American Visitor: "Things I Will Miss When I Leave the Kruger to Head Back to the USA"

American solo traveller, DANA ATKINSON, compiled a list of things she would miss as she sat at the Kruger National Park yesterday… contemplating her return home to Florida in the USA.

Her list resonates not only with fellow visitors and tourists to South Africa, but also with South Africans themselves… paticularly expats who now live abroad far from the sounds of Africa…

Speaking to SAPeople today, Dana said: “I am at the airport now after 18 glorious nights at six different camps.” She kindly shared her list…

Things I will miss when I leave Kruger tomorrow to head back to the States… in no particular order…

The smell of wild sage

Sitting at a watering hole laughing at hippos blowing bubbles

The stars of the southern sky

Watching bateleurs fly

How alive all of my senses are while here

All of the emotions I feel from tears to laughter that are as true and real as emotions get

Biltong… especially wildebeest

Braai fires glowing at camp

Bats emerging at dusk

Hearing wild sounds and being proud I know who is making them like the major ele rumble I just heard.

Baobab trees

Hornbills and starlings and the other amazing camp birds

Formal and polite greetings

Sitting quietly at a watering hole in peace and quiet enjoying every minute, even if all I see and hear are birds.

Finding places of complete silence devoid of any man made sounds to think or just to be

No TV or news… especially politics

Running out the door with coffee to hit the roads in anticipation of what may happen and what I may see. (At home it takes two cups before I can even function.)

The excitement of clean clothes after days of wearing whatever is cleanest day after day.

The luxurious feeling of taking a shower after several days of not taking one to the point where I can smell myself. And why hadn’t I? For no reason except that I felt no need to waste the time or energy; the benefit of traveling alone.

Seeing an amazing wildlife event and hearing David Attenborough announcing the details because it’s just as amazing as an event on a show he would be on

The antics of vervet monkeys and devising ways to annoy them; rubber snakes and water guns.

Being as scared as I am excited when I see a big bull elephant facing me on a dirt road

Being around people with the same enthusiasm for Kruger and Africa

The promise of the morning sun and peace of the night stars

At the end of every day saying, “This has been the best day ever!”

The call of the fish eagle

Amarula… yes I can get it in the States but I can’t drink it as a night cap while hearing hyena whooop.

Being the only person at Lake Panic hide and wondering how safe it is and saying what the hell. If a leopard were to come in and take me I’d die with a smile on my face.

If I had never come to Africa – or Kruger to be more specific – I would not know what I was missing when I was at home. But I’d rather have known and missed these things and been a better person for having witnessed them than to have never known them at all.

What do you miss the most?

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When DANA ATKINSON abruptly left her corporate career in 2001 she was the Director of Sales for a toy and gift company. After years of defining the word “workaholic” Dana departed for an extended stay in Africa traveling many African countries; doing so mostly alone. While in the beauty and serinity that is Africa she reanalysed everything about her life. Today Dana has traveled over thirteen countries in Africa, spending hundreds of nights on the continent. She has written three books on the subject and maintains a blog telling funny and informative stories on the subject. PLEASE SEE MORE ABOUT DANA ON HER WEBSITE: http://danaatkinson.com

American Visitor: “Things I Will Miss When I Leave the Kruger to Head Back to the USA”