At the end of our day three, in the Kruger National Park (South Africa) we were given a spectacular collage for the night.

 

We were heading for the Oliphants camp:

See where the camp is on the map below: 

It was getting so late:

The sun was beginning to set and we were worried we wouldn’t be able to get into the Oliphants camp before the gates closed! 

But when we got there, the gates were still open… thank goodness! But where was the booking office?

 Oh there it was… Parking the car quickly, we ran into the office… shoo… they weren’t closed either, such luck! But we did have to wait and see what cottage they could give us. They seemed full up. 

And when they give us the map of the collage layout map, to find the collage they said we could have for the night… We found it at last. It was the last one in the row of collages near the river. The collages were perched high above the Oliphants river. 

The camp actually sits on the Limpopo territory border. And we were in one of the cottages on the far right of this map as you look at it. I think it was the road with a kink in the end of it.

When we first looked at the collage, 

We didn’t think much of it, until we got onto its veranda. WOW the view from it was spectacular! The veranda looked right over the Oliphants River! Well not all of it, but what we saw of it was so beautiful. 

I so wished, I had taken a photo of the view from that collage’s veranda that evening. So I’m sorry there is no photo of it to show you now. 

Looking back at what had happened at the booking office:

We remembered how they had been searching for an empty collage for us. There must only have been one… but I’m sure it was best. Maybe it was the one they usually kept for honeymooners! 

But once  inside the cottage, there were three beds in it! And they looked so comfy after such a long tiring day’s drive through the park, from the south and the Skukuza camp. We had seen so much, but this was just perfect. 

Going back to the car:

We gather what we needed for the night, and set about eating what we could selvage from the car’s boot. Don’t forget, we still had the paw-paws we had bought in bulk (in a cardboard try) before entering the park that we had to use up! 

After supper:

My husband didn’t want to continue sitting on the veranda after supper. He didn’t relish mosquitoes biting him and went off to prepare for bed. 

Our daughter and I had rubbed on some insect repellent and so lingered out there on the veranda after our humble supper out of tins and fruit.  

The beauty of the Night:

The night was still and quiet. Except, every now and again you could hear the sound of the hippos. It was too dark to see where there were.  

But you could only hear their cavorting and grunting, going back and forth in the river far below, out of sight from where our cottage was. 

It sounded so romantic in the stillness of the night. Wild bush sounds in the night do that to you. You feel like you could sit there all night, soaking it all into your soul. T

he cottage and sitting on the veranda in the darkness and stillness of the night is the perfect place to be if you go on a honeymoon trip. 

For me, that time out on the veranda has lingered in my heart… so unforgettable. 

But there came a time when we had to turn in, and accept we couldn’t stay all night out there on the veranda. Such a shame! Oh, well! 

The next day:

We took the back road east, passed the Oliphants River and then northwards. But I’ll tell you all about that in my next travel post.