An Elephant of a Day

It just doesn't seem right to live on the doorstep of Kruger National Park and not visit it on our way home from church. So, off we went on the old Phalaborwa-to-Orpen drive two Sundays ago.

You'd think we be bored with all these animals by now, but we can't seem to get enough. There is just something about Kruger that keeps you coming back. Since it's a wildlife park, not a zoo, the animals roam free and you can get as close to them as you (or they) dare. And this is just what we like to do. We had no idea, for example, that elephant had such cracked and wrinkled skin or that their ears are rather rough and jagged at the edges. Fascinating. We also like that the animals here are "wild". . . no zoo-keepers to look after them making sure they are nicely groomed for onlookers. No scrubbed faces, plucked eyebrows, manicured nails, or regular feeding times. It's all wild all the time. So, it's possible that you might not see anything at all. This is what makes Kruger so thrilling.

We got lucky. It turned out to be a day full of elephant. (Yes!) Now, I suppose it is reasonable to assume that people don't find elephant as interminably interesting as we do. But, we can't help but try to convince you of their indomitable power, grace, and beauty.




Of course, many of them didn't stick around very long...


But, we were close enough to one that we finally got to see some of the details we usually miss...ears, knees, tusks, trunk, and tail. (Hhmmm, this is sounding a bit like a primary song.)






Despite all of these exciting sightings, Neil found it possible to squeeze in a "quick, 5-minute" nap.

Actually, it was closer to 45 minutes. I can't blame him though. Those 2 two hours of church are pretty tough in the sweltering heat. Nothing like a little air conditioning and a serene, untamed landscape to knock you out. And, boy, was he out.


The only problem with this (aside from the possibility of him swallowing some bugs) is that he was supposed to be the "spotter". Who knows what we missed on the other side of the road while he was dreaming about Peanut Buster Parfaits and the Huskies actually winning a football game.

Upon his return to the land of the fully-conscious, however, he more than made up for his temporary absence. At his insistence, we took a little dirt side road we've never driven before which follows along the Timbavati River for several kilometers. It was here that he made some sightings about which I was very captivated and he was very proud. (Now that's the face of vindication).


A family of elephant in the grass! And a baby elephant to boot! They weren't too terribly attentive to us (typical behavior--unless you're eating something in front of a baboon), but still amazing. Eventually they wandered off into the trees and we moved along down the road.


Then Neil suggested we take the numerous circular outlets positioned along side the road. This was great fun at first since these little offshoots give you incredible views of the river and substantially increase the probability of spotting various wildlife. But, after a dozen of these side trips had yielded little more than a different angle of a dry river bed, I was not only a little nauseous but also slightly irritable. I was just about to invoke my last allotted veto of the year when we heard quite the ruckus coming from the river. Naturally, a grumbly stomach and a hint of annoyance take a back seat to this kind of potential sighting. So, we ventured onto the nearest circular offshoot where we were delighted to see yet another elephant family. Again, with baby in tow! Admit it, few things are better than baby elephant.

Actually, when we first happened upon this group, two adults were having some sort of elephant scuffle...trunks raised, tusks interlocked, bodies thrust against each other. Eventually one knocked the other down whereupon it fell onto it's side and rolled down the sloped riverbed. (Yes, really.) Not being animal behaviorists we have no idea what was going on, but we convinced ourselves that this little ruckus was the result one of them getting to close to the baby....probably the one that ended up on the ground. We were so enthralled by this interaction that by the time we managed to get the camera out, this little tussle was over. But you can see here the aftermath of the battle.

It's difficult to top this kind of sighting. But, to our delight, there was more to come. When we rounded the next corner, we found ourselves face-to-face with this beauty.

I'm certain I don't have to explain why we stayed here gawking for a good 30 minutes. We'd have stayed longer too, if we'd didn't need to get to the park gate before it closed. No problem. There is always next Sunday...

Thanksgiving, SA style

There is a shocking lack of recognition and celebration surrounding American holidays in South Africa. (OK, we're not too shocked. And, if nothing else, this experience has given us a newfound understanding of immigrants' desires to preserve their native traditions.) "Thanksgiving? What's that? Are we suppose to be giving you thanks or something? For what? You Americans have so many weird holidays."

Now, without going into the nitty gritty of American history in all of its glorious inconsistency, it was difficult for us to explain the benefits of Thanksgiving outside of there being a huge amount of food and lots of family and friends around to help eat it. Luckily, that was a good enough explanation to merit having a little get-together...replete with much food and good company.

