We came out of the bush yesterday from the most awesome safari in the greater Kruger Park, more specifically, the Timbuvati and Klaserie Private Game Reserves on the western park of the park. We went with Transfrontiers Walking Safari for 5 days. There were 8 of us on the trip along with our most knowledgable and entertaining guide, Quentin. We stayed in unfenced bush camps, in individual tents that are equipped with beds and lighting inside. There were open air showers and flush toilets with views to die for.
Our day starts with being woken up at 5:30am, a snack breakfast, then a morning drive/walk combo - we would walk quietly in a line behind Quentin who would have a rifle in hand. We return to camp for a sumptious breakfast already waiting for us. Then it's vegetation/siesta time until 2:30pm when we have a small lunch and another drive/walk combo in search for more animals followed by Sundowners - which basically consists of having many beers while watching the sunset at some beautiful spot. We then go on a short night drive and then back to camp for another sumptious meal. The night ends with many beers and stories around the fire pit. Sometimes I wonder if the animals get annoyed with us for being so loud.
On walks and drive, we would follow tracks and sounds of animals, learned about the trees, insects and stars in the south african sky. But of course the highlight were the animals. We walked up to a herd of 400 buffalos at a watering hole (not too close, or else we won't be emailing right now), pissed off some elephants when we tried to shoo them away from our camp (and then a close encounter with them again the next day), stalked a lion on a night drive, and got visits from giraffes and hippos near our camp. We also saw a ton of beautiful birds, scary spiders, wildebeests, impalas, zebras, etc. Needless to say, we had a suberb time!! My tele-lens finally came in handy and we took many rolls of film. It is also quite something when you get woken up in the middle night by the roars of a lion (we can hear them up to 5 miles away).
As Charlie mentioned, we are in St.Lucia right now, and off to search for the perfect beach and surf along the Indian Ocean tomorrow!!