Blogs from Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga , South Africa, Africa - page 30

Within three days of arriving in Africa we had already seen more amazing animals than we thought we might see in three months here. Kruger really deserves its reputation as one of the best wildlife parks in the world. We arrived in Johannesburg in the middle of a fearsome rainstorm and were too exhausted after the long flight from Sydney to do anything other than flop at our hostel. We didn't have any plans beyond that. Over breakfast we got chatting to a guy from Cape Town, Roger, who had picked his sister Pam up from the same Sydney flight and was planning to drive to a village near Kruger that morning if we felt like joining them. An offer too good to refuse and the beginning of a marvellous friendship! Roger is a tour guide ... read more

Wow, seems like Kruger was months ago so we've gota dig deep in our memory banks for this Blog. Currently in Vic Falls, Zambia after 7 days of Camping in Botswana, Namibia and Zambia so u'll be updated about that shortly. Ok, Kruger Park, We travelled to Nelspruit via the Baz Bus which was on the outskirts of the Park itself and were fortunate enough to stay in a hostel called 'Nelspruit Backpackers',where they run their own safari's from,we chose the 3 days,2 nights option,which involved staying in one of the camps inside the park in a 2 man tent, the tents were only 6ft long so when you are 6ft 3" it creates a bit of a problem!! After we booked our Safari at the Hostel we were informed that a guide would be picking ... read more

So we began the game drive that promised us, Lions, Leopards, Rhino, Buffalo and Elephants. I think these are the big five but feel free to correct me. We began the drive in a civil way, seeing some really amazing wildlife, lots of antelope, kudu, warthog, bushbuck type animals but then our guide had some feedback through his earpiece which alerted him to a spotting of one of the big 5. Suddenly we were not on the dirt track any more, but driving through thick scrub and mowing down small trees while trying to avoid having our eyes gouged out by very prickly bushes. But then we began to see them. Buffalo. Wow, a huge heard of them and they are huge. I don't know why I find them funny they really aren't, maybe the way ... read more

We weren’t expecting to cycle on day 5, but we’ve already had a whinge about the information with regards to routes & distances, so won’t mention it again. That said we didn’t have sufficient clean clothes for 5 days, but at this stage we were past caring. We set off later than normal and yet again had to keep close together in our group with a Landy following close behind due to game concentrations. This makes riding very dusty! We had to stop once or twice to avoid elephant activity, but we were never in any danger. The pace was fast and there was some sense of humour failure when we hit hills for the last 10kms, some of which Laura had to be pushed up by fellow cyclists! We reached the tar road at 11:30, ... read more

The title pretty much sums up our animal experiences in our second trip to Kruger. Our own excursions into the Park were based near one of the southern camps around Skukuza and this time with the professional, we were further north near Orphen. Whilst we had the advantage of an open game viewer rather than a Renault Clio, if the animals aren't nearby you are going to see them....and most of the big cats remained as elusive as a South African policeman when you need one. There are therefore no lion piccies to add to this page, the leopards were probably hiding up a tree laughing as we went past and the only major sighting success was a very distant cheetah. The elephants were in abundance, as were the giraffes, zebras, wilderbeest and the ever present ... read more