On game day in Nelspruit, Joe and I decided to take it easy, update our blog, and attend the Italy vs. New Zealand match. We are rapidly becoming experts in "game attendance" - waiting patiently to find parking at the park & ride, yet cleverly managing to skirt to the front of the masses to ride the bus and get into the stadium. What was once at least a 2-hour process in Cape Town, we quickly whittled it down to 45-minutes. The Nelspruit game day presented itself as quite the dilemma for Joe as he was uncertain about his allegiance - Italy or New Zealand. Having lived in Christ Church, New Zealand for 6 months during his college years, Joe was ecstatic to experience the Kiwis' only second appearance in the World Cup, but his Italian heritage equally pulled at his heartstrings. Eventually, luckily for Joe, he didn't need to make a decision as the match ended in a draw. Italy's yet again lackluster performance against this underdog, foreshadowed their subsequent destiny in World Cup 2010. Despite the mediocrity of the game, we enjoyed the quaint feel and beautiful sunset at Mbombela Stadium.
Italy vs. New Zealand
Italy's equalizer goal off a penalty kick
New Zealand playing well against the defending champs
Joe, a proud Italy supporter!
The beautiful sunset behind Mbombela Stadium
Excited to take Joe on his first ever safari, we were pleasantly greeted by Lady Luck. During our two, full days at Kruger National Park, we were some of the few lucky people this season to have seen the Big 5 - Cape Buffalo, Elephant, Leopard, Lion and Rhino. Whether driving along paths less traveled or staying on the main paved roads, we were indeed fortunate to have our own "private" moments of game viewing, with no one else around to experience the uniqueness of those awe-inspiring, individual moments. As we drove around Kruger, Joe and I started to categorize groups of safari people - crowd seekers and lone spotters; crowd seekers were those people who wanted to see game by finding the biggest group of people parked on the side of the road, and lone spotters were people like us, who found excitement in trying to find the game on our own! Although, at points, we too played the role of crowd seekers in our quest to locate the more hard-to-see lions, especially from the low profile of our Kia Picanto.
Our first giraffe encounter, right on the road!
A similar awesome encounter with elephant population
Our second attempt at seeing a lion...success!
The white rhino is an endangered species
It was so hot the hippos never left their watery haven
Needless to say we had quite the adventure in Kruger! While we attempted to maintain a good schedule for our safari drive, somehow we managed to exit the park after the gates closed, on both nights. As fate would have it though, as we rushed to leave the park in dusk, we had two very thrilling encounters - seeing the stealthy, elusive leopard cross our path on its way to hunt prey, and catching a glimpse of a new nocturnal mammal, the African civet! What a great way to end our safari! We ended our stay in Nelspruit by taking a short day visit to Swaziland and appreciating their local arts and crafts. Along the way, we stopped at one of the most lush forests of Southern Africa, tucked in the high hills of Swaziland.
I will say superb job !!!!!!!
ReplyDeletehippos and elephants!!! yay! and a supercute giraffe! how fun! great pics! :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your blog and reading all the wildlife adventures.
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