Kruger is the oldest, one of the largest and most protected national park in the world. South Africa is almost like a developed nation and they maintain this park with great care, technology and a bunch of devoted, educated rangers. Kruger National Park is an perfect example of biodiversities of a national park. This park has many entrance with couple of different African nations and I went to the Berg-En-Dal Hut resort area which is near to the Mozambique border. I packed up my tea accessories and camping equipments for my adventure. Here I am just posting some tea related moments in Kruger.
You can drive inside Kruger(can't get out from the car) and can see many animals- Giraffe, Zebra, lion, leopard, Cheetah, Hyena, Impala, buffalo.. everything. Tourist are usually happy with hang around inside Kruger because it has a lot of animals everycorner of the park but I wanted to do something different and more exiting. I contact with many experienced hunters, traveler before exploring deep inside Kruger. I took a month long preparation and found out that Kruger has three main zone- careful(some dangerous animal live there), very careful(you really have to be very careful for lion, cheetah.) and Dangerous(God will be with you). I wanted to try the last one because that I was looking for. Before going to all of this zone, people have to sign up some paper. The reason is- no one responsible if anything happen to the explorer. Ah so exciting.. a Tarzan, Tarzan feeling-:)
When I sigh up they told me- for a while no one showed interest for dangerous zone and they offered me two rangers with .44 caliber Rugar. They also warned me last week, they had kill to rhinos which attacked their camps. Kruger's is getting over populated with animals and they don't know, what to do. My rangers were one African(David) and another Dutch-American(Skyla) ranger. In South Africa- I always saw two group of white people. One speak British accent English, another speak Africans or English with accent. I always wondered why? Then I found out Dutch-South African assimilated more with local culture compare to the brit-South African. I hired them both because they had good resume and the Dutch-S.African ranger was very knowledgeable about wild life. I liked her when she told me- she do this job just because she love the animal and the forest and her dad did the same job. After she saw my packing, she screamed and say-"You are not going for a vacation Mr. Ripon. Come on this is a serious tour and leave your 50% items and take only vital tools. Then I told her, one of my vital thing is- Tea. She laughed and say, I can take them with me. It was a whole day-night of hiking, deep inside the forest. After starting the tour at 4:30 AM. I have also realized- I was supersized a little while I was in US. Well, it was hard for me but still exciting. Now I start running 3 miles a day.
The first tea, I drank was my own Lord Ripon's blend while I was watching hundreds of Impala from a hill. I couldn't take my own food because too heavy. So according to my guide advise- I took dry elephant biltong, dried Eland(one type of deer,I guess) biltong, bread, sugar, some fruits and my three Jozirusi travel sized thermos with hot water(220F). I found this made in Japan(not made in Thailand) jozirushi pot work nicely for 24 hours. Skyla is a Roibos drinker and she was happy to have a tea drinker like me. In the afternoon I had a mug of my recent favorite Ying Nu Huang(Lapsang Souchong) with dry elephants biltong with dry bread while I was watching many zebras, Giraffes, Impala and different kinds of deer from upon a hill. David and Skyla was very professional and knew which angel is better for watch animal safely. I saw some very poisonous snakes which can kill or minimum paralyze people within 3 hours with a bite. We had to be very careful with a stick in hand and walk very fast sometime because we wanted to avoid some animals. Skyla was checking many foot prints on the ground and telling me some lion or leopard is near us within 2 miles or less. Sometime David smell something in the air and say- we have to change our track. Oh, the whole thing was so exciting. I saw lion family resting under tree bush, leopard resting on a tree but always from different distance. David told me not to be so excited to take pictures because animals don't like clicking sounds while they rest. Though he allowed me to take some pictures once in a while. Once I saw 10-15 elephants in a group and while I was taking a picture- the mother elephants start pushing their kids behind and male elephants came forward and start moving their ears back and forth. Skyla told- that's it, they are threatened.
In the evening while it was getting dark, we rest on a hill and put our small camping tent. It was for killing some time because leopard, lions dinner time. I was so tired but still quiet energetic for my night time adventure. David went to check on our next trial and me and skyla start talking about Africa and animal life. She made a cup of Roibos, I made my Keemun Mao Feng. When I told her, Roibos has no caffeine, she showed me some roots which she mix with her drink. I tried some and it was bitter but of course as usual, I am always adventurous to try new thing. She was explaining me how elephants are causing a huge threat for Kruger because last 8 years they increased from 7,000 to 12,000. They destroy crops, fond of toppling tress which has an negative impact on biodiversity. They have to kill some elephants otherwise some other animal will be in danger. According to her- jungle has her own rule and law. I asked her about herself, why she choose this dangerous job. She explained to me how guilty feeling she has for their(Dutch) previous hypocrisy against African people. Her father took this job and taught her the same. She feels- this all animals are like her children and she can't leave them. She feel like a mother to them and it is her duty to take care of them. I was listening her story with great interest while she was holding her .44 caliber Ruger on her lap. I was thinking- God made all woman with a motherly instincts. I wish, I could write our whole conversation but this is tea group. All I can say- while I was drinking my Keemun, I was lost in space and listening her fascinating life story, her feeling and love for Africa and her children animals. She was telling one by one and I was eating and learning about other side of the story of a ranger. She stop when David came after an hour and we start our journey again.
I was very quiet on the way back because I was in my deep thought. Looking at David and Skyla- how brave and kind they are. They make little money but their heart is even bigger then mine. They are kind, sacrifice their lives for wild life. I can feel- my intimacy with this continent is growing day by day. I had a wonderful tour with them and it was not easy to say- Good bye. We human are wired creature. Friendship has no boundary and time table. I felt so close to them within 34 hours. I gave them all my tea because Skyla told me- her salary can't manage Keemun mao feng but she also gave me her Roibos and root to me. I gave David my Swiss knife and told him, that's all I have to offer him right now. I invited both of them in my house in Mozambique and seemed they were serious. They told me people come, take tour but never invite them. I promised to them that I will come back again this part of Kruger and meet them. My love for Africa and African people are growing more then ever. It is a wonderful continent of mix of white and black people from all around the world.
Skyla told me, if I want- she can be my guide to 5 days mountain riding tour to mount Kilimanjaro and the rough Kalahari desert. Yes, I will go to blend myself with this beautiful continent. Once French Philosopher Voltaire said- "Open my heart, you will only see the city of Paris." I want to say- "Open my heart, you will see only the beauty of Africa."
Sorry for this long post. Just couldn't stop sharing my feeling. I love tea, I love Africa.
Ripon Maputo, Mozambique
P.S. I got some wonderful shot of wild animal. If you guys are interested, I can download some to my yahoo account.