The last few days in South Africa were spent nestled in the middle of Kruger National Park, totally unplugged from the rest of the online world. It was a pretty refreshing period of my adult life, though I wish we had the foresight to learn that before embarking on a domestic plane from Joburg to Skukuza. Even the safari guides had to use a satellite phone to call out or surf the internet when necessary. We boarded at the Rhino Post Safari Lodge, which was definitely an experience we’d love to go back to next time.
View of Kruger National Park from the domestic plane.The clean and simple Skukuza airport.I loved the outdoor baggage claim!We had to take a car ride through the park from the airport, and I was very amused to have had a small rolly attachment to store our luggage in throughout the trip.We were greeted at the Rhino Post Safari Lodge by Rosie the deer, who made a guest appearance every once in a while. She’s a wild deer, but it’s pretty wonderful that she trusts the place enough to go foraging around humans.The admin office at the Rhino Post Safari Lodge.We were offered a complimentary drink upon arrival. Here’s the bar with very cool rock walls.I think those were Impala walking away from the watering hole in one row.Lucky that I brought a book to read while waiting for animals to show up at the watering hole! Photo by: Scott.We also saw some wild boars!All of our rooms (spaced quite far apart) were connected by this wooden bridge, and were more or less connected in a line facing the wildlife – giraffes, elephants, and even lions were spotted pass through. In fact, a group of hyenas huddled outside the entrance our first night here! Too bad Scott and I were safely ensconced in our rooms after dinner instead of hanging out at the bar like the Belgian family who did and got the privilege of witnessing sleeping hyenas.Coming out for dinner every night was an exercise in strength in numbers, as it would have been very dark by then without permanent light fixtures and we may encounter nocturnal prowlers en route to foodings. Photo assist: Scott.I loved our spacious room. Note that it doesn’t have aircon because they make efforts to integrate as much as possible into nature, but it was cool when we visited in September. If I remember correctly, electricity also got cut off at night. Our balcony overlooked the stretch leading to the watering hole, and if we were lucky, we would get to spy herds of animals like lions or giraffes. Photo assist: Scott.Mosquito net for nature’s insects. Photo by: Scott.Shower was outdoors.Food was completely taken care of by the hospitable staff, and everything was so scrumptious!Also, what goes on in here is that everyone gathers together for meals. This makes about a total of 12 visitors excluding the game drivers and admin staff. That was initially very stressful for me, but I was lucky to be able to use Scott’s casual ability to engage strangers as a cover while I inhaled my food. On the bright side, as most of the visitors stayed the same, and we stayed in the same grouping as those whom we drove with, it got easier to warm up to these friendly strangers and recognise their faces. A lot of enviable animal sighting stories were told between us two cars.Scott and I had to leave early before breakfast to catch our flight back to Singapore on our last day, and the staff were so kind to pack us breakfast to-go!
