Ron Virmani Visiting mandela’s land- part i -the african safari

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Visiting mandelas land- part i -the african
safari
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• It must have been fortuitous that I booked a
  vacation trip to South Africa on November 23 and
  spent about two weeks there, the last two weeks
  in the life of Nelson Mandela.
• Since I went to Ecuador last year with STI
  (Singles Travel International) and had a good
  time, I chose the same company again.  I flew
  from Charlotte to Atlanta and took a 15 hour
  Delta flight to Johannesburg (also known as
  Joberg), the largest city in the nation of South
  Africa.
• South Africa, a.k.a. Mzansi, is one big country,
  stretching 1200 miles N-S and 1000 miles E-W.
  South Africa is a country of 50 million people
  and is fascinating on many different levels.
• South Africa contains some of the oldest
  archaeological and human fossil sites in the
  world some 4 million years old.  Some thousand
  years ago, Bantu speaking people conqueredand
  absorbed the Khoi Khoi and San people.  The
  Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Diasdiscovered the
  Cape point in 1488. In 1652, Dutch East India
  Company established a stopover in the Cape of
  Good Hope on their way to trading with the East
  India, China and Indonesia.

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• The British, the Dutch and the French colonized
  the country and defeated the native Bantu
  speaking population - Xhosa and the Zulu.  Many
  wars and conflicts took place.  The Dutch
  imported slaves. The Europeans instituted the
  policy of Apartheid.  Nelson Mandela (a Xhosa)
  was jailed for 27 years because of this.  But in
  1994, the apartheid finally ended and he became
  the first President of South Africa.  Now back to
  Johannesburg!
• DAY 1 Arrival in Johannesburg
• After reaching Joberg on November 24, I checked
  into the Hotel and met up with fellow STI
  travelers and the tour guide, Chris, a white
  young man of obvious Dutch heritage.  He spoke
  English and Afrikaans, a language of Dutch
  extraction. We were at Emperors palace.This was
  an upscale Roman theme complex of several hotels,
  a shopping mall, a casino and many restaurants.
   We mingled, ate dinner and went to bed.  

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• Day 2 Madikwe Safari Lodge
• Next morning after breakfast, we took a 50 minute
  charter flight on a puddle jumper to Madikwe game
  reserve, named after the Madiqwe river.  As we
  got to the reserve, two huge Safari jeeps pulled
  upby the side of the commuter plane on the
  airstrip.  Billy and Daniel were driving these
  jeeps.  They were going to be our safari guides
  for the next 3 days.  We drove to the Madikwe
  safari lodge, about 10 minutes away and saw
  giraffes and impalas on the way.  The lodge was
  surrounded by an electric fence to keep big game
  out of the lodge area.

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• At the lodge, we were greeted most cheerfully and
  offered welcome drinks.  Then we were taken to
  our huts.  The huts were spacious, with a small
  dipping pool on the back porch of each hut.  Huts
  also had outdoor showers on the back porch
  looking over the vast game reserve and the
  giraffes walking by.
• At 4 pm, we had high tea and got into our jeeps
  for our first safari adventure.  Soon we came
  upon a pride of lions that had made a kill of a
  wilderbeast and were feasting on it.  We spotted
  black-back jackals who were waiting patiently for
  any scraps that might be left.

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• Later, we saw elephants and a rhino.  Rhinos are
  either black or white.  We passed by a watering
  hole and saw several birds including egrets,
  herons and Egyptian geese.  Roadrunner birds were
  always crossing the road in front of us with
  their cute and clownish gate.
• In the evening, we stopped the jeeps and got down
  for some cocktails.  Having a snack in the middle
  of African wilderness with a backdrop of
  multi-color sunset was very thrilling.  Coming
  back to the lodge, the guide spotted a chameleon
  and picked it up to show us.
• We came back to our lodge by dusk.  We had to
  have a guide escort us to our rooms after 7 pm.
   The footpath to the rooms was narrow and
  completely dark.  The guide had a flashlight,
  though.  All the bugs were out in full force.
   Centipedes, dung beetles, millipedes, scorpions,
  etc. were in the way.  We also spotted a snake.  

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• The dinner was a Boma experience.  A bonfire
  was lit in the open under the stars.  Table was
  set up with candles for dinner.  A great number
  of termites with wings were flying around.  The
  native guides demonstrated how to catch them and
  roast them to snack on.  Some of us enjoyed that
  experience.  
• Dinner included many meats including Impala.  We
  went to bed around 10 pm.
• DAY 3 AND 4 Two full days of Safari
• We would wake up at 5 AM, have coffee, juice or
  tea in the morning with light snack and set out
  for safari by 6.  It was summer time in Africa
  now.  Animals were more visible in the mornings
  and evenings.  We would see the animals from 6 am
  to 9 am.  Then we would stop in the jungle for a
  small snack, juice or something.  We would come
  back to lodge around 10 am. 

