lions. Here are the scenes from South Africa aswe drive from
Johannesburg to Kruger
In hallowed antiquity when the Big Bang was recent history and the
Earth was still a molten gaseous mass and finding its shape and
solidity, it is in Mpumalanga that the first stones of the earth's
crust cooled. Today Mpumalanga wears its age beautifully and driving
through this province of South Africa is, well, a collection of
breathtaking moments strung together.
I know this because, instead of flying from Johannesburg to Kruger
like most tourists do, I travelled by road through this province. It
was a good decision because though Mpumalanga is South Africa's
smallest province, its size isn't a yardstick for the excitement it
holds within its boundaries.
The first 200 km of the drive from Johannesburg were pretty
uneventful; it is after Dullstroom on R540that the drive started
making me gape around frequently. And this continued for the next 10
days that I spent from Dullstroom to Kruger. I spent my first
afternoon fly-fishing at a beautiful resort set in woodland with many
secluded lakes where guests can fish in peace. I caught three trout in
15 minutes. It was the perfect wind-down after a nine-hour flight
followed by a four-hour drive.
Beautiful landscapes
I spent the next two days driving across beautiful landscapes and
stopping by at wonderful waterfalls and hidden swimming holes.
Eventually, I got to Hazyview, close to the Kruger National Park.
Since I had the next day to relax at my hotel and enjoy the spa, I
promptly forsook that and was at Kruger Park's Phabeni Gate with my
little car at 6 a.m.
Kruger has such wide tarmac roads that I forgot Iwas driving in a
wildlife park — till a gentle reminder came my way in the form of a
2.5-ton double-horned rhinoceros that stepped onto the roadfrom the
foliage. I braked, and the rhino turned and sized up my car. It seemed
as if he were using the tip of his horn as an aiming device. But then
he perhaps decided the car was too inconsequential for his time and
effort, and ambled on. Thank heavens — he would have gone through my
car like a knitting needle through a grocery bag.
Kruger also has unsealed roads smooth enough for cars. On one of these
(RoadS10), I stopped at a kopje to take in the view, and a full-grown
angry lion stepped on to it and gave me a deep throated roar that
rattled the windows of my car and sent a chill down my spine.
Apparently, he was telling me to move on because a lioness also coyly
peeped out from behind the scrub on the kopje.
My two days before the last were in the Kruger area, and I spent these
at the very comfortable and luxurious lodge in the Sabi Sands Game
Reserve. This reserve has no fenced boundary with Kruger, so the game
move as they please between the two. On the game drives here with
naturalist Jonas and tracker Issac, I saw an entire bouquet of African
wildlife — lions, leopards, a brotherhood of buffaloes,plenty of
rhinos and huge elephants — at close quarters.
My final day in South Africawas an easy one in Hazyview. The lodge
here is a drop-dead romantic hideaway that features comfortable,
air-conditioned tents discretely strung out along a gently flowing
river. Its spa is a canopied affair on the river bank, and so instead
of artificial lounge music I had the gleeful sound of the river as it
tumbled over rocks and gurgled along to match theskilful ministrations
of Melissa, my masseur.
It was the perfect end to my Mpumalanga driving trip — like the lovely
soundtrack that accompanies the closing credits of a feel-good movie
in grand cinemascope — packed with drama, adventure andexcitement.
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