Day One. Arrive at Marloth
Got up at 6am to pack the car and get ready for our adventure in the Bush! We left the farm in the capable hands of Donna and set off at 7am. The sun was....well, it wasnt shining, but heck, we were so sleepy that it didnt matter! We traveled to Nelspruit where we picked up groceries for our time there and headed off. We passed some beautiful farms and countryside. I am always astounded at how gorgeous Africa is, so very different to England, although Scotland could rival it a little, but only a little! As we arrived in Marloth, which is a very big park with wild animals running free, and it is full of little bush houses where people live among the animals. It borders on Kruger Safari, right next to the river, so on arriving we took a drive down and were greeted by two rhino taking a walk! It was my first sighting of rhino ever and even from a distance they were outstanding. Especially considering two of them are poached every single day in Kruger. Mainly for the Vietnamese, who use their horn as sex drugs. In my opinion, if the great powers that be have meant you cant have sex, you should probably take that as a sign that you just shouldn't anyway, and if you are so stupid as to kill such a beautiful animal then you shouldn't be reproducing either....But yes, such a beautiful sighting! We then went further up into the bush and one of the best moments of my life happened. We chanced across a small herd of zebra and warthog. We got out, and although shy at first, we coaxed them to come closer and we fed them bread and carrots. Feeding them was honestly one of the biggest highlights of my life. My heart was pounding the whole time. Really amazing. Ironically, we found the zebras on Zebra Street, then found Kudu on Kudu street, so when we wanted to find giraffe, we decided to try on giraffe street, or rather, the Afrikaans word for giraffe "Kameelperd" which directly translated means "Camel horse". Another favourite of mine is the Afrikaans word for hippo "seekoi" which means "Sea Cow". So I spent the rest of the trip calling them sea cows and then laughing like a hyena.
This is possibly the best photo ever. i am in love <3
"Hello"
"How brave do I really need to be to get this bread!"
Me and the baby zebra!
Me and the Kudu
The town petrol station is interesting.
After our look round we headed to our accommodation, which were these really cute round houses called roundavels. It was really nice. So, we unpacked and then headed out to one of the look out points. I sat with my knitting, and Ali had her cross words, we looked like the hillbillies of Marloth. Then a group came up and one of the girls went "where the fuck are the fucking crocodiles", and then saw us, she was sharp quiet when she saw my knitting. She probably thought I was Amish and therefore offended by such language haha. In the evening we settled down for reading and dinner, before getting an early night for the next day of sight seeing.
Day Two. Marloth Uncut
We arose today nice and early for our day in Marloth. We started with a smoothie and headed out. I was an amazing navigational expert with the map. I am definitely going to look into becoming a navigational expert for a ralley driver. Straight away in the morning we spotted a rhino in the water. It was amazing, much closer than the one yesterday. So wonderful to see! And the rest of the day was exploring the park and seeing all sorts of animals like giraffe, which were right in the road, Kudu, impala, elephants, zebra, warthog. And we saw baby warthog! which were just the cutest things ever. I think Ali and I were half tempted to try and get one in the car and take it home as a friend for porkchop the pig, but alas, we controlled ourselves and moved on. I have to say though spending the whole day in the car certainly makes you soooo lethargic and lazy! So in the evening we went for a lovely walk where we saw some elephant. Today was just such a wonderful chilled day with the animals and exploring. Absolutely loved it. I wish I lived here......
Day Three. Kruger Park and the Big Five!
Ali and I were up at the most terrible time of 4 15am this morning. We have spent around fifteen hours in the car today, absolute murder! But oh my God, so worth it! Today was honestly truly incredible. We set off from Marloth as it was getting light, and got to Kruger gate at 5 3Oam for it opening. And straight in, we saw a rhino, barely a couple of metres from the car, lying in the sunlight. It was amazing. It was so close and so beautiful. Next, we saw giraffe, and I think the best find of the day was that after five minutes in the park we saw a yellow mongoose. The little git knew I was there! It is a sign! The Yellow Mongoose has spoken!
Sunrise sightings
Our beautiful rhino
After, we saw a huge herd of buffalo down by the river, lots of crocs! As we got to the first camp I was honestly thinking to myself that I had a feeling that I was just destined not to see a big cat here. I have never seen any in the wild and I felt like today was just not my day, but as we left the camp and crossed the bridge over the river, Ali suddenly said "Lion!". We turned and sunbathing on the yellow rock by the river was a perfect sighting of eleven beautiful lions. We were so lucky, we were one of the very first on the scene and managed to get one of the only spaces available to see them. It was awful though, there was enough really for three or four cars to see, but this woman had parked her bus right in front of the space and was not moving for love nor money. Really selfish ...... So really, the only place you could see was from where we were parked. And after just three minutes there was every safari car and tourist around. About twenty cars must have pulled up trying to catch a glimpse. As we had had our moment we scooted out and let someone else in. The woman still did not move...
Having a nibble
After the lions I was absolutely sure we were going to get the big five. I dont know what it was but I just felt it. The big five are elephant, rhino, buffalo, leopard and lion. We had seen everything but leopard, which is the most elusive of them all. It is nocturnal, so spends the days sleeping in the trees and it is SO well camouflaged. I spent every second staring in trees and I swear I started seeing things, suddenly every branch and every rock was a leopard. .But I honestly felt that it was going to happen! And when we rounded the corner and saw two cars staring into the bush with binoculars we asked what they were staring at, and it was leopard! I have never been so excited in all my life! I was bouncing off the walls, up on the sunroof staring at it for ages. It was stunning, so graceful, and when it turned its head and looked over, oh it was great. So, so, so great! I told every car that went past and it was almost just as good seeing THEIR delighted faces when they realised what I was showing them.
I cannot believe how lucky we were to see all this. I have seen so much, and even Ali says that she has never seen the big five in just one day before. We had the luckiest, and some of the best sighting we could have had. I hate to sound soppy but I feel so lucky.
All in all, this has been one of the best weekends of my life. I love these places so much more than places like the Cradle of Life. It is all about expectation and delivery. When you go on safari you are not guaranteed anything, and when you see it, you really feel like it is a special moment that was meant for you especially. I am absolutely knackered and tomorrow it is back to the grind on the farm, but I will remember this weekend for the rest of my life. I can go to bed happy tonight knowing that I have seen lion.....
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