Kruger Park Weekend - Part 1

Last weekend was the Kruger Park weekend. Peter was able to take Friday off of work so we headed out of Middleburg just after 5pm. You have to keep in mind that this is summer here in South Africa and it's also the rain season. Last week there were storms most nights, where there thunder and lightening seemed close enough to turn off the computers. Thursday night a storm was moving into the area so we scooted out of town before it came. We stayed in Sabie on Thursday night which is about 2 and a half hours from Middleburg. We wanted to get an early start on Friday morning to go to the silk farm and see a few other things.

Friday morning was beautful, the sun was up early and we got an early start on the day. Our first stop of the day as we headed towards Hazy View was at MacMac Falls. A beautiful waterfall that can only be seen when you walk down the path a little way. Walking down the path is easy, it's that walking back up that can kill you! The path is a little steep shall we say, but well worth the effort! It was already beginning to get a little warm early in the morning but it wasn't too bad yet.

Our next stop was Graskop (grass head is the direct translation) at the Africa Silks shop. Now, we had planned a visit to a silk farm but Africa Silks now has their own display along with sales ladies who also go through the store and explain how the silk is made. Basically you start with a moth who lays egges. Those eggs hatch and begin eating mulberry trees that a grown specifically for the silk worms. From the time the eggs hatch until they begin spinnning their cocoons is 28 days. After the new moths emerge from the cocoon the new moths begin the cycle again.

The silk worms eat non stop until they begin to spin their cocoons. When we arrived at the store there were only scraps of leaves in the silk worm boxes. The staff continually feeds the worms! If you take a look at the photos (in the link to the right of this screen) you will see how much of the leaves the silk worms ate in the short time we were in the store. It's amazing to watch them eat really. I think from the time they hatch until they spin their mouths never stop moving!

The cocoons are then taken an boiled in a mixture that makes them white. From there the silk is combed and then spun. There are different thicknesses of silk for weaving. In the photos you can see that a fairly bulky because they are all hand spun and woven. What I found interesting is that they use silk in duvets! I have never heard of such a thing but apparently Santi was aware of it. It conducts better than a goose down duvet with much less weight to it.

Once we finished shopping at Africa Silks we strolled across the street to a little cafe and enjoyed lunch and coffee while we discussed what we had just learned. Now, you can see from what I've written here that I have forgotten most of what I learned but if you want more information you can certainly google it and get more details if you are interested.

Next we went to "God's Window". On a clear day you can see the countryside for miles and miles. Unfortunately for us, we had low clouds that hindered the view. But again, if you take a look at the photos you can get an idea of the view from "God's Window". While we were admiring the view we came across a beautiful grasshopper. It had such vibriant colors it could be spotted from quite a distance. Luckily for me, this little guy was sitting on top of a post or I would have missed him.

The plan for that day was that Liese and her husband Dylan would drive down with Stefan (Cara's husband) Declan and we would meet up to continue the weekend. Santi, Peter and I arrived at Kurger Park early enough to take the scenic route to where we would be staying inside of the park during our stay. During our wandering through the park we did see giraffes, a herd of water buffalo, kudu, rhinos (which didn't photograph well at all) and of course impallas.

We finally met up with Liese, Dylan, Declan (baby Zoe stayed with her other grandmother) and Stefan and drove to the camp ground. The facilities in the park are actually very nice. The rondawels were equipped with with little kitchenettes on the verandas. There are bbq grills ready to go but you bring your own charcoal or purchase it from the store inside of the park. We don't want to talk about the prices at the store inside of the shop though!

Friday night the men started the charcoal about the same time as the wind started to blow a little bit. It was obvious that we were in for a storm and we hoped that we would get through the bbq before the rain started. Well, that didn't happen. The guys finally got the coals hot enough to start cooking and the first of the rain began! It wasn't bad at first and it didn't put the charcoal out. There was a lull in the rain so the guys put more charcoal on the fire and got it going again. The men were finally able to put the meat on the grill and just about the time they did that the bottom fell out of the clouds and the downpour began! At least the grill was under a tree but that didn't provide as much protection from the rain as we had hoped. I'm not sure what Plan B was for dinner but the men weren't going to give up! Santi and Liese worked on a salad and garlic bread. Since we couldn't put the garlic bread on the grill Santi put it on the 2 burners of the electric stove. Have you ever tried to warm bread on an electric stove? Well, what happens is that the bottom gets burned before the top of the bread gets warm... so we were looking at the possiblity of salad and bread for dinner!

Santi finally found some foil and the guys covered as much of the grill as they were able to. We stood on the veranda and watched as the coals began to cool, we wondered if the meat would cook or not. We were out of charcoal and the store was closed so we were on our own here. Peter, Dylan and Stefan took turns going out into the rain to check the meat. And then when you thought nothing else could go wrong the power went out! There was only 1 flashlight which had to be shared between the grill and the veranda!

I have seen some pretty intense thunder storms but the light show on Friday night was spectacular to say the least! The thunder cracked as if it were right above our heads and there were times I think it was right above our head! So we had salad working and garlic bread toasting and meat on the grill. We all hoped that te coals would stay hot enough to finish cooking the meat and luckily for us, it did! But it was touch and go there for a while...

After dinner the ladies retired for the evening while the men continued to stand by the grill and do what men do! Liese, Santi and I were probably fast asleep by 10pm while Peter, Dylan and Stefan stayed up late into the evening talking. Santi said at one point they were laughing a little loudly so she went out to quiet them down. I didn't hear any of that, I was sound asleep!

And so ended our first night in Kruger Park....

It's late and I need to go to bed for now, I will continue with the weekends events in the morning. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy bringing it to you...