Our First Week in Africa: Kruger National Park
After two very long flights, we both made it to Johannesburg, South Africa. Since we took different flights, the next challenge was to find each other at the airport. Luckily, we landed in the evening and we were on two of the last flights for the day. Jeff was waiting patiently for me outside of immigration with our baggage. We somehow fit everything into our little Kia Picanto, which would be our wheels for the trip. After quickly adjusting to driving a stick-shift on the opposite side of the car, as well as the opposite side of the road, Jeff got us to our hotel for the night.
The next morning we stocked up on groceries and camping supplies for a 5 week road-trip and headed out on the road towards Kruger National Park. It took about 4 1/2 hours to get to the entrance of the park. Our drive was quite interesting, as we passed our first shanty-town and saw more hitch-hikers in a 4 1/2 hour drive than I have total in my whole life.
The Kruger National Park is the second-largest game reserve in Africa and the largest in South Africa. Spanning 360km, North to South, and 65km from East to West, it has nine entrance gates and is home to the famous Big Five, the Little Five and the birding Big Six, in addition to a range of fauna and flora unique to the area (http://www.krugerpark.com/).
(Note: since the national park has wild animals roaming around, all of the campgrounds are surrounded by electric fences and have guarded gates that are only open from sunrise to sunset. You must make it into your campground before the gate closes for the night or you are in trouble!).
Day 1: After entering the park (and paying the depressingly-expensive national park fees), we stayed at Berg-en-Dal Restcamp for the night. Before sunset, we drove around to see some animals. Animal Sightings: 2 Warthogs, A herd of Impala, Zebras, 3 Giraffes, 4 Kudu, 3 Elephants, 1 Male Lion (He was either sunbathing or dying...not sure) and 5 White Rhinos
Day 2: We left Berg-en-Dal right when the gates opened We headed to our second rest-camp for two nights (Skukuza), and did some intense animal searching. Our daily routine turned into leaving our rest-camp right when the gates opened at sunrise, drive around looking for animals until lunch, set up our tent and hang out until about 3:30pm and then head out driving to look for animals until sunset. On our afternoon drive, we followed the stream of cars headed in one direction to find a group of lions feasting on last night's kill. We were able to get within a few yards of them and could smell the dead animal and see the blood on their manes. :) This was the first of many nights that we rushed back from an animal sighting to make it in the gates before they closed. Animal Sightings: Elephants, White Rhinos, Zebras, Impalas (these were everywhere), Eland, Dwarf Mongoose, Vulture, Kudu, Blue Wildebeast, Giraffe, 4 Lions, Klipspringer and Duiker.
Day 3: Today we took a break from animals and headed to Blyde River Canyon, outside of Kruger National Park. The 2 hour drive was beautiful and we stopped at the lookout points to see different views of the river and canyon. On our way back to our rest-camp we were lucky enough to see a LEOPARD! We were beyond excited, since they are very difficult to spot, because they hide up in trees during the day. That evening, we went on a 2 hour night drive (since the rest-camp gates close at sunset, no one is allowed to do their own night drive; therefore, you have to pay to go with the rest-camp on large safari trucks with spot-lights and guides). It was freezing cold, but we saw a pride of lions hunting. Today was the day we completed our Big 5 checklist!! Animal Sightings: Giraffe, Leopard, Fish Eagle, Nyala, Hippos, Zebras, Water Buffalo, Warhog, Southern Ground Hornbill, 8 Lions, Side-striped Jackel, Small-spotted genet, bushbaby and 3 White Rhinos.
