One Last Day in South Africa

Well, our last full day in Africa arrived on Friday, August 16. We weren't ready to have a "last day," but it showed up nonetheless.

We jumped into the jeep at 6am and took off on our final game drive. There was another incredible elephant sighting along one of the main Timbavati roads. We saw elephants tearing branches off trees and eating them. One elephant -- a super playful one -- kept hitting the sticks off his tusks before shoving them into his mouth.

By the way, fun fact (or is it?): Did you know that female elephants' pregnancies last for 22 months (OHMYWORD)

I could look at elephants forever.

Back at the lodge, we said goodbye to Alex and Theo, who were heading to the Hoedspruit airport. The rest of us had brunch and compared sightings from the morning. 

Tim, the kids, and I packed up our bags and took one last look at the watering hole nearby. We saw wildebeests and zebras. We sure were going to miss seeing all these amazing animals every day.

They're hard to see, but zebras and wildebeests are in the background.

One more look...

Our transport driver arrived about 11am to take us to our hotel in Hoedspruit. We hugged Moses and said goodbye to Aiden. We said our goodbyes to Sharon and Savanna, too. They are all incredible, special people. And by hosting us in the bush for a few days, they changed us forever. I know that sounds like a cliché, but it's the truth. 

The teenager was not impressed with our "let's be silly" plan.

But at least she's looking at the camera here...

Driving away from Kambaku, we all felt sad. You realize, after being in a whole new animal-centric world for a few days, just how interconnected everything is. Like, Aiden told us that female impalas can control when they give birth. They're able to delay births until the middle part of the day, when lions are sleeping, so that their babies get a few hours to adjust before having to walk and move out of the way of predators.

I was just blown away by what we saw, what we learned, and how we felt. As they were leaving, Alex said that Theo wanted to stay and work at Kambaku. We giggled, but I totally knew what Theo meant. To be outside all day, to be disconnected from the "real world," to be surrounded by nature and stunning animals -- it's magnetic. 

By the way, if you want to get a really good sense for what we saw in Timbavati, check out Too Wild Productions on Instagram. Too Wild teaches wildlife filmmaking; we got to see them at work on some of our game drives. Their Instagram content is beautiful. 

***

Close to 12:30pm, we arrived at the Radisson Safari Hotel in Hoedspruit. We thought we'd drop off our bags and then head into the (small) main town for some exploring, but Taylor was feeling really poorly. So poorly, in fact, that as we were checking in, she wandered out to the pool deck, crawled onto a lounge chair, and promptly fell asleep. Since our room wasn't ready, the rest of us followed her out onto the pool deck and amused ourselves for the next few hours. Taylor slept the whole time. 

When we finally got into our rooms, Taylor got into bed and fell back asleep again. Wyatt desperately wanted to go to the hotel gym (again, this kid loves gyms) and so I took him. For the record, he tasked me with a tough arm workout. 😉

By the time Wyatt and I returned to our rooms, Taylor was still sleeping. We gave up on going into town and opted to eat dinner at the Radisson. Tim, Wyatt, and I enjoyed one last South African dinner. And poor Taylor slept. 

It was a quiet, anticlimactic end to our trip and yet, the downtime also offered an opportunity to let the entire three-week journey sink in. 


Comments

  1. Lisa YeeAugust 20, 2024 at 11:47 PM

    What an amazing, transformative trip! You met so many people along the way and saw the wildest and cutest animals, too. I hope Taylor is feeling better now!

    ReplyDelete

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