Poo! We leave today. I seriously can’t believe how fast time flies. We woke up early to get extra clean for the flight. After all, we still had our morning game drive, and an elephant interaction before our flights home. We met up with everyone, and many were also leaving this afternoon. The Italian couple requested to see some leopards since it was their final day at the camp. Jo agreed, and went to their last known location. Foster gets out of the car and follows some tracks into the bushes, and so does Jo. At several different points we have 4+ people looking for them. After a while with no word, Jo pulled off for our morning coffee break in an intersection between two roads; Foster was still nowhere to be found. Finally we got word that the tracks indicate the leopard hopped a nearby fence. I guess even animals want their privacy. Sadly this was most of the morning, so we were disappointed that we couldn’t see the leopard, but appreciated the effort. Jo pointed us back to a family of lions who were hanging out by the watering hole. The irony is, at this park, the lions are all around the park whereas at Kariega, it was like pulling teeth to find them. We headed back to the lodge where we had a quick breakfast of pastries, and packed everything up. Our bags were picked up and loaded up in Jo’s land cruiser. We went into Claire’s office, the business manager, and she totaled up our bill. I had walked into her office earlier that day asking a strange request… if she would be willing to sell me some of their peanut butter. We had tried some “Black Cat” brand peanut butter, and it is AWESOME! However, Brad and I were concerned about crime in Jo’burg so we never got to the store to grab some. I certainly didn’t want to miss out now. She obliged where she sold some of their stock to me for 30 rand, and I was a happy camper. We paid out bill and headed out for the next adventure, an elephant interaction. This whole trip I had been fascinated with the elephants, so the elephant interaction sounded like a good idea. We arrived at the elephant interaction with Jo at the wheel, our bags in the luxury seats, and the two of us in the second row. I jumped down where I saw Jubliani, the 18 year old African elephant being ridden by a trainer. We were greeted by the trainer, and he introduced us to Jubliani who was saved from an elephant park escape where he got stuck in a mine and the others couldn’t save him, so they left him to die. That was of course until the miners arrived at work the next day, and saw him in distress. He’s since been trained, but is still free to be with the other elephants in the park. We did a variety of things with him, but one thing I didn’t expect… I was actually afraid of him. When he stuck his trunk in my face, I went “nope, nope, nope” all the way back to the line. We took some pictures with him, where I held onto his leg and smiled for the camera but, yeah that was an experience. Every time he moved I was poised to run away. That much strength and power being controlled by nothing but bribery? Not my usual Thursday afternoon. I was able to spend more time, and interact a bit more with the 5 year old elephant. He was much smaller, so I felt more comfortable with him. Also, no elephant snot to worry about. However, we did see Jubliani do a tick where he took an Asian girls hat off her head, and give it back…. But it turned out to be elephant trunk in her face and elephant snot on her hat. I was okay not to do that one!
After the elephant interaction, we headed out to the airport. It was a sad drive, I really didn’t want to leave but reality calls and I do have to return to work.
Jo dropped us off at Hodespruit airport, where we shook his hand goodbye and checked in at the hut. The airport is a bit larger than we initially thought, but what’s neat about this place? It’s a lounge, and nicely maintained may I add. Brad and I sat near the boarding gate. We were gate 01, which was the only one there. We met a retired couple who were enjoying their first big trip since they retired and were explaining how weird it is to be gone for so long. Finally we walked through security where they checked our bags and we loaded into a newer jet plane. No prop planes for us this time. I took several pictures of the airport before we left, and soon our long journey home began.
The flight from Hodespruit to jo’burg was an hour, where we quickly grabbed our baggage and went on a wild goose chase looking for the flight. By this time it was almost 4pm, and I had only had a small snack for breakfast. Needless to say I was hungry and grumpy. We checked in where we were upgraded to an exit row, but on opposite sides of the plane. Then headed off through security and into the Jo’ burg international terminal. I’ve seen big airports, but this place is ridiculous! After we went through security of passport, metal detectors, and x-ray machines we walked into a huge mall! The international terminal has the equivalent of 4 football field laps of stores, duty free shops, and snacks. The irony, we couldn’t find a place to eat. Close to our gate, we stopped off at a local joint called “Piece-a-pizza” where we enjoyed a chocolate-coffee-ice cream…. Thing, and pizza. I had the a tikka masala chicken, cheese, and bell pepper pizza which was pretty delicious actually, however with as hungry as I was… I could have eaten the table if it weren’t so bad for the teeth. The lunch took longer than expected, and we were soon rushing through stores to spend the last of our rand before leaving the country and checking if there were any souvenirs that we wanted to get. Finally it was time to go, Brad headed out to the bathroom and I met him at the departure gate. We arrived to a line of people. Turns out we have to go through another layer of security. We were patted down, shoes examined, bags opened, and weren’t allowed to bring anything (even water purchased after security). Our passports and tickets were checked again, and again. While walking down the gangway to the plane we were given a “security” card with a number on it which we had to hand to an attendant before boarding the plane. Finally, finally! We made it through. Brad arrived at his seat where he requested his seat mate to change places with me so we could sit together. I made myself as comfy as possible (not easy to do when upright for that long of time) then tucked in for a long day of flying. Our plane took off as expected, and within moments of departure, we were given food, wine, entertainment, and so on. I had placed a blanket on my butt to prevent further pain. The residual effect is still prevalent when sitting for long periods. I even have to sit softly now just in case.
At length we arrived in Dakar, Senegal where several passengers disembarked and a cleaning crew, new staff, and security came on board. After the cleaning finished, about 30 employees went through every seat on the plane feeling every inch of the seats to see if anything was left onboard. Nothing was found so the next step started. This time we had to get up, grab our overhead bags, and keep them by our person to make sure no overhead bags were left onboard the plane. Finally we got the go ahead to get going. The guy who was Brad’s seatmate wound up leaving in Senegal, and a woman came to take his place. I explained the situation, and she insisted that she had to be by a window so I retreated back to my assigned seat. To my surprise, the flight was very empty on the way back so she moved further back where she was able to have 2 seats together where we could occasionally hit each other and I could further my prowess at plane trivia.
When we finally arrived in D.C. we were thrilled! We were also 55 minutes early, so we had to kill some time. Finally, we were off the plane. We went through immigration and customs, back through security, and finally out to the terminals. Brad quickly spotted a Starbucks where we dined on a typical American breakfast of Starbucks coffee, and dunkin donuts (okay not healthy but ssshhh… I’m on vacation). Then we entertained ourselves at the gate for a while, playing uno. I kicked Brad’s butt at that, btw. Then we headed off towards Denver. The last flight is always the most difficulty, because you’re so close…. Yet so far.
We arrived in Denver without issue. The flight was uneventful, but safe. We saw on the news that Denver was expecting snow on both the 11th and 12th, so we were concerned we would get delayed. To our joy, it wasn’t snowing. On the other hand, since we just left 85 and perfect, all of our jackets were locked in our bags. I quickly dashed into the airport, to avoid the cold. We went to grab our bags but after all of them had been dispersed, there were four people left over without luggage. I decided to check the other side of the baggage area, and to my surprise and annoyance…. There they were! Looks like TSA had gone through them, so yippee… We grabbed our stuff and quickly made our way to the cabs. The cab dropped us off at my house (where Brad’s car was parked) and I made my way inside. Turns out I could pick the Tobster up early, so I did just that! He was so excited to see me that he scratched my hand when he tried to say hello. It’s been taking him a while to get used to being home again. He’s been like Velcro ever since. Now just cleaning up, laundry, and chilling with the monster. Time flies when you’re having fun.
