South African Expedition 2000
Saturday 22 January
| Our last day in Kruger, and another early start. We
were straight out on the road, hoping so see some more of the ‘Big 8’. More
elephants and giraffes were seen. And then we saw some hyena. A mother and about 3 cubs
running around, being closely watched by some rather nervous looking impala. And soon after, we came across a couple of rhino. Rhino have appalling eyesight, and so as soon as they heard our lorry, they started to run. But luckily for us, they ran alongside the road, about 30 yards away, and ran alongside us for about 400 yards. Truly spectacular, and for me, the highlight of the safari. |
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Then it was back to the campsite, and the long, 5 hour drive back to civilisation.
We were due to be dropped off at Johannesburg airport for our flight to Cape Town, and so had to wait while all the others were dropped of first. Pretoria was OK, but Johannesburg was a real eye opener. The suburbs were full of well to do homes, but all had the most elaborate security. Barbed wire fences, CCTV, 12 foot high walls, guard dogs. Every home had enough security for a small prison.
An then we went into the city centre. After dropping the last of the group at the bus station, we drove off into down town J’burg. And it was real scary. Even though we were in a minibus, none of us felt safe. Most of the down town area was now inhabited by Nigerian illegal immigrants. I just cannot get across how frightening that place was. Not a place I’m in any rush to go back to.
At the airport, we checked in and were able to get an earlier flight than was anticipated. And so by 10pm, we were in Cape Town.
Our hotel was situated in Sea Point, a part of Cape Town which had probably seen better days, but was adequate for our needs, with enough bars and fast food places to keep us going.
We went to a few bars (including a few that with hindsight we wouldn’t have gone anywhere near), and ended up playing pool and drinking Castle in The Irish Rover. A real piece of Ireland to be sure. Got w##kered.