Timbavati Nature Reserve

Trip Start Jun 08, 2008
1
15
28
Trip End Aug 15, 2008


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Flag of South Africa  , Kruger National Park,
Thursday, July 17, 2008

I woke up at 2 in the morning - freezing - and couidn't get back to sleep. Just before we went to sleep last night, the room was perfectly comfortably warm. Then Nicole took a hot shower, making the room seem too warm for her. So she set the heater/air conditioner on 19 degrees C. I knew this would be too cold, but I couldn't really prove it. So I couldn't do anything but accept Nicole's temperature choice and hope for the best. Like I said, I woke up at 2 and had to get more blankets. Eventually Nicole woke up freezing as well but by then the remote control for the heater wasn't working so we had to suffer for the rest of the night. So it turned out that my lifelong dream of sharing a room with a couple of young European women didn't benefit me at all. In fact, quite the opposite: It was a minor disaster!

After tossing and turning for the rest of the night, we got up at 7, had breakfast by 8 and were on our truck shortly thereafter 01-My tour mates on the first day.
01-My tour mates on the first day.
 . This truck was not nearly as nice as my previous one, but that should be compensated by what seems to be much nicer people. After a brief introduction, we set off across Africa with 8 tour members, one German/English translator, one driver/guide and one cook. We are quite a mixed group, with two Spanish schoolteacher women, two French Swiss women (mother and daughter), one Dutch girl, one German girl (also a school teacher) and one German guy (a furniture maker) living in Switzerland - one female German interpreter - and me, of course. In fact, I am one of only two guys on the trip, and the other guy will be leaving after one week, so after that I will have to be shared by seven women, which means that I will be required to service one of them each day for the remaining week of the trip. (By "service", I mean of course wash their dishes.)

Today's drive was a marathon of nearly 12 hours including a few stops, among them one for lunch as well as at a few scenic spots too. The people on this tour seem to be so normal that I'm suspicious. I keep waiting for them to turn on me. But so far, so good.

We arrived at our lodge at just after seven in the evening, and my room is so nice that I feel like I must be in the wrong place. Dinner (Spaghetti Bolognese), prepared by our designated cook Albert from Zimbabwe, was delicious as well. Things are really off to a good start - especially when compared to my previous nightmare of a tour. Speaking of which, I told our tour guide about my previous experience and he told me that that company (Acacia) is known for being a party company. Other people on my tour have also told me that camping tours tend to attract a younger - and therefore wilder - crowd. It all starts to add up now . . .
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