Kruger National Park NE of Johannesburg

Kruger National Park has benefitted from rain. The dams are getting full and the grass is green and high. Makes it a bit hard to see the hogwarts as I've gotten used to calling them (the warthogs that is)--you can just barely see the tips of their horns.

I wanted to compare a safari in the Serengeti with that in another part of South Africa and that was the major difference. All was not lost though. I did see the big five--African buffalo, elephants, one lion, one leapard, and a white rhino. Along with that were hippos, zebra, giraffe (which are said to only sleep 6 minutes a day, and the older they are the more aromatic they are), impala and the blue wildebeests. I asked to see more cats, and was granted that wish--two small large-spotted genets, rather racoon marked cats. Oh so cute! All this was on a four -day "private" tour. The tour company lost money on this one since there was a minimum charge for three people. Oh well, I got a lot of personal attention.

Since finding mammals in the tall grass was a tall order, I took to bird watching. It was more fun than I ever imagined! The birds here are so colorful, and after studying my fish for the Seychelles, I think I'm a better bird-er, if that's the right term. I bought a book with all the wildlife in the Kruger NP, so started checking off all the ones that I've seen.

I'm staying at a Backpacker's Inn in Joburg (that's short for Johannesburg), which is nice and homey. One of the two brown labs just came and put his head on the desk. How sweet. They'll even keep my luggage here so I don't have to pay excess baggage fees on my way to Cape Town. Since my airline ticket is just within the African continent, I'm stuck with the restrictions for "local" travelers. Dive equipment is heavy.

Now just for some interesting tidbits:
--The driver for my trip to Kruger thought it was good to litter. That way locals keep their jobs.
--Soweto is the acronym for Southwestern Township. (I'm hoping to visit Soweto and the Apartheid Museum in Joburg in April.
--South Africa has the third largest canyon in the world--Blue River Canyon. I read that after saying this is like the Grand Canyon of the States (the largest)! I'll see the second largest in the next month.
--The Garden of Eden (teahouse) was next to "God's Window". Signs that said "Keep God's Window clean were a bit amusing.
--Most people here speak 4 to 6 languages.
--Highlands Meander means fishing.
--Among the big cats, only lions purr.
--Cheetah and hyena are not able to retract their claws so their footprints are each to identify.
--Some cheetah are "employees" of airports. Since the local tribes here own the land of some of the smaller airports, the land is used for grazing. When the herds get too big, the interfere with landings and takeoffs. The cheetah are used to keep the size of the herds manageable.
--Hitchhiking is very common here. I haven't tried it.

More from Cape Town.