That said, it is a bit difficult to get the proper Thanksgiving fixings over here. Although there are plenty of Helmeted Guineafowl wandering around our front yard at any moment...


it's not really our style to choose one...chase it, catch it, slaughter it, pluck it, gut it, stuff it, cook it, and eat it. (If only they weren't so gamey.) Plus, we're hard-pressed to find the right side dishes to compliment said gamey fowl. Cranberry sauce and mom's made-from-scratch stuffing (YUM!) don't come too easy in these parts...especially with no moms around. We could rustle up some yams, green bean casserole, or mashed potatoes and gravy, but that doesn't really hit the right chord when it's 40 degrees Celsius. Nothing much does sound good when it's this hot. Except for maybe the ever-loved "Death By Chocolate" Magnum bar (the South African answer to Haagen Dazs) which offers complete bliss in any weather.

So, what to do? A pizza party, of course. Yeah! Calling all (six) friends: Thanksgiving in South Africa is a go!


Turns out one of our colleagues (the only other American) worked at a pizza place in his younger years. So, he had us over to show us how to make his super secret dough and delicious Chicago-style pizza. Seriously, it was phenomenal. Thick, chewy crust, just the right amount of tomato sauce, and loads of delectable toppings. For a brief moment I thought I was actually in Chicago.


Neil could hardly wait till it cooled...


All said and done, we made five of these scrumptious (and very large) pizzas. There was one with peppadews, artichoke hearts, and beet root that made my heart sing. Then it made my heart burn a bit too. But it was worth every burn-accompanied bite.


Another one was covered in nothing but cheese, beef sausage, and mince. Beef-lovers pizza, indeed.


I haven't heard Neil profess this much satisfaction with a meal since my mom visited Seattle in 2001 and made a spinach and mushroom quiche. (She maintains that it was nothing special. He refuses to admit/believe this). Of course, this time his euphoria may have had less to do with flattering a potential mother-in-law and more to do with the warm glow of a television...a common comfort of which he has perhaps been too long deprived. Ah, what could be better than gourmet pizza and South African soap operas? What a happy little Thanksgiving this was shaping up to be.


Of course, there was a tiny cooking mishap which resulted in the entire house filling with smoke. And when we opened the doors and windows, it filled with bugs too. So, we shut of all indoor lights and (rather reluctantly) made our way to the porch where although we would become the Thanksgiving feast for the bugs, at least we wouldn't asphyxiate to death. The fact that we might all live to see another day made us all pretty happy.


But, where is Neil? Well, you see, Neil is so brilliant a shade of white that the bugs thought he was a huge light bulb and their positive phototactic tendencies went into overdrive. After his arms got tired of swatting away trillions of giant winged-beetles that sound like fighter jets when they whiz by your head, he retired to the darkened house and proceeded to wash all the dishes. What a decent person...and superb dinner guest. He was making quite the headway too until this little friend of his ended up losing it's grip on the soapy surroundings and plunging into the dish water.


It's true that no rural South African event would be complete without some major bug component. But coming from the relatively bug-less haven of Seattle, it's taking us some time to adjust to all of these little creepy crawlies. And this little development brought our involvement in the evening's festivities to an abrupt close. "Bye, everyone! Got to run...bug in the sink. Happy Thanksgiving!"

Rainy Days

The rainy season is upon us. Not only does this mean lots of much-needed water, but also lots of much-needed nighttime excitement...

This kind of light display usually even quells the young locals from “the village” (Acornhoek) who love to blast fusion music over loud speakers which we can actually hear quite well despite the fact that we are about 5 kilometers away and in the middle of the bush. 2am on a Saturday? Party on.

Now, there was something else that comes with the rains…what was it? Oh yes, bugs. Lots of bugs. (I don't know if worm-type things like centipedes and such are considered "bugs" by hoi polloi, but they certainly bother me, so I'm categorizing them as such).

Here is a sampling of a few little attractions I encountered on a 10-minute walk from our house to the WRF lodge just down the road:

I especially liked seeing this beetle take a quick dip in the community pool. And that's just what was floating on top of the water. Pool party, anyone?

My skin is crawling just looking at these pictures...and I still have to walk to walk back home. Ugh. Fortunately, there are also lots of things wandering around here that love to eat bugs. The so-called "critters" of the bush.

