To Sprots-Kruger Park/Mozambique Question

[Spock]

Sprots-as there is a national park right across the border from Kruger in Mozambique, did you guys ever cross from South Africa on your visit(s) there?

We are going to Kruger before we go hunting and I am going to push the guide for us to cross into Moz.

It would be fun to add another country.

Leaving tomorrow for deepest, darkest Africa-so I won't have internet. Hell, I know they probably have better internet than we do-but I can pretend anyway-LOL

[Spock]

As anyone familiar with me understands-it is a big decision as to which books to bring.

I did not bring enough books on both previous trips but I hate to overdo it.

As of now

1) For sure-A collection of 3 of H. Rider Haggard's early Africana adventure stories (She, King Solomon's Mines, and Allan Quatermain).

This book is going for sure and I just read a few pages of "She"-very Kiplingeasque, would have to say.

2) Stuart Cloete's "Turning Wheels" on the Great Trek. His books were banned for awhile in South Africa because of inter-racial love affairs and such. We will be in Great Trek so this is high on the list.

3) I often say that I have a book on everything-I just forget about some of them and lose track of them.

My #3 is an example of that. Found a book the other day in the deep recesses of my shelves on the early days of Kruger Park and game conservation in South Africa called "Sanctuary." I should probably read this first as we are going to Kruger first. A little bulky, but it has to go with.

Looking forward to book shopping at the Johannesburg airport on the way home as I found some gems there last time.

[SportsFan68]

The closest we got to Mozambique was Crooks Corner. Mozambique and Zimbabwe are right across the river, but our guide never had any intention of taking us there. Good luck and have fun on your trip.

[Spock]

The closest we got to Mozambique was Crooks Corner. Mozambique and Zimbabwe are right across the river, but our guide never had any intention of taking us there. Good luck and have fun on your trip.

Thanks-No Mozambique for us either. We got as close as Crocodile Bridge in the southeast of the park.

IIRC-to your great disappointment, you missed out on rhinos on both (?) of your trips there. Not to rub it in or anything-but we saw so many that we were almost at the point of "Gee, there's another rhino"-LOL

My impression is that the rhino poaching there might be a little more under control now than it was a few years back when you there. Downside in Kruger was that they had their horns mostly sawed-off to deter poaching where the ones we saw in Etosha a couple of years ago still were in full-horned glory.

We had never seen a leopard before and we crossed that one off in dramatic fashion. We were stopped in one area as something was going on. The vervet monkeys started going nuts and a herd of impala was focused in on one spot and we got to see the leopard dragging a (very) freshly killed impala away. That was a highlight.

Got to see all of the Big 5 several times plus others. Lions on a kill with a pack of hyenas close by waiting was a good sighting.

Our PH (professional hunter) was our guide in the park and it was funny how he added a lot of value for a lot of other people on night-game drive without them knowing he was a PH. Our driver on the tour was pathetic and our PH was the main game spotter on the drive and spotted a lot of animals that would have been otherwise missed.

Just got home and tired-may add a few things later.

[Spock]

Oh-we did see some NFL guys at the baggage claim Joburg Airport that had been on our plane. I am not a Sports guy and I was standing back with the carry-ons when my wife recognized and talked to a Vikings player. She introduced the Spocklette and Littlest Spock. Apparently, the NFL guys were there on some sort of mission thing-they were also going to try to fit in a hunt at some point.

Some guy on the plane from the first class area had come back and talked to a couple of guys near me and I kind of gathered there was some NFL thingie going on so I had picked out possible players in the area of the first guy even before Mrs Spock talked to him.

Sports crazy Li'l Spock back at home was excited about this.

Funny story on the way home today. We did a lot more more riding in vehicles on busy roads this time than on other trips and as we were pulling out of a Dairy Queen stop and meeting a vehicle-Lil Spock loudly yelled that I was driving on the wrong side of the road(he was flashing back to South Africa)-I wasn't but we all got a little confused when he yelled.

We all got (somewhat) used to riding in vehicles on the other side of the road-Damn, right turns scared me every time.

[SportsFan68]

You recall correctly about the rhinos. First time, we were told we had missed them by about an hour. Second time, no one would say anything about where they'd been spotted. So probably, it is effective enforcement efforts that are bringing the poaching a little more under control. I hope so anyway. I'm glad you got to see them.

Sounds like a great trip! Looking forward to anything else you would care to share. . .

[Spock]

I found a dialogue thing that tickled my fancy when we got home. Some grammar/language type people might find this interesting.

The PH (Professional Hunter) for me and the Spocklette was a tough Afrikaner whereas the PH for Littlest Spock was a more good-natured South African of English descent.

It worked out well as each kid had the perfect PH for them.

My guy (the Afrikaner) used variations of the phrase "Throw somebody through the wall"-"Bash their face against the wall" twice in reference to people he was not fond of. One of them was Charlize Theron-he was not a fan of hers. I can understand why-but I still think she is attractive.

Anyway, this "Wall" thing is not something I have really heard at home-but I regarded it as personal turn of phrase of his.

Then, when we got home, I dug out Michener's epic novel of South Africa and started in the middle in the chapter about the Voortrekkers and there was a dialogue sequence about throwing a rowdy student "through the wall" and I thought that was kind of cool.

My guess is that Michener's research extended well into modern (late 1970's) Afrikaner turns of phrase and "The Wall" thing is/was a phrase of wide use and he used it in dialogue in the distant (1830's) Boer (Afrikaner) conversations.

And speaking of language, we were told, that if a white person uses the South African version of the "N-word" which would be the "K-word" to a black person, they are subject to 8 to 10 years in prison.