South Africa ...

After having booked my ticket too late for a direct flight to Maputo (capital of Mozambique) I had to take an alternative route which included flying 11 hours to Johannesburg and to spend another 10 hours on a bus across north-eastern  S.Africa to get to Maputo. I have probably never been so frightened in a city as I was in Jo'burg, but a very modern city nevertheless, whose future is still a very dodgy issue.  The bus-ride was fantastic, I have never been so amazed by scenery as I was there, at one stage you are traveling through a major city and the next you are up in the mountains with extensive forests and savannah around you! Although, majority of my time was spent in Mozambique, we managed to spend over a week in S.Africa, mainly in the north-eastern region in Nelspruit, Kruger Park and Kapama Game Reserve, where consequently we spent our new-years eve 1998-1999, in the midst of nine lions.

Here you see some of the local wildlife, not very exciting, like the bigger monkey in the picture below, now that's wildlife for you! These baboons were the only monkeys we saw during the whole week we were in Kruger Park or Kapama Game Lodge, well in general it wasn't very often you saw animals, but I have to say that monkeys we saw only once. As for the rest, like lions, giraffes, hippos, impalas, gnus, rhinos, wild pigs, buffaloes etc.. we saw them quite regularly, usually very early or late as during the day all animals rest.

Monkeys at Kruger National Park

YES! Here we are, the SAVAGE in the lions den, this was the place were we spent our new-years eve. Quite different to the traditional celebrations I have had in the past. Firstly we were in an electrically fenced area that had us and nine lions, and the closest people were about ten kilometers away and we were scared shitless! I was the only man there and was trying to be very brave, but every time that you heard a lions roar, my heart stopped for a few beats... Overall I am very happy that I spent my new years eve there as it was something unique that happens only once in a lifetime, we even had two bottles of champagne but didn't want to disturb the lions by popping the cork open.

At one stage some guides came to pick us up to eat dinner, that was very nice too, except for that in the middle of the safari a torrential downpour fell upon us and that was convenient as our jeep was the only one without a roof. The raincoats we had were of no use as it was raining so hard that it practically rained through them! 

Overall a very adventurous experience...

Savage Man...

 This is the Lions Den in Kapama Game Lodge, a beautiful hut in the middle of the savannah with the presence of nine lions and the people who visit it. This accommodation was very popular with adventurous people, but specially with newly weds as it was very peaceful (not really), but beautiful nature all around. We all slept in the top floor as it was uncovered and you could observe the movement of animals all night, if you dared. There was even movement inside the den as I noticed when I was crapped upon by a lizard during my lunchtime nap!

 The Lions Den