The longest day
We had an early morning flight from Cape Town to Durban, so our wake up call was at 3 AM. Groan. I'd stayed up rather late going through my photos from the day, so it was a short night. The hotel had packed us enormous bags of food to take, so we each grabbed coffee and a bag of food and climbed on the bus. Checking in and going through security at the Cape Town airport went smoothly, and we were soon on the plane. It' was relatively small. We could only carry our personal items on, and they had to be stowed above. Our carryons were gate-checked. I had a window, as the plane was not very crowded. All ready to go! And they turned the jets off.
The captain came on and told us they had a communication error between the cockpit and some system, and that they were working on it. We sat as they worked. No joy. The captain then told us that they were trying a hard reset—it's just like what I do for my phone! 😲 Everything shut down, they waited for 10 minutes, then turned everything back on. Still no joy. At first they told us that they would get us another plane, but in the end, we had to deplane, exit security, pick up our luggage from the carousel, and then wait. We got rebooked on a different airline at 10 AM. We were supposed to start our boat ride at the St. Lucia Estuary at 11 AM. Luckily, our tour director was able to reschedule it for 4 PM. Finally, we were on our way to Durban, on a much larger plane. It was full, and I had an aisle seat, so that was good (I hate center seats!).
Durban is on the Indian Ocean, so I've now seen another ocean—one to go! It was much warmer in Durban, and quite humid. We climbed on a bus for the 3 hour drive to St. Lucia. The terrain was flat, with miles and miles of eucalyptus trees, all planted in precise rows. The tress are harvest mostly for pulp, I think. I don't remember if they are also used for the wood. There were also lots of crop fields, including a lot of pineapple. The pineapple here is absolutely yummy! The fruit is smaller than a Hawaiian pineapple, with a pink caste to the outside. Vendors stood by the highway, selling fruit.
Finally, we got to the town of St. Lucia and saw our first warthogs in the park as we drove by. Vervet monkeys were everywhere in town too, and we were told that they get into everything. (In our Kruger hotel, we were warned not to leave our windows open, as they love to come in and take your possessions. I was told that they love playing with lipstick—not that I have any.) We got on the boat, and headed out into the estuary. The water is brackish, but the lake doesn't meet the true definition of an estuary, as there it has no outlet to the Indian Ocean.
The main draw to the estuary is the large numbers of hippos that call it home. We saw quite a few during our two hour trip. They are enormous. After dark, they leave the water and make themselves at home on the streets of St. Lucia. Hippopotamuses are actually one of the most dangerous animals in Africa, responsible for many deaths each year. Hard as it is to believe, they are very fast, and can reach speeds up to 20 mph on land.
There were other things to see as well. We saw one smallish crocodile, several deer types, and, of course, birds.
One bird that I've seen all over South Africa is the weaver bird. There are several species—I think I've seen 4 species—but they (the males, not the females) all build round hanging nests out of grasses or reeds. The architecture is amazing. The nests open at the bottom, and the males hang there fluttering their wings, trying to attract a female to share his grassy abode. The females check the nest out, and may destroy the nest before leaving if it doesn't suit her.
If we hadn't had the airplane delay, we would have reached the night's hotel by around 4 PM. Instead, when we got off the boat, it was after 6 PM, almost dark, and we had a 90 minute drive. Since we had all been up since 3 AM or earlier, everyone was exhausted by the time we got to the hotel. The staff at the hotel was waiting for us with fresh cranberry juice and fresh pineapple slices, and we were soon sorted and in our rooms. I explored the immediate area briefly, and saw a nice toad and a large slug, before heading to the buffet dinner.
I was almost too tired to eat dinner. I did try some venison, which was impala, and a few potatoes, but then I headed to bed. (Venison is a generic term for any meat from the deer family, so you have to ask. Trust me, there are enough impala to spare here.) The room was nice, but since the door opened to an outdoor corridor, either one or some mosquitoes got in. I didn't really care about getting bitten, but the buzzing in my ear kept waking me up. I ended by sleeping with a pillow over my head.
We were up early the next morning, to head to our first game drive. Stay tuned for the next episode!
Yummy venison 😂