Kruger Park Day Four.

This morning we had visitors again; two Zebra this time. They came right up to our front gate like they were expecting an invitation inside for coffee or something. They moved around front eventually, where it’s much easier for us to watch them clearly, and they were making noises and scratching themselves and biting each other (play biting I hope). We filled up the “watering hole” outside and while we were doing this we saw a colourful lizard on the tree. We watched him basically change colours as he moved which was very cool. I also saw a butterfly (I love looking at butterflies) and we later identified it as a “Blue Pansy Butterfly”. Just spent the day chilling at the house and relaxing instead of driving around.

One times curious Zebra at the door

Me with the Zebras outside on the deck

The lovely Blue Pansy Butterfly

We went down to the river for sundowners, and we got a really good spot because we were there quite early. So we set up our chairs with our drinks and our chip and dip and watched the herd of elephants in front of us (on the other side of the fence). There was even a little one with them. Then we saw what looked like about a bazillion buffalo coming down to drink a way away from us, and so my sister and I took a walk that way. There were so many of them, and we couldn’t even see them all!

Not even 1/3 of the Buffalo who were down at the river

Went back to the chairs, fought off some ants and enjoyed the sunset. The elephants were trumpeting and then eventually they crossed the river to head off. Watching elephants is fascinating because they’re so family-oriented. For example, when an elephant (relation not known) came towards the group where the baby was, all the elephants moved around it like they were forming a barrier. And then the one trumpeted and all the others starting making their way there, and then they all moved off in a line. There was one lone elephant that didn’t seem to be with the herd, but was also eating on our side of the river. When he realised the others had moved off, he basically broke into a run to cross the river as close to them as possible and then went his separate way. I wonder if this is a safety thing?

Nothing quite like a cold Hunters and an African sunset

My dad was happy because we saw a fish eagle and it made its sound – this is his favourite bird!

Tomorrow we’ll head into the Park again, but it was nice to have a day just hanging out here.

Kruger Park: Sunset Game Drive.

And we’re off on our Sunset Game Drive from the Crocodile Bridge Gate. My sister and I very quickly volunteered to sit in the middle and not on the sides by the windows (or lack thereof). The cool part about the game drives is that you’re higher up than normal, and you also drive on the “no entry” roads. We’ve always had this theory that the animals actually sit on these no-entry roads having a party and discussing how close they are to the people who are searching so hard for them on the normal roads.

We saw some Giraffe and also some Zebra who crossed the road in front of us. Then we saw a Spotted Hyena, which was awesome because we haven’t seen one yet! He came out from deep in the bushes on our left and crossed right in front of the vehicle and disappeared into the bushes on the right moments later. Amazing how timing is everything in the wild! Another second later and we probably wouldn’t have seen the hyena at all.

The hyena coming out of the bushes

We saw a rather lovely sunset happen, and an elephant. We saw a Lilac-Breasted Roller which is one of my mom’s favourite birds. We later learnt that this bird is called a “troupant” in Afrikaans. Another interesting thing we learnt (thanks to our driver) is that Praying Mantis’ make nests. I did not know this. I also did not know that the Red-billed Buffalo Weaver makes its nest on the West-side of the tree it is built in.

Beautiful sunset

Our next sightings were awesome, because they’re animals that are not often seen! We were fortunate enough to see a Honey Badger, as well as three Civets. We’d been talking about seeing a Honey Badger – they can be super fierce when they need to be. The Civets are beautiful, with their spotted coats. Throughout the rest of the drive, we also saw some bushbabies, which are also really cute.

The civet that I was lucky enough to get a decent(ish) photo of!

The story of the evening has to be a result of one of the children behind us in the vehicle. What happens on most game drives is that if you see something you yell “Stop!” and the driver stops and gets in a position to identify wha tit is you have seen. We had plenty of false alarms, mostly for Impala, and then people started getting over excited about the bushbabies eyes. Now this boy had a spotlight he was using at one point, and suddenly he starts yelling “stop, stop, stop!” So we stop, and as we’re reversing, he says that he saw a butterfly. But not just any butterfly, no. He says he saw a “butterfly without a body”. Yeah. I do not even know what that is supposed to be or how that made sense at all, but thank you for the laughs it supplied.

Every time we rounded a corner I had like a mini-heart attack (surprising considering that I had been taking Rescue tablets before we left) that there would be a leopard or a pride of lions in the road. This isn’t unusual for evening drives as the lions lie in the road to get some of the warmth. Obviously that’s what everyone wants to see on a game drive, and so even though I was scared I was hoping we would see a big cat. But we weren’t lucky enough. Maybe next time…

Kruger Park Day Two.

We tried to get into the Park early this morning, but when we got there just before 6am, the queue at the Crocodile Bridge Gate was super long! It ended up taking us about an hour and a half to get in because they only let in a certain number of cars at a time. This system is actually pretty good because its fair – if you are at the front of the queue at the gate, you’re going to be the person at the front actually entering the Park. At least the process once you were across the bridge was quick and easy.

