As soon as we got through the door it was obvious we were tourists who didn't know what we were doing. A young man with Porter written on his hat asked us what airline we were taking. As he got me checked in at a self serve kiosk a man with Porter written on his jacket showed up. He took my bag and the other one took Gayle's and motioned for us to follow. The guy pulling my bag said, "You must tip us well." I said, "Did you just tell me to tip you?" He said, "You should give us each 100 Rand." I knew that was way more than we had been told. Just then a woman on the escalator screamed. They dropped our bags on the floor and ran over to check on the commotion. Gayle and I picked up our dropped bags and continued on our own. When they realized we had left they chased us down to the baggage drop. I said, "We are fine on our own, thank you." We will be more alert to caring for ourselves in the future.
We got through security with no problems and headed to our gate. I was sitting with our carry-on bags when the woman working at the gate desk said, "Is there a Gayle Irene at the gate?" I was confused because they had used Gayle's first name with my middle name and no last name but I went up to check it out. The woman said, "Did you leave your wallet at your hotel?" I knew I had my wallet but I wasn't sure about Gayle. So I ran to check with Gayle. She didn't have her wallet.
It turns out she left it in the back seat of the car. The driver took it back to our hotel because he didn't know how to find us. So the hotel called the airport. Our options were to upgrade our tickets and leave on a later flight or get our travel agent to call the hotel and release the wallet to a third party who would transport it to the airport and the flight crew on the next flight to Hoedspruit would deliver it to another driver who would bring it to our lodge. Gayle went with option two and we ran onto our plane and they closed the cabin door. As we walked down the aisle to our row you could tell that everyone seemed to know of our plight.
The flight to Hoedspruit takes 40 minutes. They managed to serve us each a hot cross bun in that amount of time.
The view out our window was of a bleak environment of orangish sand and spindly bush trees. It reminded Gayle of her early years in Africa. To her it was a place of incredible beauty. The terminal at Hoespruit is a small building that looks like a house. The runway is old and cracked. We were met by our driver Phanuel. The drive to our resort takes 45 minutes because you go through the game preserve and the low speed limit is enforced. Along the way we saw impala, giraffe, warthogs, springbok and wildebeest.
When we arrived we were greeted by a woman named Corde. We began to tell her our plight and she said, "I already know all about it. My colleague will fetch your wallet from the next flight." We were glad for our travel agent. Corde gave us a tour of the lodge. When we walked into the open air lodge we saw a mama elephant and a baby elephant near the waterhole nearby. As I exclaimed about it she said that before I left I would probably see elephants come right up to the deck and drink from the swimming pool. I hope so!
We sat down on the couch and were brought a cool drink as Corde went over the schedule with us and made sure we signed a waiver. Then to our sleeping quarters. They are amazing. I am going to revel in my five nights here.
Our beds
We have a tub
An incredible shower
An outdoor shower
You can sit on the deck and look for wildlife
You can even sit on the toilet and watch for animals
The fridge is stocked with soft drinks and beer
We unpacked and then headed down for a light lunch. Then back to our room to rest before tea at 3:30 pm and our first game drive at 4. Just after 3 pm Gayle's wallet was delivered intact. The world is filled with good people.
(This is part 1 of today's installment. Our first game drive deserves it's own entry.)
Wow, what a day. I did note the term "bleak" when describing the landscape. I'm sure you meant"wonderful". 😁. Love Ken
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