve. All are fed ("about 7 tonnes of meat per month"), in highly sanitised conditions due to the cheetahs susceptibility to diseases. There are some tame White Rhinos here. The kids love it.
The auto bank teller tells me I'm out of cash in my bank account in Canada. Rats, my finely tunes year end/ financial plans did not withstand the test of reality. I'm pissed off but not yet broke. Phone call to David in Canada, my financial rep. It will be fixed - and was, thanks mate. Life here at the lodge is simply awe inspiring. Total maid/ house keeper service (they even WASH the barbeque if you use it), the only thing that we (not a royal we) do is the laundry. Everything is well thought out and easy to organise. For breakfast, we dine with the birds calling, lunch with the vervet monkeys and for the evening, we dine to the hippo's calling to each other. Take a beer at the bar and watch the kids leap in the pool, careen on the trampoline, tennis or in the mini golf, or if they are feeling into some form of intellectual pursuit, play chess on the giant chess board. Looks like it's time to relax some. This lifestyle, obviously will not last forever... Friday, 14th. and we are out of here. Clutching our cameras, lap top, many and various plastic bags of unconsumed products, we leave the safety and luxury of the lodge, and make a bolt for the next stop. Mopani Lodge, Kruger Park. Home First Entry Previous Entry Next Entry July Photos |
What a life it
is here, we pass the days in 
On Monday, we get the hire car, and Aiden & I immediately
celebrate by heading off to the mall and stocking up for the week.
The local ATM's (when loaded with cash) actually delivers local
currency to me, thankfully, we can live in SA, simply via this
mechanism now. We celebrate with a whole trolley full of goodies,
especially vino and something at least labelled as T Bones (about
$CAN4.00/ kilo). We get back and the car is still there. I tip
the attendant who personally stood by the vehicle for 30 minutes,
R3.00 ($CAN0.60). To hell with the expense!
Chat to some of the other time sharers. Yes, the security
situation is pretty bleak, but, over time they accept it as part
of living in S.A. Seems that Toronto is know as "Toronto - a
place - Torunto" you really need a South African accent to
get it to work. The English speakers roundly blame the Afrikaans
speakers for teaching the "Afs" (now the new political
bosses), all the devious tricks of bad governance. This sounds
like a familiar refrain from the last time I was here.
Back to Hazyview, we find the other shopping mall -
deliberately advertised as "your low stress shopping option".
We see why, no (obvious) guns, just the ever present parking
security. R2.00/ 5.00 is always a worthwhile investment here.