Day 4: Another day of getting up before sunrise and off to the next rest-camp (Satara). Since we were out so early, a pride of lions were still laying on the road (it is warmer at night). We followed two male lions as they strolled down the road. One walked close enough to my window for me to reach out and touch it. We saw a ton of animals today on our drives. Our campsite had a watering hole, which resulted in even more sightings. After dinner we were sitting on a bench looking through the electric fence onto the open terrain, and were stunned when a couple of hyenas strolled by. They walk up and down the fence at night scouring for food. They didn't even acknowledge us, even though we were within 8 feet of them. Animal Sightings: Lion pride (1 Male, 3 Female and 4 cubs, Bateleur, Rhinos, Warthogs, ground hornbill, Waterbuck, Wildebeast herd, Male Lion, Elephants, Secretary bird, hippo, zebra, Brown snake eagle, saddle-billed stork, Fish Eagle, Baboons, Black-striped jackel, Water Buffalo and 3 Hyenas.
Day 5: We headed out at sunrise to go to the next rest-camp (Olifants). Today the animals were moving. We saw three White Rhinos cross the road, as well as several giraffe and zebras cross the road. Olifants had a good lookout point over the river. It was up on the hill and we saw tons of animals at the river. Several herds of elephants, buffalo, zebra and antelope all came down to the river. We could have sat there for several hours more just looking at the animals stream down to the water. In the afternoon we drove around some of the back gravel roads and just missed a pride of lions take down a water buffalo; however, we saw them basking in the shade after their feast. Tonight was our first night in Kruger not sleeping in a tent. We stayed in a bungalow that looked kind of like a hut. Animal Sightings: Elephants, giraffes, zebra, denhams & Kori-buster, crocodile, jackal, steenbok, Ostrich, white rhinos, hippos, Huge herd of Water Buffalo, Eagle & Lion Pride.
Day 6: As we were exiting the park, we ran into a group of sleepy hyenas that were resting on the road after what looked like a huge feast. Their bellies were protruding beyond belief. We sat there for about 20 minutes just watching them, until one got curious and started sniffing around our front tire. We took that as our cue to leave. We also came across a huge herd of buffalo feeding right on the side of the road. Animal Sightings: 5 Hyenas, Herd of Buffalo and Elephants.
Travel Tidbits: The main roads throughout Kruger National Park were paved, and very smooth. There are several gravel roads to go off the beaten path; however, they were a little rough on our Picanto but manageable. All of the rest-camps were very nice facilities, which included boiling water spouts, hot plates and nice bathrooms.
Stay tuned for The Okavango Delta...
The next morning we stocked up on groceries and camping supplies for a 5 week road-trip and headed out on the road towards Kruger National Park. It took about 4 1/2 hours to get to the entrance of the park. Our drive was quite interesting, as we passed our first shanty-town and saw more hitch-hikers in a 4 1/2 hour drive than I have total in my whole life.
The Kruger National Park is the second-largest game reserve in Africa and the largest in South Africa. Spanning 360km, North to South, and 65km from East to West, it has nine entrance gates and is home to the famous Big Five, the Little Five and the birding Big Six, in addition to a range of fauna and flora unique to the area (http://www.krugerpark.com/).
(Note: since the national park has wild animals roaming around, all of the campgrounds are surrounded by electric fences and have guarded gates that are only open from sunrise to sunset. You must make it into your campground before the gate closes for the night or you are in trouble!).
Day 1: After entering the park (and paying the depressingly-expensive national park fees), we stayed at Berg-en-Dal Restcamp for the night. Before sunset, we drove around to see some animals. Animal Sightings: 2 Warthogs, A herd of Impala, Zebras, 3 Giraffes, 4 Kudu, 3 Elephants, 1 Male Lion (He was either sunbathing or dying...not sure) and 5 White Rhinos
Day 2: We left Berg-en-Dal right when the gates opened We headed to our second rest-camp for two nights (Skukuza), and did some intense animal searching. Our daily routine turned into leaving our rest-camp right when the gates opened at sunrise, drive around looking for animals until lunch, set up our tent and hang out until about 3:30pm and then head out driving to look for animals until sunset. On our afternoon drive, we followed the stream of cars headed in one direction to find a group of lions feasting on last night's kill. We were able to get within a few yards of them and could smell the dead animal and see the blood on their manes. :) This was the first of many nights that we rushed back from an animal sighting to make it in the gates before they closed. Animal Sightings: Elephants, White Rhinos, Zebras, Impalas (these were everywhere), Eland, Dwarf Mongoose, Vulture, Kudu, Blue Wildebeast, Giraffe, 4 Lions, Klipspringer and Duiker.
