Travelling is hands down one of the few ways you can stretch and
challenge yourself.. But maybe this time we pushed it a little too far.
Driving 30 hrs in 3 days at an average speed of 15 miles/hr in the
middle of an African jungle, all that we were longing for is to view as
many "Big 5", "Secret 7" and games as possible EXCEPT those 2 hours.
Kruger national park has broadly two types of roads to drive through for safaris - the tar roads that criss cross through the reserve and the dirt tracks that branch out at places. And then there is this third kind....
We came across a narrow winding track which was apparently closed with an iron rod lying on the road and not one but three sign boards - saying "Do not enter". Now, this track was just on the same side half a mile from a check dam. The best chances of seeing lots of animals and some action are usually next to water bodies.
So some fuse in our heads just went off and we decided to travel this "never" travelled track ( I am very generous in calling it a track ) in our teenie veenie sedan. And as expected the next 1 hour was thrilling as we saw a cheetah, few giraffes, some hippos, a herd of springboks and few others.
Now, did I just forget to mention that we also crossed a dried river bed on our way inside. The whole experience was just oozing awww as of course it couldn't have been more adventurous than this time - Right here.. Right now. So the disclaimer starts from here on.. On our way back to a navigable road, guess what?? Our car got stuck in the sand in the middle of the dried river. The more we tried to speed the car to get out, the more the types got into the sand.
After initial efforts to get the car out, it finally dawned on us - Oh f*** we are stuck. Without really speaking a word, I got out of the car and started digging the sand out of the tyres and Kunal got out to pee grin emoticon .. O and by this time the car was almost a third in water, which suddenly popped out of nowhere from inside the sand.. not just the front wheels, but every single one of them. So the river sand was not as dry as we thought it was. And then followed a series of weird reactions that just didn't made any sense i.e. One of us trying to lift the car while the other watched out for any animal attack, making weird noises imitating lion's roar so we keep the animals away, trying to blade out an arrow through some stick and stone, laughing and crying at the same time. Soon we realised the only option we had was to walk down to a real road. I guess by that time we calmed down a bit or maybe not.
It was a stretch of approx 1 mile which felt like a sumptuous meal we might be and hopefully would never experience again. Me with a stick and Kunal with a rock (we knew it's not gonna help in anyway) walked into the jungle to the track road. That time travelled is the only experience I can never explain. We haven't sensed death so close and have nothing to really say about it. We were completely drenched in mud and scratches. The reason i could write this from my hostel in Cape Town is because we are alive.
A series of events happened after that like taking lift to reach a closest rest camp which was 55 miles away, getting a ticket on the car we asked for the lift from, travelling with the rangers in their open air rescue gypsy to get our car lifted out, paid some through our nose and some under the table to get out of the situation. All in all I quite rate it as an experience worth sharing. Disclaimer: please do never try it yourself.
Kruger national park has broadly two types of roads to drive through for safaris - the tar roads that criss cross through the reserve and the dirt tracks that branch out at places. And then there is this third kind....
We came across a narrow winding track which was apparently closed with an iron rod lying on the road and not one but three sign boards - saying "Do not enter". Now, this track was just on the same side half a mile from a check dam. The best chances of seeing lots of animals and some action are usually next to water bodies.
So some fuse in our heads just went off and we decided to travel this "never" travelled track ( I am very generous in calling it a track ) in our teenie veenie sedan. And as expected the next 1 hour was thrilling as we saw a cheetah, few giraffes, some hippos, a herd of springboks and few others.
Now, did I just forget to mention that we also crossed a dried river bed on our way inside. The whole experience was just oozing awww as of course it couldn't have been more adventurous than this time - Right here.. Right now. So the disclaimer starts from here on.. On our way back to a navigable road, guess what?? Our car got stuck in the sand in the middle of the dried river. The more we tried to speed the car to get out, the more the types got into the sand.
After initial efforts to get the car out, it finally dawned on us - Oh f*** we are stuck. Without really speaking a word, I got out of the car and started digging the sand out of the tyres and Kunal got out to pee grin emoticon .. O and by this time the car was almost a third in water, which suddenly popped out of nowhere from inside the sand.. not just the front wheels, but every single one of them. So the river sand was not as dry as we thought it was. And then followed a series of weird reactions that just didn't made any sense i.e. One of us trying to lift the car while the other watched out for any animal attack, making weird noises imitating lion's roar so we keep the animals away, trying to blade out an arrow through some stick and stone, laughing and crying at the same time. Soon we realised the only option we had was to walk down to a real road. I guess by that time we calmed down a bit or maybe not.
It was a stretch of approx 1 mile which felt like a sumptuous meal we might be and hopefully would never experience again. Me with a stick and Kunal with a rock (we knew it's not gonna help in anyway) walked into the jungle to the track road. That time travelled is the only experience I can never explain. We haven't sensed death so close and have nothing to really say about it. We were completely drenched in mud and scratches. The reason i could write this from my hostel in Cape Town is because we are alive.
A series of events happened after that like taking lift to reach a closest rest camp which was 55 miles away, getting a ticket on the car we asked for the lift from, travelling with the rangers in their open air rescue gypsy to get our car lifted out, paid some through our nose and some under the table to get out of the situation. All in all I quite rate it as an experience worth sharing. Disclaimer: please do never try it yourself.
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