Now this feels like Africa

We arrived at our stop near Kruger National Park.  This is what people think of when they think of Africa. We're currently sitting by the fire along the Crocodile River.  We hear hippos grunting.  Within 1 hour of arriving we saw this guy, hippos, giraffe, antelope and a host of birds, oh and a Cape Buffalo.

The night sounds are amazing.

I'll update this once I've had some sleep.

Update:

We sat up late by the fire last night, too excited too sleep or leave the riverbank to prepare dinner.  Here are my random notes.

We were able to get an over the counter prescription for an anti malaria prescription at Click pharmacy in JoBurg, so that problem was solved.  We found that no mosquitoes, or insects of any kind came after us.  That was a pleasant surprise.

I smoked my first cigar in years, a Cuban that I purchased in JoBurg, and once I opened the Jamesons, well, it kept flowing.  This will explain the exuberant WhatsApp postingd that went on during the evening hours.  Sorry if you were on the receiving end of that barrage.

I won't apologize for my giddiness, however. I was remembering how excited I was in 1982 when at 25 I was coming to Africa for the first time.  As amazing as my time here was, I never did many of the things that are on the top of people's list, such as visit a game park.  The most exciting wildlife experience I had in my 2 years in Lesotho was seeing a Serval, which is a small cat.  Other notable sightings from then include a Crowned Crane and a Secretary bird.

The place where we are staying is tucked in a corner of a large, family farm.  They grow sugarcane and grapefruit.  They irrigate with water from the river.

Today we are just lounging by the river.  This morning we watched a herd of 50ish Impala graze, unannoyed by the youngsters running around in circles, leaping over bush as well as other Impala.  

I learned that Hippos soun like pigs.

We saw a Saddle Billed Stork, which is very striking.  When we walked out with our coffee this morning, a Vervet Monkey was on the deck.  It quickly scampered away as did some variety of Hornbill that we haven't ID'd yet.

Tomorrow, we will be driven into the park by a local guide. He informed is that he'll be picking us up at 04:30.  That's exciting.

I have to confess that sitting here is a peculiar mixture of relaxation and excitation.  It feels both exotic and familiar.  Of course, this could be due to the hangover.