The 3-day Kruger Safari: Day 3

Morning:

I did not sleep that great in the tent because the insects and birds were extremely loud and woke me up around 5:00am. I didn’t feel tired though because everything was so exciting and I was really happy to be in such a cool place.

We packed our bags and took them on the long walk to the entrance of the lodge. We were delighted to see the forest was swarming with springbok and kudu, so close you could pet them (but we didn’t).

Bush walk:

At 7am we had a bush walk for an hour. We had a nice and knowledgeable Afrikaaner guide. Unfortunately we didn't see any big animals on the walk but we did learn a lot about the different plants and insects. Plus the guide showed us a game the Afrikaaner kids would play where they would put little pellets of poop from impala in their mouth and see who could spit it the farthest. That was...interesting!

Breakfast

Breakfast was a relaxed affair around 8am. We ate by the same place we had dinner the night before, next to a little pond. We saw a lot of monkeys in the trees which was super cool.

We had eggs, biscuits, beans, bread, and coffee. It all tasted great and I felt ready to start the day. It was also cool to sit around and chat with our fellow safari-goers about the animals they saw and the rest of their travel plans.

Leaving the lodge:

All fun things must come to an end, sadly, and we were whisked away in the van around 9am for the 5-hour ride to the Jburg airport. Farewell Marc's Treehouse Lodge!

The Panorama Route:

So aside from the convenience of the Viva Safari package, I booked this one in particular because it offered a ride through the iconic Panorama Route to see the Three Rondavels.

Apparently there was a worker's strike outside the Rondavels viewing area and we were prevented from accessing it. I was disappointed, but I feel like I was emotionally prepared by the Acatenango fiasco I experienced last year in Guatemala.

We did at least seem some very spectacular scenery nearby! It was breathtaking beauty and made me want to come back for a tour of just the Panorama Route, which could itself take multiple days.

Lunch:

We ate lunch again around 1pm at Mayfly's in Dullstroom, the same place we ate on day one of the safari. I ordered the same thing. I think this restaurant is great so I was very happy to be back. We also loaded up on some snacks for the rest of the ride at a nearby convenience store.

I noted this interesting mural describing the geography and agricultural statistics of the area.

Getting to the airport:

We arrived at the airport a little past 5:15pm, miraculously catching our 6pm flight! There were literally no lines for security and we had no checked bags, so we were at our gate within three minutes. It was amazing.

I even had time to buy some sneakers since I had left mine at the wedding on Sunday and needed better shoes to hike Table Mountain the next day. I got a nice pair of Asics for $50 and they served me well the rest of the trip. Everything worked out so great!

Conclusion:

It's really hard to do a safari in 3 days, as I discovered. There was very little down time and we were getting shuttled around to the next place every hour it seemed.

If I had to redo the trip, I would've made the safari four days instead of three. But I could easily see how a safari could stretch to a week or longer, depending on the lodge and excursions available. This is just a ton of driving in three days given the five hour to-and-from drive to Jburg.

I think if you really want to enjoy a safari trip, five days would be perfect. Also the private reserves likely have more up-close animals, so I would add more rides in those areas to my safari itinerary.

I did really like how we were picked up and dropped off in Jburg. I've talked to people who had a hard time driving around to Kruger because of pot holes, but this did come with the trade off that we couldn't see as much of the Panorama Route as we would have liked, and we had to be in a confined space with talkative people for hours.

The lodges we stayed at were fantastic and I really liked both of them. The Tremisana Lodge was beautiful and had monkeys, it was a great place to relax. Marc's Treehouse Lodge felt so rustic and fun, I loved being so close to animal life there.

So that's my overall assessment. I thought it was pretty much as good as I could've hoped, and am giving it 4 snacks!