Country: South Africa
Location: Mpumalanga Province
Climate: Lowveld - Subtropical
At Last! The day had arrived for us to go to Tinga (Legions) Private Game Lodge in Kruger National Park. To see the game animals of Africa in their natural environment. To relive and experience all those years of stories from Wilbur Smith, Beverley Harper and my latest, favourite writer, Tony Park. I couldn't wait and was almost shaking with anticipation - but first we had to get there, so it was off the OR Tambo International Airport and onto a SAA flight to Nelspruit (Kruger-Mpumalanga International Airport). All went well until we boarded the bus to deliver us to our aeroplane - 20 minutes later we were all still standing on the bus. Eventually we were told their was a problem with the plane, which they were attempting to resolve. Seeing we had all been through the boarding procedures they tried to keep us on the bus but eventually they had to disembark us all back into the terminal. After another 30 minutes or so they fixed the problem and we were off - it felt like about four hours not one.
Kruger-Mpumalanga International Airport is cut out of the top of a hill and the building is truly amazing. It's styled on (what I assume) is a traditional African building, made of natural materials, timber, thatch and stone and I fell in love with it at first sight. After all the insipid concrete and plastic terminals I was used to in Australia this building had character and personality.
When studying the itinerary I didn't realise that we weren't even half way to Tinga and we still had a two to two and half hour drive ahead of us to get there. We had arrived at the end of the big dry and the closer we got to Kruger the dryer and more spindly the vegetation became. The first half of the drive reminded my of the mid north coast of New South Wales, in the higher rainfall areas. We passed kilometer upon kilometer of pine and eucalyptus plantations. It was certainly apparent that we weren't in Australia though; the road etiquette was very different, there were so many black people on the side of the road, walking or waiting for their taxi's and there were many signs telling us to watch out for cattle - there didn't seem to be fences anywhere.
We entered Kruger via the Paul Kruger gate and set out for Tinga, which although only about 20 kilometers inside the gate took almost half an hour to reach as the speed limit in the Park on bitumen is 50 kilometers and hour (kph) and 40 kmp on the dirt roads. I'll talk about the animals later and just talk about Tinga in this post. The vegetation in the park was totally desiccated and shrivelled with hardly a green shoot or leaf to be seen - in fact it was almost impossible to believe that the trees and scrub would be able to regenerate. Tinga has it's own concession which it looks after manages, in return for exclusive viewing rights - having driven down a couple of single lane dirt tracks we finally came to the gate to Tinga.
Once we had been electronically checked out we were allowed to enter.
I was about to learn how difficult it is to take good quality photographs in Kruger. The sun is so strong and for the middle eight hours of the day it overpowers most pictures ... and the biggest trap is when concentrating on taking photos of mostly moving animals, the last thing you tend to think about is the exposure and direction of the sun. So, this is not a good photo of the front entrance to Tinga as the greenery and blue sky is totally washed out.
We arrived at five minutes to four, just in time for the evening game drive, so it was a quick welcome, a rushed visit to our room to drops off our bags and grab our hats before we were whisked of by Isaac and Paulie.
Walkway to our private lodge.
View from outside.
View towards the Sabie River from the private viewing deck.
Our feet didn't touch the ground, for no sooner had we returned from our game drive than we were sitting down to our evening meal, which was superb. After a slow, relaxing meal and casual chats with the serving staff (and management, who also dropped by for a quick welcome and chat) we finally called Paulie and asked him to take us back to our suite. Each couple is assigned to a guide who looks after them for their stay and takes them on their game drives - they also take you to and from your rooms after dark.
The next morning we had a wake up call at 5.00 am for our 5.30 am game drive - so much for sleeping in! Eventually, after being at the lodge for eighteen hours, we were able to have a good look around:
Staring at the ceiling took in a whole new dimension!
Luxury, comfort and style as the indoors meets the outdoors.
This huge Jackalberry tree made a tremendous focal point, between the Lodge and the River.
The main Lodge and Suites were fenced in and it was safe to walk around during daylight. This magnificent Braai put to shame anything I had seen in Australia, although we call them a Barbie.
A closer view of the Sabie River.As our stay was only for two nights, it all went too quickly. The highlight was our evening meal on the second night, which was cooked and set up in a clearing in the bush, with lanterns and fires providing the light as the sun went down and the night crept in. We had wondered why our guides were walking around with their rifles and bullets - it was for our protection. It was a magical night that I'll remember forever, as will the surprise as we had no idea that we were about to eat out in the bush amongst the animals I'd read about for the last forty years.
In conclusion, it is very rare that a wish or treat, looked forward to for such a long time, actually delivers. Most times the expectation is far greater than the experience. Not on this occasion! Everything from the people, to the design and fittings, suites, lodge, drivers and guides was total class. As we know, in business, the secret is to deliver more than you promise in this case the bar was set very, very high and exceeded.
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