Kruger

Yesterday we left Maputo at 5:45 am for Kruger Park and arrived at the border an hour later. I've crossed the border three times in the past, but have always had a driver to deal with the export and importation of the vehicle...this time it was all up to me. When we arrived at the border, I got in line to deal with the export of our vehicle, and told Bekki to wait in the immigration line. Keep in mind that we were in a hurry because the park had already opened and early morning is one of the best times to see and photograph animals.

Well, about 15 minutes later, Bekki was at the front of the immigration line, so she got my attention. At this point, I was very frustrated because I didn't really understand the process (or the language on the form I was filling out). Bekki ended up getting out of line because he didn't know how long I would be. Turns out it took about another 30 seconds. So, we both ended up back at the end of the immigration line to wait for about another 15 minutes.

Once we got situated on the Mozambican side, I proudly informed Bekki it would be just a few more minutes because the South African side is much better organized. My first thought that I was wrong was when we saw the line of people all the way out of the door to the immigration office. My next thought that I was wrong was when we hadn't moved up in the line in the first 5 minutes. Finally, we got to the door and read a sign that apologized for the delay because of an upgrade to their security system. We laughed and joked about the fact that the Mozambican side was so much faster and they literally used an excel spreadsheet. The laughter was just on the surface, though because i was seriously agitated that the park was already open and there were critters that needed us to look at them. We were seriously letting them down.

Well, we spent about 45 minutes in line for immigration. Then we had to get the vehicle temporarily imported into South Africa. This was much more straight forward due to the fact that the forms were in English instead of Portuguese. Bekki noticed that there was a section on the form to declare any electronic equipment (cameras, computers etc.). She pointed it out to me and I very proudly (in the tone of a seasoned traveler) said we were in a hurry and that would only slow us down. Not to mention, I had never (only 3 times previously) been checked before. Guess what? Once everything was finished, and we were in the car headed out of the border check station, we got waved to the side. They asked where our customs papers were for our cameras. I, to say the least was not happy. So, back to the customs office we went.

After arriving at the border at about 6:45, we finally left at about 8:30. the park had opened at 6:30, so those poor critters had to stand there and wait for 2 hours before we could get there to see them. Here are some of the more photogenic ones that were kind enough to wait on us....




Baby Elephant.




Chacma Baboons.

Impalas.

Another elephant.

Another one.

Cape Buffalo.

This bird.

Rhino.

These funny looking striped horses.

Waterbuck.

We literally saw thousands of impalas, close to a hundred elephants, a herd of over 500 buffalo crossing the road in front of us, cheetahs (pictures didn't come out very good), lots of rhinos, hippopotami, crocodiles, guineas, mongeese, giraffes, and many many more.

Ya'll come see us so Bekki and I will have a good excuse to go again.