Day Four: Kruger Spring

Wow. Sometimes words are just inadequate. We've seen elephants grazing on leaves and shoots, giraffes moving like graceful schooners through the acacias, and kudu and impala flowing over the grasses, all over the backdrop of Kruger coming into a new spring. Amazing.

After the morning game drive we left the park proper for Shonga Reserve, a private park and lodge. The entire lodge is built up on platforms, with raised walkways between the rooms.

The rooms are tents, but not like any tent I've ever been in: real beds, clawfoot tubs, private outdoor hot showers, rugs and chairs, stables on the veranda overlooking the park. It is, by the way, literally IN the park, with no gates or fences.

We were all impressed. Karen said she kept expecting Clark Gable to walk around a corner. It's that kind of place.

A quick meal to make up for our lack of lunch and we were on anther game drive. This time our guide was Norman, who turned out to be the most incredible and knowledgeable guide you could imagine.

For three hours we drove through the night, with Norman picking out everything from chameleons clinging to bushes to yellow-legged baboon spiders hiding in holes and a lone hippo grazing off the road. (Dave was particularly fascinated by the spider and kept poking at his golf-ball-sized hole with twigs and grass. We insisted Sherry wouldn't want it as a souvenier.)

We got back to the lodge well fter dark. Everyone else went in for dinner but I struggled off to the hot outdoor shower. I missed the kids -- the next day was Kaelly and Braden's birthday and I felt out of place.

The breeze made the leaves rustle and the canvas flap softly. I went to bed.

The next day we'd go into Swaziland.