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South Africa Journal
We started our South Africa journey in Kruger. To see journals from our other South Africa stops, just click the links at the top of the page.
(Keith) Our first "big game" sightings
of this year were in the Royal Chitwan Park in
Nepal. There we saw a couple of Asian rhino, here in Africa we saw much
more . . . lion, leopard, cheetah, elephant, zebra, buffalo, giraffe, crocodile,
hyena, warthog (one of my favorites) and many more. As Lea explains, Kruger park
is an excellent way to see the game in relative comfort. (Later this
month, we will spend 8 days on a safari in Kenya where I expect the conditions
will be much more "rustic".)
We did most of our viewing either from our private car or from special open-air viewing vehicles (you sit on benches in the back of a small truck; there is no glass, so you can get some really good views . . . Lea's picture shows one of these trucks). Surprisingly, the animals pay little attention to the vehicles; they are neither frightened nor intimidated. We often sat and watched elephants, giraffe, and lions simply walk or eat beside the car. At one point a hyena actually walked up to the car and looked me eye to eye. Of course things are drastically different if you are NOT in a vehicle.
As our guide described: "once you are out of your car it is a different story, you are on their turf and they will see you as a threat". So, it was with this advice that we set off into the African bush (on foot) to see the animals. We were accompanied by a park ranger and a guide; each carried large rifles. We got off to an early start, immediately after sunrise; that is when the animals are most active. As we got deeper into the bush, we began to see foot paths where the grass had been trampled. Rhinos create these paths as they "patrol" their territory. Justin, our guide, led us down these paths, always checking the wind direction because of the animal's acute sense of smell.
After several hours of following footprints and trampled grass, we finally found a large male rhino. It was sleeping when we first sighted the animal; within seconds of the sighting (about 50 yards away) the rhino sprang to its feet. Justin had us slowly move away from the beast. From our vantage point, we could tell that the animal stood about 6 feet at its back, weighed about 3000 lbs, and can run about 25 miles per hour.
Justin found another path (this one downwind), and we started to slowly move down it. The path ended in a small group of bushes; as we edged around the scrub, the rhino rose to its feet. We were about 10 yards from it. We got a brief, but very close, view of this huge animal. The bush walk is a great way to get really close and quite an adrenaline rush as a bonus.
(Lea)
A herd of zebra and family of impalas grazed near us in the African bush. Keith and
I marveled as a group of giraffe arrived to feast on leaves. Suddenly we
noticed all of these animals flinch and heard a scraping noise. Keith looked
into our car's rearview mirror and it was filled with a wild elephants’ face
and sharp tusks. A 12,000 lb elephant can run up to 25 mph, so Keith
quickly revved the car and moved forward. Luckily, the elephant was only on his
way to enjoy a cool drink with no plans to charge us. He turned into the grass
and walked toward a watering hole. We were in
the middle of Kruger National Park, located in northeast South Africa.
Kruger Park was even better than we expected. To think we originally did not intend to visit until Mike and Anne Marie (who we met on the Nepal trek) told us what a fantastic time they had when visiting the park. We discovered that Kruger is one of the oldest (established in 1898), most popular (almost 1 million visitors a year, though they limit the number in order to minimize the impact of people on the ecology) and largest (about 200 miles by 40 miles). Throughout the park are camps with accommodation ranging from camping to lovely cottages (and the camps are gated off by electric fences!). We stayed in these at night and explored the park during the day.
Viewing wildlife actually in the wild is exhilarating. During the day
Keith and I drove our rental car through dirt roads in the park. Often it was just Keith and I and a herd of buffalo, a group of zebra and
giraffe, a wild
elephant, a rhino and twice we caught a glimpse of a stealth LEOPARD!!!! Though we were in a car, it was still the wild and we were required to follow Kruger's strict rules (Do not get out of the car at any time!) and
curfews (Visitors cannot drive outside camps at night).
We saw LIONS from on open air vehicle on a guided night drive - it was amazing and
breathtaking. We ventured on a guided night drive, a service provided by some of the camps in
the park since visitors cannot drive on their own at night. The proud lion
sauntered by us to greet another lion and lioness. Their majesty took my breath
away. During the night drive we had a chance to view nocturnal animals
such as jackals and owls, and enjoy the night sounds and night air.
Aside from the amazing animals, we also became birdwatchers during our visit to Kruger. Previously, both of us thought that bird watching seemed boring. Then we actually started to see the birds. The shimmering blue starling, beautiful multi-colored rollers and majestic eagles soon had us using our binoculars to find more.
We left Kruger wanting to see more. Luckily, Kruger was a warm up to our visit in Kenya. In Kenya we will safari and camp among the wild!
Check out our Kruger photos.