August 14th, 2016

Day 136: Itaga Luxury Private Game Lodge – Day 2 & Leaving South Africa

We got up early on our last day in South Africa to see the Mabalingwe lions. We were hoping for the best – after all, we enjoyed the Otjitotongwe Cheetah Farm in Namibia, where they had to keep their “wild” cats in a 200+ acre enclosure. If that was what we expected, we were sorely disappointed with the set-up at Mabalingwe. Both the lions and two Spotted Hyenas were kept in tiny fenced-in enclosures – the one for the lions was probably 5 acres, while the one for the hyenas was about half the size. Honestly, we didn’t come all the way to Africa to visit a zoo – we came to see animals in the WILD! Or at least free-roaming.

The guides at Itaga made a point of leaving the resort at 6:45AM in order to be the first arrivals at the lion feeding. We had about 10min to view the lions and hyenas on our own before a dozen safari vehicles showed up, each brimming with tourists. Mabalingwe only feeds the animals twice per week, and given that it was a Sunday and we were only 2hrs from Johannesburg, this was clearly the most heavily booked tour. By the end, we were seriously regretting our decision to join the tour – it was a low note to end our amazing experiences in the wilds of southern Africa.

 

Huge safari vehicles packed with tourists arrive to see the caged predators: Spotted Hyenas and lions

 

So bummed that our first hyena sighting was in a cage. These guys are MASSIVE – the size of a Great Dane! – can’t wait to see them in the wild in Tanzania!

 

A mighty, majestic lion…behind bars

 

Feeding the lions: a truck drives into the lion cage, where the guy in the passenger seat loops a chain around a pole which drags two chunks of meat off the tailgate as the truck drives off

 

Since the meat is chained to the pole, the lion is forced to eat his meal in front of the viewing platform, for the amusement of the hundreds of tourists who are snapping pictures.

 

On the drive back to the resort, we spot free-roaming antelope (with barely a predator to worry about!) in the Mabalingwe Reserve: Tsessebe and Nyala

 

A small herd of hippos in the Mabalingwe hippo pool

 

Grysbok – an adorable, teeny antelope

Our flight to Nairobi, Kenya wasn’t scheduled to leave until midnight that night, so we were in no hurry to get to Johannesburg (especially after all the crime-filled horror stories we heard about car-jackings and police bribes). After breakfast we waited until the last possible moment to check-out, then we asked if we could camp out at the pool and use their Wifi for another hour or so. Finally, we forced ourselves to leave around 1PM – still far earlier than we need to return the rental car and get to the airport.

When we packed our bags, we realized our big backpack (with all our clothes, shoes, medication, toiletries and mosquito nets) had gotten a rip near the bottom, and had split open! We tried to duct-tape it shut, but the tear was too large. We considered looking for a camping store in Johannesburg or Pretoria, but didn’t want to risk getting burgled on our last day in the country. Instead, we decided to wrap the backpack at the airport for USD $7. Good news was the wrapping was very thorough – nothing would fall out with all that cellophane! Bad news was there was no way to wrap the bag without losing access to the shoulder straps, so we have to carry around our 17kg bag like a baby around the airport. We quickly snished our remaining errands (exchanging money, mailing postcards and finding a pharmacy) before checking in to our Air Kenya flight.

We got our tickets from the electronic kiosk, then walked over to the baggage drop counter at 5PM. When we told the attendant we were booked for the midnight flight to Nairobi, she looked us up and down and said, “We’re not checking in that flight yet. Come back three hours before departure.” I’m sorry, what? You mean, we have to hang around the airport before security for another 4 HOURS?!? But we have Executive Lounge Passes!!!! She said there was nothing she could do – she couldn’t hold our bags for us and she couldn’t check them in early. “Is the bag too big for carry on?” We asked. She looked it over, “Em, no, I don’t think so. But it’s wrapped – they won’t let you through security like that.”

That’s what *you* think. We quickly ducked into a hallway and unraveled our bag, then manually re-wrapped the cellophane around just the bottom half of the bag, so the top was still accessible. Ghetto? Yes. Flight-ready? You bet! We got into the security line – one agent tried get Lindsay to put the backpack in their carry-on size checker but when she threatened to cry, a second agent waved us through. After another hour at Immigration we were finally in the Executive Lounge, where we raised a glass (actually several) to our successful navigation and escape from the Johannesburg Airport. Next stop: EAST AFRICA.

 

Wrapping (then -wrapping) our ripped bag before our international flight to Kenya