It is 4:30 AM and it looks like I am the first one outside on this cool, quiet African morning. As I learned later, I could have looked up to see the Southern Cross for the first time in the bright sky overhead, but that did not occur to me. Instead, I just wandered over to the quasi-outdoors reception desk to find some Wi-Fi, and in the background, music is playing: I hear the desk clerk singing along to “Africa” by Toto, which I have heard said, “is the song so good they named a continent after it…”

Some serious serendipity.

I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She’s coming in, 12:30 flight
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation
I stopped an old man along the way
Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies
He turned to me as if to say, “Hurry boy, it’s waiting there for you”

It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had (ooh, ooh)

The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless, longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what’s right
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure what’s deep inside, frightened of this thing that I’ve become

It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had (ooh, ooh)

Krueger National Park is large, about the size of New Jersey and was advertised as a great opportunity to see big game – and see we did. There were opportunities for some great photographs. To that point, hope does spring eternal. Through the years, I have recycled my expectations for getting a Nat Geo quality shot time and time again. So, once again, maybe no calls from National Geographic, but being with the elephant herd in the golden first light of an African late autumn morning could not have been better. I leave you with some shots that I grabbed at random from our day’s drive.