The gecko, for example loves flies...even the ones with wings! (This one seems rather rotund. I commend it for evidently ridding us of so many pesky bugs.)

This one is much more slim and should certainly eat more bugs, but deserves some accolades for not blending into it's environment and sneaking up on you when you're out and about.


Lizards are also a nice, natural bug-trap. The only problem with this one is that it likes to relax and sun itself on our windowsill in the afternoon making it a bit problematic to open the windows when it gets stuffy inside. But we encourage anything that reduces the surplus bug population, so we try not to disturb its meditations.


Birds are a great way to get rid of bugs. Not only do they eat lots of ants, termites, worms, etc. but they are quite a pleasure to watch...chirping and hopping about. Oddly, this one seems to have taken a particular likeness to our car. I think it may have mistaken it for a giant plum.


Spiders. I have yet to decide whether I prefer spiders to bugs. It doesn't really matter, of course, since it seems both spiders and bugs are omnipresent here. (Yes, that is our living room curtain...this one was about the size of Neil's palm. When he tried to swat it, it did a backflip off the curtain, landed on his side, and quickly proceeded to scurry up his arm. Neil instinctively performed a groovy 80's dance move to get it off of him and when it hit the floor he hit it...about 12 times with his shoe.)


Speaking of spiders...the other day in church I opened the closet to get a piece of chalk and encountered a spider perched on the inside of the door at eye-level. It was even bigger than the above. (Believe it if you dare.) But it was brown and skeleton-like. Ugh! The kids went into hysterics (uhm, aren't they supposed to be used to this kind of stuff?) and we had to eventually disturb the adult class in order for someone to come remove it with a garbage can and poster board. One heroic man took it outside. Of course, we had to take a little field trip too. When we were done gawking at it from a safe distance --"Whoa, it's SO big!" , "Yuck, it's looking at me!", "I wonder where it will live now.", "Do you think it's mommy will miss it?" (yeah, these kids are that cute)-- we went back inside to finish our lessons. After church we all raced outside to see it again. But, it was gone...

Then there are snakes. OK, I've only see one...a green mamba (small, but highly dangerous). I am more than happy I didn't get close enough or hang around long enough to photograph it. While we may not encounter many snakes, we do see more then our fair share of snicks, you know, sticks that look like snakes. Believe me, snicks are just as scary as snakes when you're out wandering in the bush all by your lonesome. (Aside: When Neil saw this picture he said: "No way, you found a snake? Oh, no. Wow, that stick really looks like a snake!" See, I told you.)

Other people around here have much better luck running across the real deal. A few days ago our neighbor excitedly reported to us that he had found a python in his garden. (I think he told us because he secretly wanted to see us squirm...which we did, of course.) A bit later in the conversation he urged us to come by for dinner sometime. We assured him we would as long as he was serving python stew...and lots of non-python side dishes.

Despite this intrepid crew of bug predators, there are still so many bugs! What are these things doing all day? For instance, the other night we heard what sounded like rain outside. This seemed odd since the skies had been clear and sunny all day. Plus, rains here are usually accompanied by plenty of lightning and thunder (as evidenced above). What was going on? On closer inspection (not too close, mind you), we discovered that about a zillion little beetles and winged ants were taking turns throwing themselves into our windows. It was raining...bugs!

We do our best to keep these kamikaze bugs outside by keeping the windows closed and squeezing through a partly-opened front door when we leave. If the bugs do manage to get inside, they rarely survive to the next morning. (Will they ever learn?) As a result, our windowsills get very crowded.

That's OK, though...because it gives us yet another picture to post on our blog that is sure to gross you out.

Close Encounters of the Animal Kind

Enchanted as we were with our last visit, we traipsed back to Kruger twice last weekend...once on our way home from church. While we didn't see as many animals as the week before, we had some very interesting sightings. Quality over quantity. Even if you don't see a single animal, Kruger is still incredible. I mean, look at this place!





On Friday we drove for about 100 km without seeing a single animal. Admittedly, this was a bit disheartening until we remembered we weren't at work...good enough for us. Then on the side of the road we glimpsed this tortoise. Great! You wouldn't believe how excited we were. We tarried for quite awhile taking what probably amounted to too many pictures of a tortoise. People driving past us on the other side of road slowed down to see what all the fuss was about. But when they didn't see anything noteworthy, they sped off a bit bewildered and slightly annoyed.


