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Published: January 17th 2021
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It's Safari time, it's Krueger National Park time. We packed and left Hazyview our close dry again from last night’s drench. 45 km to the Krueger Gate one of several official entrances to the park. The Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of 20,000 km2 and extends 360 km from north to south and 65 km from east to west. The administrative headquarters are in Skukuza. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898, and it became South Africa's first national park in 1926. A UNESCO site for International Man and Biosphere Reserve. Today several private concessions adjacent to Krueger have been incorporated. Limpopo National Park situated to the North of Krueger which has a large perimeter in Mozambique has also been included in the Greater Krueger area. This means that there are no fences any longer making the migration of mammals difficult, but giving them a large area (app. of the size of the state of Israel), to roam and hunt.
All the big five game animals (Elephant, Rhinoceros, Lion, Leopard, African Buffalo) are found at Kruger National Park, which
Paul Krueger
Boer of German origin
President of Transvaal 1882 has over 150 species of large mammals more than any other African game reserve. The park stopped culling elephants in 1994. By 2012 the population had increased to 17,000 elephants, causing an huge imbalance, as the park's habitats may only be able to sustain about 8,000 elephants. Elephants in this numbers do change plant growth and density in the park, and alter the ecological balance for other species. The Park is also known for its Zebras, Wildebeests, different types of Antelopes, Hippos, Giraffes, Hyenas, Crocodiles, Cheetahs and many more exciting inhabitants.
Kruger is not exempt from the threat of poaching as other African countries as well. Most poachers are sneaking in from Mozambique and are in search of ivory from elephant tusks or rhino horns. Rhino horns fetch on the black market up to USD 80,000 per kg. Such reward attracts poaching syndicates, who are equipped with high tech weapon systems and become aggressive and violent when challenged. The park runs an anti-poaching unit consisting of 650 game rangers equipped with drones and helicopters as well as a specialist dog unit. Automated movement sensors relay intrusions along the Mozambique border to a control center. Its a small war out
here to preserve our environment.
We drove our Nissan X-Trail on dirt roads for about 85 km to Hoyo Hoyo, our lodge in the wilderness. Along the way we got a mighty welcome of the Krueger family. A group of Zebras, Bushbucks, Impalas, (the most common antelope type in Krueger), giraffes, Kudus and of course Elephants were along our route, sometimes crossing the road encircling us with their herd. The temperature showed 33 degrees. Hoyo Hoyo in Tsonga dialect means welcome. And a friendly welcome we did get from the staff and the guide upon arrival. Hoto Hoyo is a small lodge with only 5 huts, meaning that a max. of 10 guests can stay at the same time. Hurray Covid, we arrived, realizing, that Hoyo Hoyo is ours; we were the only visitors.
As we took far too much time driving to the lodge we needed to hurry as our guide was eager to take us out to our first visit of the bush, before it became to late. Before however, we were instructed on important things. Never walk in the camp at night, lions regularly visit the camp at night. The shower is outdoors, do not
use it after dark, use the bathtub. Lock firmly all doors and windows unless you like fury companionship at night. Watch out for snakes who from time to time come as well. Krueger has mambas, cobras and other crawling pleasantries, incl. tarantulas. Nui’s eyes widened, her comment “you did not tell me all that before…”!!!
The Toyota safari jeep is an open vehicle with a rooftop. They call it here "game viewer." Our guide is a young South African from the Afrikaans community named Tiaan Brink (Brink is a very common Dutch family name). We were both excited, not really knowing what to expect. Colorful noisy birds combined with the majestic flight of eagles and the predatory look of vouchers escorted us. Passing a herd of grazing African Buffalos showing us their majestic horns, we saw a Gnu amidst a larger herd of impalas. This loner linked up with them to have more eyes and ears when sensing approaching danger. It got more interesting still as an ugly looking hyena walked unmoved passed our car. Usually in groups they sometimes hunt alone as well. Especially beautiful we found the yellow peaks of the African hornbill. A group of Baboons
were curiously watching us when suddenly Tiaan’s radio buzzed. His colleague from a different lodge advised of a sighting of a leopard. We drove there and indeed saw that shy and beautiful creature feeding on a rabbit it must have caught not too long ago. Impressive and elegant its jaws biting through the bones of the rabbit as if it were chips. We spend quite some time observing this spectacle. As the sun began to set we were explained of an old safari tradition; sundowner drink in the bush. The drive back thereafter was after sunset. Dark settled in and we tried to spot some more wildlife using special flash lights. Except for an injured hyena there were no more sightings. The bush was swallowed by the darkness of the night.
Back at the lodge a wonderful dinner was awaiting us with South African wine of course. Only then we realized that our few staff, incl. the guide are sleeping in staff quarters near by, but not in the Hoyo Hoyo premise. So Nui and Nenad were all alone in the wilderness with one security guide to fight off all the lions, hyenas etc... Good night sleep well Nui
Impala
welcoming in the park :-)
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