22. Farewell Kruger, Hello Hamakuya! Makua, Makua!

Kruger Day 5, Hamakuya Day 1

Thursday April 25

wildebeest herd

In the early morning, right after breakfast, we left Mopani camp and headed towards a park gate to leave Kruger. We still had about 5 or 6 hours before we crossed the border out of the park. We tried to go to Mozambique because we were 2 kilometers from the border, but the road had washed out in the January floods this year, so we couldn’t pass through. Sigh. Some other time. In case you don’t know this about me, I have been obsessed with Mozambique ever since I decided it was the coolest word there is. But in some other lifetime or some other trip, I’ll go to Mozambique. For now, having been 2km from it will have to suffice. We were also about 3 km from the Zimbabwe border. Kruger actually extends into all 3 countries, so it’s a really cool area and has fascinating history and archaeological sites too.

We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and got out and took the requisite group photos of us all officially entering the Tropics.

            

We also saw a pair of hyenas that were again so curious. I love that about them! The Lion King portrayed them as so evil and malicious. But they're just fluffy, cute, and curious. Their representation in that movie isn't the least bit accurate. 

            

We saw a herd of elephants drinking from a water collection tank and it was another one of the cutest things I saw in Kruger. The little ones had a hard time reaching their trunks up and over and they couldn’t see what they were doing, so it was really comical. And the littlest baby needed help from the mom to get water at all.

            

This one is having a difficult time getting her trunk up and over the edge of the tank. 

Somebody on the far side struggling...

Baby needs help. 

The creepy power lines

The terrain started changing and the place started feeling weird. Really close to the borders of the two other countries. We saw baboons and elephants, but we also saw a series of power lines. These power lines are infamous because they were the route that the refugees took from Mozambique to South Africa during the civil war there. And many people died there or were eaten by lions there since the lions in the area figured out that the people traveled under the power lines. David is producing a documentary called “Under the Wire” about the history and culture of these power lines. Him telling us about this all didn’t make me feel any more at ease. It was eerie as our small caravan of three vehicles trekked through this creepy area. Still today it is a highly used drug and human trafficking route. I didn’t feel unsafe, but I certainly didn’t feel comfortable. The Hakuna Matata happiness vibe of Kruger was dissipating into the eerie sticky air. Even seeing lots fewer animals was creepy. We saw a group of giraffes at one point and I felt relieved to see another form of life besides the Mopani trees. We saw an elephant and some baboab trees which were cool.

            

         

         

Young giraffe herd

Vultures: when they're the only form of animal life you see in an hour's worth of driving, you know it's bad.

A tributary of the Limpopo River

Then I had an eerie meeting of childhood and present as I was in this weird in between place not seeming to be in South Africa or Mozambique or Zimbabwe but some other weird planet. There was no life. No animals. There were some ancient ruins of an ancient Zimbabwean civilization on a mountainside. The ground was cracked and dusty like no other part of Kruger we’d driven through so far. And then David explained that we were driving through what was formerly under the Limpopo River (Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories, anyone?) when it used to be a lot higher. I can’t explain the feeling I had, but there was an eeriness that everyone felt. Everyone was quiet. Everyone felt very uncomfortable. It was so bizarre. Like something from a movie. And definitely a horror movie. We saw a flower on the roadside and all got excited because Kruger doesn’t really have many flowering plants so we hadn’t seen them in a while. David stopped the car, got out, and picked the flower from the plant and handed it to me since I was in the back seat right by where it was. I grabbed the flower and in about 3 seconds, it released a weird yellow liquid onto my hand that burned. I had wet ones in my bag, so I just wiped it off and was fine, but even the flowers in this place are messed up. It was a weird place, one I was quite relieved to leave behind.

Dry season on it's way.

            

Eerie Place in Kruger: Nyala Valley

Green yet mysteriously desolate

   

Look at this cool tree!

Limpopo River

After we left this area, we drove a bit further and exited Kruger through the Parfuri gate. It was sad to leave Kruger, but particularly weird to leave it after such a weird an un-Kruger-y experience at the very end. But I guess that as authentically Kruger as the rest of it was. Just not a part that any tourists would ever hit up.

            

            

When I go back to Kruger, I'll be here to research this.

