funky monkeys backpackers & safaris private day tours

I did this a few years ago. I stayed at Funky Monkeys and went with them into the Kruger Park. We stayed overnight for a few nights in large tents in the park. It was a great group of people, an awesome atmosphere and the tourguide was a really nice guy who had a lot of interesting facts to share with us. I did also end up seeing the Big 5, so...my safari was perfect!

by Lee JonesThe haunting beauty of Africa, the sounds of Africa, the smell of the African Bush is something that every person on earth should experience…. You are transported into primordial heaven when you arrive at Masungulo, a small piece of the Garden of Eden in South Africa. I recall the movie ‘Out of Africa’….. how the music and the sight of that African landscape pulled at me like a magnet….. How I longed to be there. Now I was…there… in the heart of it all. This Africa….where all humans originated… this Africa …….that delights the soul.Magic that flows through every fibre of your being when you are in the silent African veld. It’s a magic that you can only know if you transport yourself into its presence. Words cannot explain the feelings of connectedness and Oneness with creation when you are here….in Africa. Shed the trauma, the drama, the noise and the fragmentation of city life and return to the peace and tranquility of raw creation. Masungulo, an oasis in the vast surrounding animal populated bush, is a place of restoration for the tired city slicker. You sleep close to nature in comfortable and beautifully fitted out tents….after enjoying an incredibly delicious braai (Bar B Q) in the Boma (Afrispeak for Outdoor Dining room). While dining, look up and see the Milky Way stars cascade down through the acacia trees falling like diamonds into your consciousness, touching your face as you look up into the night sky….. Crickets chirp….and the many and varied animal sounds of the African night wash over your being and cleanse you…. Sheer bliss is the only word that could possibly describe this place.You sit around a fire in the inky dark night and enjoy an ice cold beer or glass of wine and you lose the ability to speak in the face of the magnificence of Africa…. Then you can hear the silence… then you can hear the elephant rumble, the lion roar, the hyena cackle, and the jackal howl….then at last you can truly hear!!When the sun rises Africa’s birds and animals awake and go to water to replenish…. In the dawn you sit high up on Masungulo’s lookout platform and watch the gentle giants (elephants), lion and other game come down to the Crocodile River. At Breakfast time back in camp we watch the warthogs crawl around on bent forelegs eating the birdseed that was thrown out for the birds. They are so unfazed by our presence that they almost pose for us to photograph them… they are so ugly, they are beautiful. Small herds of impala, kudu and zebra graze around the camp quietly watching you as you watch them…then the clowns arrive…the comical, agile, cheeky and athletic Vervet monkeys, they are also after the birdseed, and anything else they can find to snack on…. They have no real fear of us humans and get “up close and personal”…. And they make you laugh and smile…. And they entertain for hours….The blazing hot sun rises higher and higher into the bright blue sky….and the heat forces you to take shelter beneath the trees and sit and read or take a much needed swim in the lovely pool at Masungulo or take a shower in the open air bush showers….. And you eat and drink….and Africa flows and flows into your heart and you wish you never had to leave …. ever……. Because here you are alive, here you are at peace, here you are one with all of life…here you are!!!!Aaaah… Masungulo… You…… I will never ever forget …. I will ever remember the time spent with you…….…..and one day I will be back…. To see and taste and feel and hear and touch you…again.Come and experience Masungulo …. Be irrevocably changed… Be Africa!!!