November 12, 2013

Orpen Camp              

First full day in the park.  Up at 0400, eat cereal and prep instant coffee.  On the road in the dark which transitioned to cool, dark drizzle.  Part of the road to Satara was washed out so we took the detour and then north to the Timbavati picnic site.  On the way we pulled down a road for an overlook, which is one of the few places where you can get out of your car.  On the short road up we came across the largest baboon troop I’d ever seen.  Baboons are fun to watch.  Not necessarily that easy to photograph because they’re usually on the move, fanning out and moving as a troop in one direction.  Stopping to pick up some leaf or seed along the way, but always moving along.

Then on to Timbavati where we stretched our legs.  Then back to Satara for lunch.  Then home by about 1430.  A nap, and then I went out for a short drive this afternoon.  The weather had shifted from gray and drizzly to clear and windy with soft clouds.  Still, not too hot.

We didn’t see any predators today.  Really a low excitement day, but still that gives me the challenge of photographing baboons, buffalo, impala and zebra.

Last night we heard hyena from our bungalow at the camp.  This morning as we were getting up we heard lions.  They’re around.

They’ve obviously had a lot of rain here and it’s greened up, which makes spotting animals more challenging.  Tomorrow, not sure….  We’d talked about taking food up to Timbavati and making breakfast, but I’m inclined to go south.  We’ll decide in the morning.

And now it’s 2140 and I have to get up at 0400.  Time to sleep.

November 11, 2013

Johannesburg

I hate jet lag.  It’s 0540.  Every joint hurts.  I’ve been up for hours, too tired to do anything but too wound up to do any useful sleeping.  Sigh. It is what it is and will pass.

Arrived at the O.R. Tambo Garden Court yesterday evening.  Dinner, shower, Skype the daughter, sleep.

Now up, pack, eat, check out, shuttle to airport, rent car, figure out (again) how to get out of J’burg and then on the road to Kruger. 

Maybe hear lions tonight.

November 8, 2013

Salt Lake City

Just hit SLC.  Good weather and fantastic luck.  Literally, off the plane and by the time we reached baggage claim, both of our bags were spitting out on the carousel.  First bags out.  We grabbed them, walked out to the airport shuttle curb just as our shuttle pulled up.  Literally 20 minutes off the plane and we’re lounging in bed, shoes off, looking at a menu for room service.  I’m assuming that the entire three weeks will go just like this.  Really.  In Africa.

We dropped Aislin off at school early this morning.  She’s now in the hands of Gina’s parents Jan and Jim for three weeks.  It’s incredibly generous of them to care for her during that time.  We’re so grateful.

And it was harder to leave her than I anticipated.  I’m missing her already.  But we’ll Skype tonight.

Tomorrow we start the real trek to South Africa.  People ask what we’re going to be doing while we’re there.  We’ll spend the entire time (except for the first night) in Kruger National Park.  It’s huge and diverse and full of animals.  And the basic deal is this – you can bring your own car.  You can drive anywhere where there’s a road, and Kruger has a vast network of paved and well-maintained unpaved roads.  You can only get out of your car in certain designated areas and you have to stay in a fenced camp at night.  It’s ‘make your own adventure’ at Kruger.  You’re not dependent on a guide or a ranger (though there are guided drives and walks available).  You get up in the morning and decide where and when to go.

And, this is the road….

November 3, 2013

November 2013 and we’re preparing to travel again to South Africa, looking again for lions, elephants, leopards, crocs, hyenas and the rest.  Unlike the last two trips, Gina and I will be traveling without our 15 year old daughter Aislin.  Aislin likes the idea of traveling to Africa but she wasn’t too enthusiastic about going this year.  She likes animals but isn’t as obsessed with them as we are and is in fact nervous about being close to large wild animals, to elephants especially.  She’s also in high school now and last year we found that she missed her friends during her two weeks in Africa.  Plus, the bottom line is that it isn’t that much fun traveling with a photographer.  It means hours and hours sitting in a car – in baking heat or cold rain - looking for something to shoot or waiting for something to happen.

So Aislin stays with Gina’s parents for three weeks, over the Thanksgiving holidays.  It’s the longest time mother and daughter have been separated and it marks another small milestone in the process of growing up, establishing independence, ultimately preparing to leave the nest.  Not that she wouldn’t like to do more travel.  Just two days ago she was asking if I’d ever consider going somewhere other than Africa, mentioning specifically Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, Italy.  Spain.  And particularly Japan.  But they don’t have lions, do they?

It does mean that Gina and I have three weeks together for this trip.  During our previous two trips, I went first and Gina and Aislin joined me later, constrained by limiting the time Aislin misses school.  This time, Gina and I have three weeks, constrained by limiting time away from our jobs. We’re returning to Kruger National Park in South Africa, returning to places we are very familiar with.  Africa, of course, is huge.  There are so many amazing places on the continent.  We wrestled with the question of whether we should go someplace new.  But we think that Kruger is the most cost effective way to be able to be exposed to lots of African wildlife.  It’s expensive to get there, but the time in the park is reasonably affordable.  Everything else we considered – East Africa, Namibia, Botswana – seemed to be much more costly.  That said, there are other national parks in South Africa and Kruger itself is huge and there are parts of the park that we’ve never explored.  But there’s a part of this decision that’s about keeping things simple and familiar.  We know these camps, the roads, the environment and there will be many opportunities for great sightings.  But next year – something different.  Namibia?  Kenya?

In the past, we’ve also found a way to spend at least a few days at a private reserve.  This year, in the interest of reducing the cost, we’re passing on that.  Private reserves are much more expensive than a national park.  Photographically, there are distinct advantages to spending time in private reserves.  The guides know where animals are (and coordinate via radio), they’re able to go off road and deep into the bush and ultimately the guides are working hard to please their guests.  Typically the guides are also photographers, understand the needs of the photographer and work hard to make their guests happy.  At Kruger, virtually everything you shoot you shoot from your car (there are some exceptions…). The whole world you have to work with is within this narrow band along the road.  A hundred yards off the road, it doesn’t exist for you. 

But private reserves are also about the luxury experience – the lodgings, the food, the hospitality.  That’s part of why they’re so expensive and, frankly, that stuff doesn’t mean much to me.  The modest accommodations of the national park are plenty adequate for us.

We’re taking a bit of a different approach with travel this year.  Typically, we’ll fly Delta from Redmond, Oregon to Salt Lake City, to Atlanta and then direct from Atlanta to Johannesburg.  But the connection in SLC was very tight this year (like 30 minutes) so that any bobble in that link from Rdm to SLC would jeopardize the entire itinerary.  We’ve decided to fly to SLC on Friday, spend the night there, and then depart SLC on Saturday.  Arrive in JNB Sunday evening.  Spend the night at an airport hotel, then rent a car Monday morning and head out on the road to Kruger.

And leave the strain and stress of work behind for a few weeks. I think Gina and I don’t have any special objective other than to get up every morning, get in the car and enjoy being outside.  We understand that they’ve had rain, it’s greening up and I saw a report this week that the first baby impala has already been spotted.  We can’t wait.