The afternoon’s weirdness didn’t stop. Shortly after emerging from Kruger, we started seeing civilization, other human life. And not having seen anyone besides my profs, guides, and classmates for the past 5 days, I felt weird seeing other humans. Bizzare, huh?! It was also odd being such a conspicuous spectacle driving down the highway in our open-air safari vehicles. Again, the wind blew in our faces. I felt as if everyone was staring at us as if we didn’t belong.

We drove into Hamakuya and stopped at a mine’s c-store to stock up on anything we might need in the next few days. I can’t emphasize enough how much we stood out, the twenty of us American college students walking into a small convenience store in a rural area of the Limpopo province in South 

Africa.

Back on the roads again, we soon hit dirt “roads.” Some of them were questionably roads because the potholes and ruts were so disruptive. I was sitting in the back of the safari vehicle and the red dust was just coating my hair and my skin and my ears and then eventually the inside of my mouth and nose and eyes. The three of us in the back row decided to turn around so that the dust from the car in front of us wouldn’t be blowing directly into our faces and that helped significantly. We made it into a game between the two trucks – we used the walky-talkies (that had been used to communicate between vehicles in Kruger) to sing a song to the other vehicle behind us, and the three of us in the back row danced or acted out the lyrics for them. We definitely made fools of ourselves, but at this point, we were back in such a rural area after leaving the mine area so nobody was there to see it but our audience.

As we got closer to our destination, the roads got dustier and bumpier. We even had to drive across a shallow river at one point. Yay. Roughing it. We drove through some very small villages that would make Maple Hill, Kansas look not so small. There were lots of kids running around in their school uniforms in each of these villages since it was around afternoon time when kids get out of school. The kids kept on waving at us and shouting as we drove past in our exposed vehicles, “Makua! Makua!” David explained that makua literally means “white thing” in Tshivenda (the language of the Venda peoples). So they literally were shouting white thing at us as we drove past. Haha! Pretty crazy…

 Our destination was Tshulu Camp, David’s research headquarters for tropical water studies in Hamakuya villages. When we arrived, we were split into four tents, according to our groups for the homestays.  However “tents” barely applies to these structures. They were indeed tents, made from cloth and with zippers for enclosures. But they were massive, had five beds in them, and a bathroom and shower built at the rear. And there was a permanent floor and deck made of nice hard wood. WHAT? Anyway, it was cool. We had about an hour before dinner, so we explored the river near the camp, but kept a lookout for crocodiles since they do inhabit that area of that river. We also saw a lot of baboons and watched the sunset over the river.

View from the front of our tent. 

Smitha, Hope and Michelle, three of my fellow homestay group members being silly in front of our Tshulu Camp tent.

Professors Amanda and Jacob

Everybody happy to not be sitting in a vehicle

Professor Jacob du Plessis

After another delicious dinner, the volunteer coordinator and David’s research assistant, a former volunteer from Ireland gave us the pre-homestay talk: instructions, what to expect, etc. For the most part, it allayed my fears. But it definitely made me nervous about some things. I tried not to worry and instead tried to relax and not grow impatient during the almost-2 hour-long talk. After it ended, I walked back to my tent and curled up in my cozy fluffy tent bed and instantaneously fell asleep.

21. It's the Circle of Life: Another Day in KNP

Kruger Day 4

Wednesday April 24

From the day we arrive on the planet

And blinking, step into the sun

There's more to see than can ever be seen

More to do than can ever be done

There's far too much to take in here

More to find than can ever be found

But the sun rolling high

Through the sapphire sky

Keeps great and small on the endless round

   "Circle of Life" 

After another early breakfast and sandwich making marathon, we packed ourselves back into the cars and headed off for Mopani, again taking the semi-scenic route. It was a long drive though, and took most of the day. We searched for lions again, but to no avail. We drove across the Olifants River again just to look at it since it is so pretty.

            

                                        

                                               Hippos on the edge of the Olifants

Young Giraffe

We saw a bunch of hippos there too. They were sunning on the side of the riverbank. They looked like rocks from far away. And we saw a croc swimming in the river.

             

Never smile at a crocodile... 

And we saw a dead buffalo in the river as well. He had a wound on his neck, but we couldn't tell how he must have died. 

Dead Buffalo in the River

We also saw giraffes and some really rare kind of antelope called roan antelopes. They are an extremely endangered species so it was a rare treat to get to see them. Whooo!