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• One of the aims of safari is to see the Big 5
  in their natural habitat.  These are the most
  dangerous animals to hunt.  They are lion,
  leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo.  We were
  not able to see a leopard but saw all the other
  animals many many times.Breakfast was served
  around 10 am in the lodge.  Then we would rest
  and have lunch around 1-2 pm.  At 4 pm, there was
  the high tea.  This would be followed by
  afternoon safari and then cocktails in the middle
  of jungle by the time of sunset.  Then we would
  return to the lodge and have dinner around 9 pm.
• On day 3, we again saw a pride of lions with a
  fresh kill.  Two lions were seen mating.  As you
  may know, lions mate for 3-4 days at one stretch,
  every 30 minutes, a total of about 200 times.  We
  came across a herd of elephants drinking at a
  watering hole.  Baby elephants are the cutest
  things.  They stick to their mothers.

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• An elephant eats about 500 lbs of vegetation in a
  day and lives about 65 years.  They use their
  tusks to manipulate the branches of trees.  
• In the evening, dark clouds came along with a
  bunch of rhinos, both white and black.  These
  names are confusing because both types are about
  the same dark color.  It started raining but
  cleared up.  We drove to see 4 cheetahs.  The
  jeeps were often within 20-30 feet of lions,
  elephants, cheetahs etc.  
• We also saw giraffes, zebras and wilderbeasts.
   The dinner this night was inside the lodge and
  less buggy.
• On day 4, we set out to see a pack of wild dogs.
   There were about 20 in number, mostly sleeping
  or resting and they totally insulted me by not
  taking much notice of the presence of our jeeps
  within about 20 feet.
• We encountered a herd of elephants with several
  cute babies and adolescents.  About 6 lions were
  resting on the other side hoping to nab a baby
  elephant or something.  But the elephants charged
  at the lions and ran them off in different
  directions. 

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• Elephants came across the puddle of water in the
  middle of the road and used their trunks to spray
  themselves with the mud.  Coating of mud protects
  them from sun exposure and parasites.
• We went to the watering hole and saw the birds
  again.  At one point, we spotted a lion who
  wanted to make a kill off a herd of wilderbeasts,
  but a Kudu, an antelope, saw him coming and
  started howling loudly so the wilderbeasts ran
  away from the scene.  We saw many mounds of
  termites in the jungle, each about 4-5 feet tall.
   Most vegetation was thorny.

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• DAY 4 - THE BUSHWALK
• Around noon on day 4, I went with the safari
  guide and Chris for a bushwalk.  This means not
  sitting in a jeep but being on foot.  I felt very
  vulnerable and scared.  I knew I could not outrun
  any animals. The safari guide had a ready loaded
  gun.  We set out single file in 90 degree
  scorching sun.
• We spotted elephants about 75 yards away.  We
  spotted warthogs and rhinos.  Giraffes looked at
  us suspiciously.  The zebras ran away.  We picked
  up a tortoise.  Luckily, the animals were not
  terribly bothered by us and did not bother us.
• In the evening, we saw buffalos.  At another
  point, we saw two Impalas fight a duel, probably
  over a female.  Throughout these days, we kept
  seeing many elephants, Impalas, waterbooks and
  other animals in the wild.  Scrub hares would
  always be scurrying around in the evenings.

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• In 3 days of safari, we learned a lot about
  animals, birds and plants.  We learned to
  recognize white rhino poop from elephant poop
  from buffalo poop.  We played with Impala poop
  pellets by holding a contest about who could spit
  them the farthest!  Alas, I lost!
• Again, the dinner was Boma, ostrich as one of
  the meats offered. 
• DAY 5 MORNING SAFARI THEN TO JOBERG
• We spotted Klipspringers on the slopes of a
  mountain.  In an open area, a bunch of
  wilderbeasts and baboons were roaming and
  feeding.  We saw Springboks, which are the
  national animal of South Africa.  Later in the
  tour, they were on dinner menu.  We headed back
  to the lodge.  I saw a large snake run into its
  hideout.  Probably a Mamba!  

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• Around 11 am, we finished our memorable Safari
  tour and took our charter flight back to
  Johannesburg.  Little did I know that thousands
  of dignitaries from different countries would
  soon be assembling here to pay homage to Nelson
  Mandela.  I am reminded of an incident in May of
  1893 when Mahatma Gandhi boarded a train from
  Pretoria to Durban with a first class ticket but
  was thrown out of the first class coach by an
  Englishman. 
• I feel grateful that people like Mandela and
  Gandhi have fought against discrimination and
  made this world a better place.  I have had to
  fight discrimination myself in the US.  Please
  see www.novantracism.com
• I plan to write about the second part of my trip
  later.  Ubuntu!  (Which is Bantu for human
  kindness).
• Dr Ron Virmani  Visit online Resource to know
  more about other travel destination by Dr Ron A
  Virmani .

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• Visit below link for Part 2
• Dr Ron Virmani - VISITING MANDELAS LAND- PART
  II WHALE-WATCHING CAPETOWN