Day 3: Today we took a break from animals and headed to Blyde River Canyon, outside of Kruger National Park. The 2 hour drive was beautiful and we stopped at the lookout points to see different views of the river and canyon. On our way back to our rest-camp we were lucky enough to see a LEOPARD! We were beyond excited, since they are very difficult to spot, because they hide up in trees during the day. That evening, we went on a 2 hour night drive (since the rest-camp gates close at sunset, no one is allowed to do their own night drive; therefore, you have to pay to go with the rest-camp on large safari trucks with spot-lights and guides). It was freezing cold, but we saw a pride of lions hunting. Today was the day we completed our Big 5 checklist!! Animal Sightings: Giraffe, Leopard, Fish Eagle, Nyala, Hippos, Zebras, Water Buffalo, Warhog, Southern Ground Hornbill, 8 Lions, Side-striped Jackel, Small-spotted genet, bushbaby and 3 White Rhinos.
Day 4: Another day of getting up before sunrise and off to the next rest-camp (Satara). Since we were out so early, a pride of lions were still laying on the road (it is warmer at night). We followed two male lions as they strolled down the road. One walked close enough to my window for me to reach out and touch it. We saw a ton of animals today on our drives. Our campsite had a watering hole, which resulted in even more sightings. After dinner we were sitting on a bench looking through the electric fence onto the open terrain, and were stunned when a couple of hyenas strolled by. They walk up and down the fence at night scouring for food. They didn't even acknowledge us, even though we were within 8 feet of them. Animal Sightings: Lion pride (1 Male, 3 Female and 4 cubs, Bateleur, Rhinos, Warthogs, ground hornbill, Waterbuck, Wildebeast herd, Male Lion, Elephants, Secretary bird, hippo, zebra, Brown snake eagle, saddle-billed stork, Fish Eagle, Baboons, Black-striped jackel, Water Buffalo and 3 Hyenas.
Day 5: We headed out at sunrise to go to the next rest-camp (Olifants). Today the animals were moving. We saw three White Rhinos cross the road, as well as several giraffe and zebras cross the road. Olifants had a good lookout point over the river. It was up on the hill and we saw tons of animals at the river. Several herds of elephants, buffalo, zebra and antelope all came down to the river. We could have sat there for several hours more just looking at the animals stream down to the water. In the afternoon we drove around some of the back gravel roads and just missed a pride of lions take down a water buffalo; however, we saw them basking in the shade after their feast. Tonight was our first night in Kruger not sleeping in a tent. We stayed in a bungalow that looked kind of like a hut. Animal Sightings: Elephants, giraffes, zebra, denhams & Kori-buster, crocodile, jackal, steenbok, Ostrich, white rhinos, hippos, Huge herd of Water Buffalo, Eagle & Lion Pride.
Day 6: As we were exiting the park, we ran into a group of sleepy hyenas that were resting on the road after what looked like a huge feast. Their bellies were protruding beyond belief. We sat there for about 20 minutes just watching them, until one got curious and started sniffing around our front tire. We took that as our cue to leave. We also came across a huge herd of buffalo feeding right on the side of the road. Animal Sightings: 5 Hyenas, Herd of Buffalo and Elephants.
Travel Tidbits: The main roads throughout Kruger National Park were paved, and very smooth. There are several gravel roads to go off the beaten path; however, they were a little rough on our Picanto but manageable. All of the rest-camps were very nice facilities, which included boiling water spouts, hot plates and nice bathrooms.
Stay tuned for The Okavango Delta...
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