And The Tour Begins

This morning the whole group ate breakfast at MoAfrika Lodge and then we packed up the safari van with all our things and got ready to set out on our tour. We made it to the petrol station just a few minutes from the lodge and then found out the clutch hadn't been properly adjusted so we had to go to the nearby shop to get it fixed before we could proceed. We spent some time there and while there I had to go to the bathroom. The man who worked there took me to someone's house next door and we had to walk by three horses and three pitbulls to get there. It was super awkward but at least they had a toilet! After the work on the car was finished we set off on our journey towards Kruger.

The safari van is quite large and I am sitting in the back with eight people at two tables. I unfortunately am in a backwards facing seat, but it's okay I didn't get too nauseous, just a little bit. We made it about an hour out of Johannesburg before pulling over with another mechanical problem that didn't sound too great. Apparently when the clutch was fixed the line to the brake fluid was disconnected and the mechanics forgot to reconnect it so we lost all of our brake fluid. Kind of important. We ended up spending quite some time sitting on the side of the road there. It was quite a site, but there was a ton of space and we set up chairs and sat in a large circle together. It was actually not too bad. The truck was eventually fixed and we were on our way again! I have been so lucky with travel drama, haven't I?

After driving for a bit we stopped to get some lunch at a really nice gas station. There was a good selection of food and other things. I had a chicken burger and I asked if there was mayonnaise on it and they said no, but it did have mayonnaise so I could only eat the top half of the bun, but it was fine. Whew, that was a long and terrible sentence. There were also rhinos, antelope, zebras, and ostriches behind the station which was weird but interesting. The bathroom there was also amazing! After lunch we got back on the truck to drive the rest of the way to our campsite and the Hotel Numbi, stopping just one more quick time for people to buys drinks and other odd items them may have needed. 

We got to our campsite just after dark and set up the tents. It was actually quite easy to set up and I am sharing a tent with a girl from Cape Town. I can't really pronounce her name, but I will figure it out eventually since we are roommates for the next six nights. I took a shower after setting up the tent, and oh my goodness the showers here are amazing! They a tiled with glass doors, super clean, great water pressure and temperature. Way better than I expected when I signed up for this (and when I was in Uganda going to the game parks and whatnot with the bug infested bathrooms). We had a pasta dinner all together around the fire and talked about tomorrow's game drive in Kruger National Park. It should be a great time! The group is really fun and all is well in South Africa :) I haven't taken my computer out today so my pictures aren't uploaded, but hopefully I will have wifi along the way. Otherwise I will be home in a week with all my pictures! Also, the reception I am sitting in to get wifi is beautiful. Wow.

As a side note, my phone battery is officially the worst and mow dying at 75%. Thank goodness it at least semi lasted through Uganda and Cape Town. I will likely not have a phone this week due to that.

The safari truck on the side of the road