My Next Career: SAPS

Yes, I do believe that my next career move will be with the SAPS (South African Police Service). I'm thinking I could make quite a difference within this organization. And, if I totally fail at it, I'm sure I could make a better living. Nothing like a crooked organization. I realize that all organizations have their "bad employees"--but we were 3 for 3 yesterday. Our plan was to drive to the Numbi Gate of Kruger National Park and then explore H1-1 to Skukuza. Then, we wanted to take H1-2 over to Tshokwane and on up Satara, before turning on Satara Road to take us out of Kruger National Park via the Orpen Gate. 

Well, doesn't that sound like a beautiful plan for the day? We had ample time for the route with lots of time to stop for photos and watch wildlife, or so we thought. On the way down R40, we were stopped by police just outside of Hoedspruitt. We were told we need to go back to Hoedspruitt to pay R750. Apparently they had stop lights that were out of service (that we did not see) and the rule it to stop no matter what. My question is, if it happened to be totally dark outside and there was no way to see the broken light, then what? There was no blinking light, no stop sign, nobody directing traffic. We, at the time, were watching 2 boys cross the street in front of us. One chose to cross and the other chose to wait, then we drove forward. So, we did actually stop. We noticed others being pulled over at the same spot. I wonder if they purposely turn off traffic signals to make some extra cash. Who knows? Anyway, he told us we could go back to pay the ticket in Hoedspruitt and get a receipt or we could pay him and not get a receipt. See how that works? They just pocket the money. Quite a living I could make doing that. Anyway, we paid him and kept going in order to keep our current schedule. 

About 1,000 pot holes in the road later, we arrived at Numbi Gate. We entered without incident. We planned ahead and had all the paperwork filled out in advance. This time they checked our passports. Two days ago at the Phalaborwa Gate they said they didn't need our passports. Nothing like consistency. 

We had a picnic lunch with the waterbucks and then kept to our route. Here are some of Dax's magnificent pictures. I'm telling you, it was fantastic. 

I wish I could recreate the experience for you.

Chacma Baboons. Lots of them. Just hanging out by the road. Big ones and little ones. So cute. 

Impalas. Gosh, she is beautiful.

Isn't he handsome? Oh my goodness!

We saw herds of giraffes.

Herds and herds of Blue Wildebeests.

Nile Crocodile. YIKES! We also saw sooo many hippos today.

 Isaiah has quite the eye for finding hippo heads from afar.

Oh my gosh. There is really nothing quite like watching a lion.

So, looks like a perfect day, right? (Other than the unjustified informal ticket). We made it to Satara and guess what! Yep, the road was closed. NOW, we can't get out of the park before the Orpen Gate closes at 5:30 p.m. We had to take an unmarked gravel road. Note, it is pitch black dark at this point. We drove and drove and finally found our way to the Orpen Gate. A man wrote down our information on a log and let us through. Then, we arrived at the 2nd (final gate). I tell you what, it sure felt like the "final gate" so to speak. There was a man in a park uniform, a man dressed nicely, and then 2 men (very serious men) dressed in military like clothing. The park guy approached our car. He said, "You're late." We agreed with him. We explained we had been trying to get out of the park; however, the road was closed. He went back and talked to the other 3 men in native tongue. The whole process took like 30 minutes I'm thinking. It won't sound that long in this narrative, but there was so much "down" time with no interaction. They searched our car, but we never got out of it. A while later the park guy said, "You're late. We have to call the safety patrol now. It is out of our hands." We just sat there. We aren't sure what he was expecting us to do or say, so we did nothing, and said, "Okay." You could tell he didn't want to call them. He got on the phone and walked away and talked to the other 3 men a bit (again, not in English). He very seriously walked back to us and said, "You are late, what should we do to punish you? What is your punishment?" Okay, at that point, what would YOU say? You can imagine all kinds of stuff popped into my head. We again explained why we were late. Also, at that moment, Dax slid me his cash so I could separate it appropriately and stash it in my different bags. We figured we were going to have to "slip him some fragrant grease" (pay them/bribe them) to get out. We didn't want them to see our wad of cash. I would gladly give them all of Dax's money if they let us go safely, without incident. Well, a while later, he approached us again and asked what should be our punishment. I said, "Do we need to pay a fine somewhere or do we pay you the fine?" He shook his head and said, "Oh, no." Well geesh--what in the heck did they have in mind then? More time ticked away, the guys talked some more and the one man approached us again. He asked where we were staying and all that stuff. He told us how to exit and get to Phalaborwa and opened the gate. Then, Isaiah thanked God, as we did as well. 

By this time, we were really hungry and had to use the restroom. We stopped about 1/2 way back to grab a snack. We made it to Phalaborwa with no further problems. It was about 9 p.m. and we decided to try to find something of substance to eat for a late supper. We were approaching an intersection where we were going to turn left. We had slowed and nearly stopped when we noticed a car in front of us backing up. Oh my gosh! They hit us. His back left bumper hit our right front edge of the rental. We even honked to warn him and he kept on coming. The passenger was drunk and hanging out the front door sharing some of his most colorful language with us (the international f-bomb). The driver got out of the car and came to Dax's window. I told Isaiah to not make eye contact and just keep looking ahead. Dax rolled down his window and said, "I'm going to the police station." He rolled up his window and we drove to the SAPS Station. The whole way I repeated the vehicle ID number so I wouldn't forget it. Dax went in and Isaiah and I stayed in the car with the doors locked. We noticed the car that hit us was driving around the SAPS Station a few times. The policeman came out with a form and a pen. In the dark, by the light of Isaiah's Nintendo 3DS XL, the man took down all the information he needed from us. This took an entire two hours. After all that, he gives us a small slip of paper with a handwritten number on it (police report number to give to rental company) and a hand stamp. Isaiah said that they really need to get computers for all this mess. 

So, guess what we have been doing today. We managed to find most of stuff we needed in order to "fix" the car. Dax has been working on it all afternoon and has successfully fixed it. In about an hour, we leave for our "night drive" at Kruger. Isaiah is thrilled that we will not be driving ourselves. They are picking us up, treating us to a snack, then we are going on another "safari"--this time with escorts/gun boys/etc. We already signed the paperwork to say they are not liable for injury due to wildlife, including themselves. HA! I'm good with that. 

We have managed so far. 

Oh, I forgot to mention. We also saw a leopard in the road when we were navigating our way out of the park. YEA for us! We managed to see the "big 5" on our own with tons of other wildlife. I'll have to list those later.