At the end of May, my friend Jessie came to visit, and she wanted to see lions. For months, she had been sending me short reminder emails: ”I heart lions!” ”I really love lions!” ”I can’t wait to see lions!” She was making me nervous. Seeing lions in the wild isn’t something you can make happen out of desire: that’s the fun of an African safari. You’re not going to the zoo: you’re driving around the bush. Kale and I hoped that with four nights booked in Kruger National Park, Jessie would get to see her lions.
Jessie Belle on her African adventure!!!
In order to get to Kruger (which is inhabits the NE part of South Africa, covering a space the size of Israel), we had to drive through Swaziland! Swaziland is surrounded by South Africa on the north, south, and west, and by Mozambique on the east. It is well-known for its practice of polygamy—with King Mswati III and his 13 wives leading the way!
We arrived in Swaziland early afternoon, got our passports stamped, and then a few kilometers after crossing the border, we were pulled over by a police blockade. The officer looked over my license with a smug, impenetrable expression, and then walked slowly around to the passenger side of the vehicle. “You are not wearing your seatbelt,” he said to Jessie. “That is an offense.” Jessie was charged 20 rand (about $3). She said the exchange with the officer was worth the 20 Rand, any day.
On our way into Milwane Wildlife Sanctuary
After settling into our rondoval in Milwane Wildlife Sanctuary, we decided to take the night road out of the park to Swaziland’s famous music venue, House on Fire. A band from Lesotho was on the bill for the evening, but when we arrived, the place was locked and dark. Not to let our spirits fade, we decided to hit up Malendela’s Restaurant next door: an Irish pub that served Guinness. If drinking Guinness in the middle of Swaziland wasn’t strange enough, look what Kale found in the men’s toilet!
A very famous urinal...
Kale and Jimmy peed in the same place!
The next morning, we woke up to a beautiful sunrise, and off we went!
Sondzela Backpacker's
Our first stop was Swaziland’s natural hot springs, cutely named the Cuddle Puddle. We drank freshly squeezed juice in the deliciously warm water, and after an hour, had to drag ourselves out of the puddle to get some shopping in before we drove the last two hours to Kruger.
The Cuddle Puddle
Swaziland craft market
Kruger is very strict about getting into the gate by a certain time: if you’re late, they either charge you a hefty fine, or they don’t let you in at all! This became a bit of a problem when we accidentally took a very rustic road out of Swaziland, bumping around on rocks and red dirt at 20-30k’s per hour. When we finally reached the exit border post, the patrol officers asked to search our car because they were bored! We opened the trunk, and one of them asked if that was really a guitar in the case, and so I opened it up, and the head patrol officer started chatting with me about music. “What do you play? What’s your name? Do you have any CDs? We’d love it if you would teach us a song…” “I’m sorry,” I said, “but we are trying to get to Kruger before the gates close, and we’re kind of in a hurry.” Jessie’s and Kale’s jaws dropped. They couldn’t believe I had talked to a patrol officer like that! But it was a good thing I had: we made it to Kruger just in time!
We only had a half an hour to check in and drive the 20k’s to our rest camp. Suddenly, there was a traffic jam of cars in the middle of the road. I had just finished reading the Kruger rules: “Stay on the side of the road where the siting is so as to let other drivers pass on the opposite side.” Cars were on both sides. I was so mad! We weren’t going to make it to camp! And then the lady in the truck in front of us pulled over to let us sneak forward. ”Lions,” she whispered. And that’s when we saw them.
Lions in love!
Lioness turns from her lover to stare at us!
Now, not everyone believes in the power of the heart as much as I do, but Jessie’s desire to see to lions materialized in the first five minutes! That’s unbelievable. And you never get that close to lions. It was scary driving past them! We were told later that when lions mate, they pick a place and stay put for four to five days, not eating, not drinking, only mating. Lucky for us, these two picked the side of the road!
We saw many other gorgeous animals over the next few days.
Well, beauty is subjective
When eating a picnic lunch, know what's hanging above you.
Yep, he's totally eating a tree branch. Yum!
A true beauty, the Lilac-breasted Roller
The mating lions
On our second night, we took a guided night drive that brought us back to the lions. We didn’t see them at first because we were watching an elephant, but then someone’s flashlight swung low, and there were our lions, hiding in the grass! When the elephant got too close, they hopped up, and began mating a litte ways down the road! I was too shocked to get that part on camera. What a roar!
A family of giraffe
I love Kruger!
Hello hippo!
Our little hut at Berg-en-dal
We decided to take some of Kruger home with us
We had thought that four nights was a lot to spend in one place, but we could have spent weeks driving around Kruger. It was such an adventure. And to celebrate our departure, the resident vervet monkeys decided to say goodbye by coming inside our cabin! Kale was frying bacon. I opened the door for just a second, and all of a sudden two monkeys squeezed their way through the crack. One stole an orange from the fruitbowl after jumping into the sliced-up avocado that was waiting on the counter for the bacon. (Ever heard of avo and bacon on toast? Delicious!) The other one sat on a ceiling beam, staring down at us—”Can I grab an orange too before I make my exit?” Luckily, it jumped out the door without the orange, and we slammed it shut. Avocado was smeared everywhere! Fortunately, we had another one.
Goodbye Kruger and Jessie Bell! We will be seeing both of you again soon!
Loved the post Jaspar! Thanks for sharing a bit more of your life there- love all the photos.
Great story. And, the lion love pictures are amazing.