Skukuza, South Africa
Today we went on our game drive at 6 am. Half of the group did a longer game drive by skipping breakfast. We need to leave the lodge for the airport at 9:15 am. Some of the group thought that they would see more animals if they skipped breakfast.
On the morning drive we saw a pride of 11 lions that had taken down a giraffe having a feast. The insides of the giraffe were completely gone. Legs and neck remained.
All of us were ready to go at about 9:10 and we boarded the jeeps for the short ride to the airport. Our flight today is to the Skukuza airport and we are flying in a single engine Cessna that holds 13 people. This is our first time in a small plane. Pretty tight fit.
The flight was only 20 minutes long. We were only flying at 2500 ft at 168 mph. There were dark clouds but we flew under them. It was nice to see the game area below us.
The airport was tiny and I was surprised to learn that we will be flying out on Thursday to Capetown from this airport. The jet must be flying in the same day as I didn’t see any when we landed.
The Train on the Bridge is only a few minutes away. We climbed aboard the Jeeps for the Kruger Shalati. Same Toyota pickups configured differently than the other lodge. Roll bars and a roof. This was an improvement. There was also a built in fold up table over the front bumper. Even better!
The Bridge that the train sits on was built in 1923. It was put here during the gold rush times of the area. The bridge is being leased. The cars will have to be removed if the lease is not renewed. Nothing on the bridge is attached permanently.
Each cars contains one room. There are 14 cars. Each car has a view of the sable river.
The car in the center has a bar, a lounge, and a swimming pool.
We had a few hours before we could check in so we had a drink at the bar and then lunch.
The afternoon game drive was at 4 pm. Each drive is 3 hours. This seems to be the standard amongst the lodges that do safari’s. Long pants and T shirt has been my attire. As the evening progresses I add a sweatshirt and then a blanket.
We stopped for a drink, a snack and watched the stars come out. Very little light pollution in this area. The stars are amazing.
We finished the evening with dinner back at the lodge. We booked dinner “in the bush” for tomorrow evening. The dinner includes protection by a game warden with a rifle. Hyenas can get rough.…