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| Grand Teton NP |
Vince and I have taken many vacations in the National Parks of the United States. We love them! We have literally visited hundreds of national park preserves, historic parks, national monuments, seashores and forests.
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| Jill, Alex and Nick at Dinosaurs National Park |
Our sons became Junior Rangers in twenty or so National Parks from the time they were about 5 and 7 years old until they aged out at 12 or 13.
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| The Great Smoky Mountains NP |
It was a great way for them to learn about United States geography and history, to begin to appreciate the natural world and to reinforce good conservation practices.
We were lucky to be able to share so many of them with our sons in relative privacy too. Alex and Nick went to a private school in NJ whose spring breaks were usually the middle two weeks of March which meant that they never overlapped the crowded Easter week break. And their summer break began the first week in June giving us a 2 to 3 week head start on public school summer vacations. We took advantage of it. We were usually the only family in the parks with school-age children when we went!
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| lava rock fireplace @ Volcano House |
But we are not campers. We preferred to stay in one of the National Park System's historic landmark lodges and cabins.
But they are very reasonably priced and therefore very popular. Even with the advantage of our off-peak school breaks, sometimes we would have to wait for up to two years to get a reservation at a National Park lodge or cabin in some of the more popular parks. They are the crown jewels of the National Park System and just like camping, they allow you unprecedented access to the Park outside of opening hours. But they are much more comfy.
Like the Ahwahnee in Yosemite where along with the other beautiful amenities of this grand lodge, you can take part in old-fashioned evening fireside gatherings in front of the huge river rock fireplace and Yosemite storytelling around the campfire after dark or take snowshoe hikes in the winter moonlight.
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| The Old Faithful Inn & Old Faithful |
National Park Lodges are usually set in a prime location within the park too. Like Volcano House in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park where your room overlooks the edge of the still active
Kilauea Volcano. Or the Jenny Lake Lodge with a view of the reflection of the Grand Tetons in the lake. Or Bryce Canyon Lodge on the edge of the hoodoo amphitheater. Or El Tovar right on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Or Yellowstone's Old Faithful Inn where you can actually feel the geyser spray from a bench in front. Or the Many Glacier Hotel with panoramic views from every window of the surrounding glacial lakes and peaks of Glacier National Park.
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| Crater Lake NP |
Or Crater Lake Lodge where you can watch the sun rise over the lake from a rocking chair on the porch.
Sometimes it was an adventure just getting there. Like taking a
helicopter to the bottom of the Grand Canyon to stay at the Phantom Ranch or flying in by seaplane to Alaska's Katmai National Park and Brooks Lodge or motoring by boat to an island to reach Voyageurs' Kettle Falls Hotel.
Now that we are living in South Africa, I am happy that I brought with me some eye witness appreciation of the majesty of the United States National Park System. It would be so easy to be blown away by the diversity and uniqueness of the landscape and history of South Africa. But I can appreciate South Africa's beauty and majesty with the full knowledge that the United States is a really cool and breathtakingly beautiful place to live too.
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| Baobab in Mapungubwe NP |
There are only 21 National Parks in South Africa, a number befitting a country as young as it is. We have only been to a few of them and I hope to visit many if not all of them someday. And just like the US system, SANParks celebrates representative landscapes and natural landmarks such as the Kalahari Desert in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park or the grasslands of the Karoo or Table Mountain on the Cape Peninsula. They recognize the treasures of the local flora like Namaqua NP and the famous fauna like Addo Elephant NP. They make available to the public the rich history of South Africa like the archaeological treasures in Mapungubwe NP. Or they do all of the above, like the vast and rich multi-layered Kruger NP.
Up until our recent visit to Mapungunwe, we had either stayed off-site and experienced South Africa's National Parks as day visitors or we stayed in private lodges and hotels inside the parks. Our first National Park Lodge in South Africa was the Leokwe Rest Camp right smack in the center of Mapungubwe National Park.
The architecture of Leokwe blends perfectly with its surroundings. There are single bedroom cottages for two people and family cottages with two bedrooms.
The camp is self-catering but since we were driving up from Joburg in a rented 4 by 4 truck, this was not a problem. Vince and I have become quite adept at requisitioning for self-catered holidays after years of practice from family ski and sailing vacations. We've got it down to a science.
There was a braai of course and
a big walled patio to keep out the animals.
There was an adequate kitchen and an open dining room and living room combination.
There was an air-conditioned "Hollywood-style" bedroom. Two single beds like an old episode of
I Love Lucy,
A big bathroom with ...
an outdoor shower. No bathtub, but this was the bush, remember?
A thatched roof and a ceiling fan
Vince doing what he does best out on the patio.
I set the table!
Enjoying an alfresco camp dinner.
There was a pretty nice pool and a boma over by the reception camp. They probably had evening activities and stuff but we didn't take advantage of them.
We did take advantage of the pool though! Refreshing after a
walking safari.
The best part of staying at Leokwe is that you are right in the middle of the action. We saw plenty just on the short drive back and forth to the Main Gate to meet our guides for game drives and walks.
Hello friend!