After the tortoise sighting, we couldn't keep the animals away. From the Oliphants River Bridge you can usually spot lots of wildlife. It is one of the only places in the park (except, of course, rest spots and overnight camps) that you can get out of your car. Typically, we're a little embarrassed to get out and take pictures because everyone else has massive cameras with gargantuan telephoto lenses and tripods bigger than our kitchen stools. We have a hand-held Panasonic and another lesser camera that lasts about 3 minutes with new batteries. But we needed to stretch our legs.


Good thing we did too. Is this Wild Kingdom or what? In a single spot you find kudo, baboon, monkey, and impala....not to mention all of this set against a vast and beautiful background.


Then just move the camera about 60 degrees north and you see hippo and a crocodile co-existing nicely. Of course, these hippo aren't interested in eating the crocodile. And the poor croc just can't get his mouth open wide enough to eat those hippo. He was patiently waiting for something though...maybe that stork just a few steps away...


Turn to the other side of the bridge and you see elephant lounging in the river or walking along the riverbed.


C'mon, if these baby elephant don't make you smile then nothing will. What a place!

Speaking of elephant...this time we got pretty intimate with some. Yeah, this could be a postcard. But it's not! (Note: Those of you who detest elephant should stop reading this blog. Seriously.)


How's this for a close up? (Maybe too close.) Neil wants to drive next time so we don't ever get this close again.


We watched this one try to grab a tasty green leaf that was just out of its reach.


These elephant were taking turns drinking from a big water silo that fills up with rainwater during the springtime. The big one has perched its tusks on the ridge and plunged it trunk down inside. Incredible.


We think these two were playing with each other, but can't be sure. (We're thinking about becoming animal behaviorist just to make our blog reports more accurate.)


This one crossed the road behind our car to munch on some tasty greens. It was attempting to eat in peace, but finally gave up after a couple cars came whizzing by disturbing its snack time.

Of course, when you're with an entire herd of elephant you command the traffic. Which in this case meant: "Stop!"

Or you can be a lone elephant, but very large. That will also stop traffic.

Now, if this doesn't leave you speechless then...then you'd better come to Kruger and experience it firsthand.

We also happened upon a leopard this time. OK, "happened upon" is probably a mis-characterization since when we rounded the corner there were about 15 cars pulled off to the side of the road with people hanging out of the windows and popping through roofs armed to the hilt with cameras. Spotting a leopard in Kruger is rare, so people take it very seriously. Remember we mentioned "The Big Five"? Well, this is one of them.

This is what we saw:

This is what the leopard saw:


People here will ram your car just to get a better camera angle. You think we're joking. We're not. Sometimes we're more afraid of the people than the wild animals.

Then again, when you run across a pride of lion feasting on a hippo they've just killed you tend to take your chances with the people.


Since we went early in the morning, we glimpsed a hyena scavenging something that demanded most of its attention. We were glad it wasn't us.

We saw lots of buffalo this time around.



I think we may have mentioned already that you don't really want to mess with buffalo as they are quite unpredictable and tend to enjoy bashing things with their horn-helmet heads. But it gets a little tricky when one of them decides to take up most of the road during his afternoon stroll. We waited behind this big one for several minutes hoping that all the cars passing it on the other side of the road wouldn't irritate him enough to head-butt our car. We couldn't help but laugh when he seemed a bit bewildered by it all. Anything to ease the tension.

Wildebeest are...well, they're very much like cattle. But they look a little more exotic and have a much cooler name. But, so far, we have failed to muster up the same levels of excitement for these creatures as for others. If only they could grow to be three times their actual size and then threaten our lives by breathing fire or something...



There is nothing quite like spotting a baboon with her baby on the side of the road...even if it is true that it seems baboon are always on the side of the road. I wonder if they are looking for a lift somewhere. We watched these two for a few moments. And they, in turn, watched us...very intently. A nice, cordial encounter. Then Neil started munching on an apple and before we knew it the mother was headed straight for his open window. Yikes! No worries...I believe my ears have healed from the high-pitched scream that followed. Although, I will admit to some lingering aches from the whiplash I must have incurred as we peeled out of there.


To round out the journey, we spent some time gazing at the ever-mellow giraffe. No life-threatening encounters here. Just pure enjoyment.

And just before our way out of the park, we spotted one last elephant in the grass.

At a much safer distance this time.