Blogs from Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga , South Africa, Africa - page 4

We are up at 5:30 am for our first morning game drive. Coffee and rusks (similar to a biscotti) at 6 and in the land rovers shortly thereafter, just as the sun is starting to illuminate the backs of the surrounding hills. A word about the vehicles used on safari. They are modified land rovers, diesel-powered with separate gears for the front and back wheels. Obviously, they boast massive suspensions and extensive structural reinforcements. Besides the front seat, there are three rows of seats arranged in a staircase arrangement. Each row can accommodate three people. There's also a fold-out seat on the front left hood, where a tracker can sit precariously and survey the surroundings. An essential feature: everything is copiously padded. These babies can climb up a steep cliff, ford a stream, take a licking ... read more

I haven't historically written informational blogs, preferring to simply write our travel stories. However, given the general lack of information about travel with kids, I thought I'd try to write a quick overview of each place we have visited in regards to children's activities and family-friendly accommodation. I'll start with Kruger National Park in South Africa. Kruger for Kids Kruger is a very family-friendly place to go on safari. It is much more affordable than its rivals, the Serengeti and Masai Mara in Tanzania and Kenya, and the facilities are far superior, at least on a budget. While park fees top $100/day in Kenya/Tanzania, making it unaffordable to the average family, South Africa National Parks offers a Wild Card deal. We got the international Wild Card and it cost just 4,130 rand (about $300) for unlimited ... read more

I wrote this blog in snippets over several weeks so it might be a bit disjointed, so I've added subtitles to make it easier to read! ALL ABOUT THE ANIMALS We feel so lucky to have been able to spend two months in the Kruger National Park. Animals are fickle things, so if you want to really have the chance to experience them, versus just check them off a list, you need to take some serious time. Of course, everything is just luck. I can't tell you the number of times we showed up to a traffic jam to be told, "Oh, the lion/cheetah/leopard just walked across the road but is now hidden in the bush. You just missed it!" It's so frustrating, but then we had to remind ourselves of the times when luck was ... read more

It seems like some days you can head out on safari and barely travel any distance because you keep seeing interesting things along the way to stop at, and other days it feels as if the animals have all gone into hibernation! Today started out as a hibernation type day. Everyone else we spoke to along the way said the same thing too. Discouraged, we decided to cross the bridge and take a new dirt road home as opposed to our usual tarmac way. At least it would be new scenery. After heading only a few hundred meters along it we came across a car coming from the opposite direction. He said he'd seen nothing much. Dirt roads are very slow going, and given this report, we decided to just take the fast tarmac road home ... read more

We have been in Kruger park for exactly a month and I'm amazed at how well the kids have done on safari. We have spent so many hours driving in the car that I thought they'd be thoroughly bored, but they have impressed me no end by continuing to point out animals. They have started to use the real names now too. For example, instead of pointing out deer, they say, "Look, impalas!" or "I see a kudu!" Instead of pointing out monkeys, they say, "Babboons!" They are also starting to understand and notice things around them, for example, Kyla pointed out a bunch of vultures in a tree and knew that it could indicate big cats eating meat below. We recently found ourselves driving with elephants on both sides and Kyla announced in a very ... read more