The Big Five: Don't ever pimp me out again!

The final day we set out at 6 am (when the gates open) with the goal of spotting a lion and possibly a leopard. Talking to folks the night before in camp, it seemed as though everyone was spotting lions. One guy saw 18 of them. Lucky SOB. An old couple, and by old I mean 90, saw 5 or 6. We felt like we must have been the only people that weren't spotting lions. So we left nothing to chance. Sun up to sundown, driving at a slower pace.

Unfortunately, between 6 am and noon we only saw Impalas, and a guy that said he just saw a caracal (a rare, small mountain cat). It was very discouraging. The afternoon was more of the same. The only hihglight was that we saw a Rhino very near the car. They are very intimidating creatures. They look like dinosaurs. They weighed more than our microbus. It was very cool.

We left the park and before finding a place to crash we went to the grocery store deciding that we would celebrate our last night with our new friends by cooking a delicious meal over a bar-b-que. We bought steaks. Unfortunately, the hostel that we went to was terribly run down. The kitchen had not been used for years and whoever used it years ago failed to clean up after themselves. On top of that it was pouring rain. It was the most ghetto hostel we have been to so far.

But, we made the best of it and even enjoyed nathans creative cooking schemes. I should note that all of Nathan's cooking schemes have been "creative" and by creative I mean disgusting. But not all his fault. The ingredients here are few and often poor and Nathan prefers complex meals. SO complexity + poor ingredients usually results in funny meals. But he's a good shit so I don't give him too much trouble.

The highlight of this night was that this tall guy came up to me and said, "this, long long man. me, long long man but this, long long long man." Then he looked at Tiff and Helena and said, "which one." I said that they were my sisters and he said, "how much." I said "30 rand." He didn't understand, and I have a feeling I didn't understand what he was saying. We all laughed, except for Tiff who made me promise that I will never pimp her out again. She was dead serious. Whcih only amde it funny.

But for the record. I will never pimp Tiff out again.

The next day we had to leave the Germans. It was very sad because it was such a joy to meet them and spend so many days with them. The greatest part about this trip for me has been the way that we have been able to meet people and become such intimate friends for a few days. I really hope to meet them again some day. As we left they gave us a gift. A postcard with the big five on it, only the leopard was crossed off because we did not see it. On the back they said that the ROAD EXPERIMENT (a reference to a sign we saw) was great due to THE BIG FIVE: TIFF, ADAM, NATHAN, FLO AND HELENA. I couldn't have said it better my self. Adios Kruger. And safe travels to Flo and Helena!