Day 19 - Cape Town To Johannesburg To Kruger - Cape Town to Johannesburg to Kruger National Park, South Africa
Cape Town to Johannesburg to Kruger National Park, South Africa
By now you'd think getting up at 4 a.m. would be easy, but it's NOT!!! We have to catch a flight to Johannesburg/Joburg at 6:20 a.m. so we can pickup our vehicle and head off to Kruger National Park by 9 p.m.
We arrived in Joburg around 8:20 a.m. and someone from KEA Campers came to pick us up. After a few errands at the airport we headed to the KEA office near the airport. Andre, one of the reps diligently went over the contract and the rules on the use of the Mercedes Sprinter which is a high-profile camper we're about to rent for 10-days. After going over all the details of the camper we headed off to the nearest supermarket called "Pick & Pay" to pickup our provisions for the next 10 days. We wouldn't be cooking/BBQg that much since there are restaurants at all the camps we were going to.
Peter insisted we buy memory foam for our bed. Although, I thought it wasn't necessary, I'm grateful he insisted on it. None of the stores around the Pick and Pay had it, but one of the mattress manufacturers Peter spoke with at the mini-mall said we may find it at one of the stores up north. I couldn't believe it, but there was a sign for the "Mall of the North" so Peter said, we should go there. We were afraid to leave the camper with all our belongings so Peter sent me into the mall. It was really big and had more stores that I had imagined. I didn't want to wander around aimlessly, so I asked for help something Peter hates to do. One of the women directed me and there were two bedding stores together. Neither store had it, but one of the sales folks sent me to the "Game" store. I thought it was odd for me to go to a game store, but I did and it was much like a Target, but even bigger. Low and behold, the first person I asked knew exactly what I wanted and took me right to the item and even put it in a grocery cart for me. It was about 450 Rand ($45). I was hesitant to buy it, but had I not Peter would not have been very happy with me. I didn't hear him say, it didn't matter if it was 1000 Rands. There just happened to be a Cinnabon's right next to the Game Store, so of course I had to buy a couple for breakfast. I should have bought a dozen. It sure made me miss food back home.
I don't think I've mention this, but everywhere we've gone that are freelance parking attendants working for tips and we usually give them 5 Rand which is about 50 cents. They locate open parking spaces and watch your vehicle while you're gone and sometimes even help you carry your items to your vehicle or push your shopping cart for you.
Since we got a late start out of Joburg and stopped to buy memory foam, Peter and I were nervous about getting to the Punda Maria Gate in Kruger National Park by 9 p.m. The park closes at 6 p.m. and you're not allowed to drive in the park after dark for obvious reasons. Punda Maria Camp is near the gate and offers an escort after the gate closes up to 9 p.m. for 200 Rand ($20). The last 2 hours of our drive were through 2-lane winding roads and there were several towns that we drove by. There were also people walking the roads in the dark. People walk the roads and highways all the time. It's kind of nerve-racking for me. Luckily, I didn't do any driving.
There was a large town that we drove by that night where we stopped for gas. It was really lively on Friday night. Lots of folks driving, walking and the street markets were still open. We were sorry not to have seen it during daylight. It slowed up our drive time due to all the stopping. We got to the Kruger gate at 8:45 p.m. and Peter called Punda Maria camp to let them know we had arrived. The gatekeeper let us in once the escort from Punda Maria arrived. He arrived about 20 minutes later and the drive to the camp was a little longer than we expected. We've never driven in the dark in the game park, so I was hoping nothing would startle us.
After registering at the the camp our escort tried to help us find a spot for the evening. By that time it was 10 p.m. and most everyone was asleep except one rude man who didn't want our vehicle anywhere near his. We finally settled on a site and went to sleep. When we woke up we realized we were parked in front of the gate to the pool. Thankfully, we were just there for the night and as soon as we finished breakfast we were on our way to our next camp called Shingwedzi Camp.
No time for photos today...