Kruger National Park, South Africa - Week 7

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Day 42, Wednesday, April 6th, we woke up in the very peaceful “bush” of Sabie Park. Smiler’s good friend Andrew, who we got to know in McGregor, offered for us to stay at his amazing house just outside the renowned Kruger Park. The house is in a private development located just across the river from Kruger Park. There is an electric fence at the edge of the river bordering the property to keep the animals out. They have a beautiful area for picnicking where you can watch the animals coming to drink and the hippos and crocs lazing in the river. They also have many animals that live in Sabie Park. While you are walking around you can run into a variety of animals. However, it isn’t safe to walk at night since hyenas and a leopard hunt there after dark. We went for an early morning walk and came across some zebra and then a beautiful family of giraffes. Andrew mentioned if we make chewing noises the giraffes would let us come close since they won’t find us a threat. It actually worked and we were able to come within a few feet of the giraffes, which was really amazing (later that night he told us the story of a guy mysteriously killed in the Kruger that they concluded had been head butted by a giraffe – glad we weren’t aware of the potential danger). That afternoon a family of warthogs visited the house (really love those warthogs). A mother warthog with her seven trailing babies marched right up to the deck and munched the grass around us. They were so charming and funny making little squeaking noises and snorting. One of the small babies was even so bold to come to Andrew’s hand and another stood on the porch. That evening at sunset we took a walk to the river and enjoyed the hippos. Smiler made us a potjie (meal cooked in a cast iron caldron over the fire) with chicken and mushrooms and we sat by the fire and roasted marshmallows for dessert (they have marshmallows with toasted coconut here that are so tasty).

Day 43, Thursday, April 7th, we awoke at 5am to get into the Kruger Park gates when they first opened. Early morning and dusk are the best time to see the animals since they spent most of the mid day resting out of the sun. Most visitors are trying to spot the “big five” animals. They are the five most dangerous African animals to hunt by foot and include: the elephant, lion, leopard, Cape buffalo, and rhinoceros. Just a short distance into the park we started to see many exciting animals. Two large hyenas coming out of the bushes greeted John. I was pushing the camera at him to take a photo but he was only concerned with rolling up the window since they were coming straight at him. We saw an elephant coming out from the other side the road. Then before we arrived at the first rest stop there was a massive troop of baboons in the road. The young ones were playing and wrestling in the road and the mothers were trying to discipline them while the males were sitting on the side observing. It almost seemed like they were rounding them up for school before going off to work. Later that day we saw a Cape buffalo. Also the scenery was completely stunning with diverse landscapes and watering holes. We saw herds of impala and wildebeest and many species of beautiful birds. As we were finishing our full day in the park we encountered the largest elephant any of us had seen. He was in the road and had stopped traffic in both directions. None of the cars could pass since they can be unpredictable you just need to give them space and let them move off the road. He was facing us and heading right towards our little Toyota Yaris. Andrew was driving and threw the car in reverse to start backing up. He continued coming towards us at a fast paced walk. We continued to reverse as did the cars behind us. He was flapping his ears which signified he could be annoyed. He vered off for a moment to eat some tree branches and we thought he might leave the road but instead he turned back toward us and kept coming. All of us were getting a bit nervous as he kept coming and Andrew kept reversing. This went on for several minutes until finally he walked off the road and let us pass. It was a pretty thrilling but scary experience. Plus the hold us ended up making us late for the deadline to leave the park at 6pm. When we finally arrived at the gate we were close to a half hour late. They made us all get out of the car. We thought we might get fined or at least reprimanded by luckily they only checked our car and told us to be on time in the future.

Day 44, Friday April 8th, was far less eventful. We ran errands and spent the remainder of the day in Sabie Park.

Day 45, Saturday, April 9th, we planned to drive deep into the park and spend the night at the most popular rest camp, Olifants. We set out early in the morning and had an amazing day seeing tons of animals and stunning diverse scenery. We saw tons of elephants all along the way. Then we came across an amazing scene of giraffes intermingling with a large herd of zebra. It was like a scene from a movie. We avoided the busy main road and explored the dirt back roads. We were along a stretch with many large trees. I was examining them closely and thought I saw a siloete in one we had passed. As we reversed I assured the guys I thought I spotted a leopard. Sure enough it was a beautiful large leopard (those who know me well may not be surprised that I spotted the leopard). We sat and admired the creature as it moved around the tree. You could see all the beautiful spots and the massive size of the cat. Sighting became easier as we headed North the fields became wider and the vegitaion more sparce. We came across a field with dozens of Cape buffalo, zebra and wilderbeest. The Cape buffalo are fierce black beauties with stout muscular bodies and curled horns. After a long day of driving we arrived at our destination the hilltop oasis, Olifants. We rented a lovely rodoval with an outdoor kitchen and grill. It was a cool experience to stay in the middle of Kruger Park for the night among all the animals. We got settled and went to enjoy a sunset cocktail on the observation deck. We sipped our drinks while taking in the amazing panoramoic view complete with elephants crossing the river below. That night we bar-b-qued and enjoyed dinner underneath the light of the stars (the power went off in the entire camp – they did pass out candles).

Day 46, April 10th, I woke up early and watched the sunrise from the observation deck. It was such a stunning view over everything from up on the hill. We got an early start on the road but did not see much that morning. As we arrived at the first watering hole we saw a crocodile. Moving on we saw a heard of elephants walking in the field and then another heard of elephants by the river. Then more buffalo, zebras and the most gorgeous dark spotted giraffes. We were on the search for rhino and lions. We stopped at a rest stop to check the board to see where the animals had been spotted that day. We noticed lion and rhino had been spotted in the South so we were hopeful we would see them on the way out. As we approached our exit a group of cars were stopped admiring a family of white rhinos. We stopped and watched them for a while. There were four huge adults and a baby. Then we drove a little further and got a better view of a large male rhino. We were very satisfied with all the amazing animals we saw as we left the Kruger Park. We are still hopeful to see lions, our final animal to see out of the “big five”, on our upcoming trip to the Serengeti in Tanzania.

Day 47, April 11th, we said goodbye to our friends and South Africa as we arrived at the Greyhound bus station for our trip to Maputo, Mozambique. It was a short three-hour hastle free drive and border crossing. We arrived in Maputo and were hounded by aggressive taxi drivers fighting over who would drive us to the hotel. We got loaded into a run down minivan taxi and told the driver our destination. He quoted us $180 Rand ($26US), which seemed to be an extremely expensive ride. We told him we would as the hotel reception a fair price when we arrived and pay him that amount. We arrived and were told a fair was half that or less so we negotiated a better price. After that delima we settled into our basic room. We stayed at Fatima’s Backpackers downtown. The highlight was free internet, the lowlight was uncomfortable beds and an unfriendly staff. We would only be in town as a transition but I wouldn’t stay there again if I had a choice.

Day 48, April 12th, we spent the raining day researching and planning our time in Mozambique. We decided our next destination would be Tofo Beach.

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