Giraffe with his little oxpicker minions lined up on his back. 

            

Family of Roan Antelopes

Also saw some elephants. Classic. We saw one really up close and personal, and poor Xolani was freaking out.  We even had to move out of the way so it wouldn’t run into us. The elephant was behind the car, so Jimbo said to us in the back row, “tell me if he starts running.” He started lumbering along at a slightly faster than walking pace in our direction. And Neha shrieked, “He’s running!” So we drove off. But it wasn’t more than a jog if that.  But we all lived so it was ok. And it was exciting.

             

"He's Running!"

Baobab Tree, believed to be the oldest living
species on the continent

We arrived at Mopani camp and went to look at the beautiful giant Baobab tree on site. Baobabs are common up in the northern part and they are so cool! We had a little bit of free time after we settled into our huts so me and my two hut-mates did some abs. Too much sitting. It’s easy to forget that you’ve been sitting for so long in Kruger because it’s amazing and beautiful and interesting. Plus the company was really fun and we were always having a great time, but still, it was too much sitting. So we did some abs workouts.  And then we went and undid our abs by getting snacks at the bar before our afternoon game drive. It was a short drive but we saw an elephant in must! And millions of Mopani trees. These are the green trees that line the roadside here and give the region its name. They are an indigenously invasive species. And make game difficult to view.

            

@ Mopani Camp

Really cool flower at the camp

We also saw a family of elephants crossing the road right in front of us. The cuteness of the baby was overwhelming. Ahhhhh!!!!!! I miss it already. I wish that moment could last forever. But at least I have the memories. Baby elephants don’t know what to do with their trunks so they tend to just hang there limp or flop around. This little guy is a perfect example. His mom looked pretty grumpy though, so we drove off pretty quickly after the baby passed.

            

Is it safe to cross? 

"I don't know what to do with my trunk." 

Grumpy mamma 

We also saw the usual waterbuck and zebras and I found myself startled at how quickly I had begun to take for granted an animal I’d never even heard of.

             

But then, we were privileged to see what I’m pretty sure is the most beautiful sunset that ever happened.

            

After yet another delicious dinner, David gave us a lecture about Hamakuya where we would be heading the following day. He talked about what we’d be doing in our water research and our homestays. There are twenty of us, and there were four homes, so we divided into groups of 5. He told us that since we’d been so well behaved and friendly and patient with each other all week that he was so impressed that he’d let us choose our own groups. So we decided to randomize it because we’re cool like that and are very mature. J So we arranged ourselves in order of birthdays throughout the year. I was surprised I was the first calendar birthday in the year. But my group was super cool. I mean everyone is really awesome in my program, so it would have been fine, but the particular dynamics of my group and our strengths combined to make a really strong and adaptable group. Go team! My team included Hope, a pre-med psych major from the Chicago area; Smitha, an accelerated medical education program major from San Jose who is a junior but who is graduating in June and going to Feinberg Med School in August; Katie, a pre-med bio major from the Chicago area; Michelle, a communication studies major from New York; and me.

David designed a water research project for us to do for him as part of his larger water research program when we were in our homestays. So we had to learn how to use the GPS equipment we’d be using on our homestays. So he had us do a scavenger hunt after our lecture. Each of us had the geographical longitude/latitude coordinates of two points and had to go find something hidden at each spot. It was pitch black also, so we had to use our flashlights. Thank heavens for my Maglite. Definitely the brightest flashlight in my whole program. Ask twenty overachieving Northwestern students to do a scavenger hunt and what happens, the ferociously competitive side comes out in everyone! It was hilarious. We literally sprinted back to the main house when we found our objects: two rubber snakes. Really? Snakes? In the dark? That was terrifying!!

Anyway, we won. Not that it matters… haha. The prize was a box of Salty Crax, a kind of baked crackers that are amazing! During our whole trip so far, we’d been munching on salty crax in the safari vehicles and every time someone opened the snack box, salty crax were the most wanted food. We didn’t fight over them, but we tried to politely figure out how to have as many of them as possible without making enemies out of everyone else in the car.

After the hunt was over, I couldn’t get to sleep fast enough. Kruger is the most fun place on earth, but to do it right you have to tire yourself out. And our program directors made very certain that that was the case for us all.