Blogs from Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga , South Africa, Africa - page 16

After packing a blanket and the food, we were picked up at the resort at 5:30am by a driver who was going to take us to the Numbi Gate (which opened at 6am), one of the gates on the western side of the park. There, we met up with the rest of the group and our driver, Happy. Even though his name was Happy, I kept referring to him as Lucky throughout the day for some reason. He was very patient, especially with the other group that was in the open vehicle with us, a Mexican family. They were a nice and friendly bunch, but sometimes were demanding towards Happy. Happy always knew where to stop the vehicle for us to take pictures of the animals, but they were always telling him to move forward, or ... read more

Our last day in Kruger and our last chance at seeing a big cat on our 4 hour drive to the exit gate. The Kruger is approximately the size of Wales and there are about 1400 lions within. How comes everyone else sights them apart from Roger and I? Again this morning we saw some magnificent elephants. The giraffes and zebras did not disappoint but alas no cats. We are beginning to think we are a couple of Jonah’s when it comes to cat spotting. Last night the night drive was a disappointment with hardly any sightings at all and today, in a 4 hour period, we didn’t see one cat. Oh well we will just have to come back next year and try again. Passed a few Townships’ on our journey back. The conditions ... read more

Tuesday (22/6/2010) Kruger Day, we rolled out of the tent at 4.30am, picked up Jac and Tony and headed to Kruger for another self-drive safari. We made it to Malane Gate right on 6am (not quite first in line today!). Map in hand we drove in, in search of cats. Jac and Tony were still yet to see any so far on their African trip and given our recent luck we started the day confident. The morning started very slow, not even an impala to break up the monotony of the rugged bushlands. We stopped at Nhlanganzwani river side hide, spotting three hippo’s in the shallows one strangely still and bloody. Looking like it had come off second best to perhaps a croc. We crept down for a closer look, Tony sprinting back to the car ... read more

Geo: -23.926, 31.4209Today was our first of 2 days to explore the world-renowned Safari Park - Kruger. Prior to arriving however, we had a cruise along a nearby river. The cruise set off shortly after breakfast and consisted of a few hours. Along the way we caught sight of a couple of crocodiles, and many hippos, well.. at least their eyes and ears popping above the watertop.There was also an amusing Zulu Dance/ Show here, which was very impressive.Eventually by mid-afternoon, we arrived in Kruger and had a couple of hours to explore.We were welcomed by a frisky young elephant, running around on a mission to go someplace.Before long, on our first day, we managed to see Impala, Springbok, Vervet Monkeys, Zebra, Girraffe, many birds, and the grand finale, was a Leopard.This leopard had climbed up ... read more

The next morning after consulting my hosts I set off to self drive in Kruger entering at the Phabeni Gate which is the closest to Hazyview at 16 km away. I followed a route a long a river and saw little in the way of wildlife in the first hour then I came upon a couple of bull elephants munching away on some trees by the side of the road. There were plenty of Impala as well but it took another half hour of photographing the many bird species before I saw a herd of Giraffe off in the distance. It wasn't long before I saw a large herd of frolicking Zebra and Wildebeest. I then spotted mongoose, and squirrel and some other antelope species. Then I came round a bend in the road to find ... read more