We stopped at the Hippo Pools first. Here you can get out of the car if you wish and walk down to the pools where there is a “guard” to “protect” you. I did not get out. No ways. I have not gotten that comfortable in the bush overnight! My parents got out, and also had the chance to walk up to some old rock paintings nearby. It was here I had the genius idea to try and take photos through the binoculars, and turns out it works, even if it is a bit of a technical challenge.

Photo through the binoculars – Mom & Dad on the koppie

We drove around a bit, and we saw some Zebra, Impala (obviously) and a Rhino. We also saw a Steenbok, which is the cutest little ‘bokkie’ ever! It’s got these tiny little horns as well, and can stand so still. We also saw an Elephant, a lot of Buffalo lying down in the bushes next to the road and some Waterbuck. I love the Waterbuck, they are so fluffy!

Steenbok

We stopped by the Hippo Pools again on the way out, and we saw the most magnificent male Kudu right by where we stopped! He even stopped and posed for us for a bit. There were also some Warthog, and we saw a Kingfisher and a Giraffe.

Photo of the Kudu taken by my mom – thanks mom!

Home time, and finally Braai-time! There’s nothing like a Sunday night braai with the family. We’re off on a sunset game drive tomorrow courtesy of my aunt and uncle and I’m kind of excited because we haven’t been on an official game drive in years, but I’m also really nervous (surprise surprise). I’m sure it’ll all be fine though! We’re not going to go into the Park tomorrow because of the game drive so we’ll just spend the day around Marloth Park.

Kruger Park Day One.

After a very long drive yesterday (what should have taken six hours actually took nine because of roadworks) we arrived at Marloth Park. Marloth Park is just outside the Kruger National Park – it actually borders it along the Crocodile River – and this means that there are no predators found here. We were supposed to have a braai but because we got here so late we  just stopped at the restaurant.

I think this is the appropriate moment to put my feelings about being “in the wild” out there to the world. The wild and many of the animals found here make me very nervous. I’d like to think I’m doing better than years back where a pride of lions or herd of elephants would send me basically hiding under the car seat as my first reaction. I realise my fears (or at least the intensity of some of them) are very out of proportion, but they are real for me nonetheless. This is all relevant because I do not doubt for a second that I will have some interesting (read: embarrassing) stories to tell about my time here. Moving on.

Woke up pretty early this morning to my mom telling me that there was a Kudu outside our kitchen door. They are beautiful animals, very peaceful. Turns out there were plenty females at the house and they came right up to our patio. Some of them were pretty young. It was the funniest thing because the second they heard the packets rustling they all came closer. In Marloth Park you’re allowed to put approved food pellets out for the animals to eat, so obviously they know that the packets rustling equals food. We also had our usual visitors of a pair of Warthog at the house – some of these little Pumbas are as actually rather large!

One of our visitors this morning – a lovely Kudu female

We drove down along the Crocodile River and managed to see some Buffalo there, so tick one for the Big Five Checklist.

We got into the Park late morning, and our very first sighting of the day was a baboon troop and impala at a Marula tree. The baboons were all playing in it and eating the fruits, while the Impala were eating the fruits that had fallen off and were lying at the base of the tree. They were also occasionally getting chased by the baboons. Watching the baboons jumping around the tree was cool – they’re so agile! We also saw two baboons mating, and the male baboons face was so funny – he had what looked like the biggest grin ever. Lots of laughter took place once we saw this.

Throughout the course of the day we saw Giraffe, Elephant (tick number two!), Crocodiles, Hippo, Vultures, some Ground Hornbills, and a Secretary Bird. We were also lucky and saw some Rhino’s (tick number three). Whenever we see rhino’s I cannot believe people want to poach them for their horns. It’s so wrong. We also got to see two young-ish lions on the rocks and a male lion lying sleeping right next to the road (tick number four, times three!). He was so lazy he didn’t even move with all the cars around him, except to briefly lift his head. While watching the lions on the rocks we also saw this strange creature run along the ground and go straight into the water! Turns out it was an otter -something I’ve never seen before. They’re really odd-looking, running on four legs, but with this massive long tail behind them.

Ground Hornbill

Giraffe

Lion

Further down we saw complete chaos in the road again, which only means one thing – there must be a cat. There was a leopard lying on a rock just off the road, but it was very difficult to see it clearly. But still, tick number five! Which means we saw the whole big five! This is very exciting, because we as a family have never seen the big five all together.

We stopped for lunch at one of the rest camps (Lower Sabie). It’s really nice there because they have a massive deck overlooking the river and you can often see a lot of animals there. We saw some bushbuck, and also some more buffalo. Our lunch took FOREVER to arrive, which put a bit of a rush on our exit drive, as you need to be out the park gates by 6pm. We also managed to take a different turn to what we had planned on one of the dirt roads and there was a brief moment where we were definitely worried we would make it on time. But we did – we made it with a full five minutes to spare!

Buffalo at Lower Sabie

We got home much later than we planned and so we went to the restaurant for dinner again, rather than braai-ing so late. I had lasagne, and we had a cheese and garlic roll. Early to bed, which is pretty customary for the bush!

Next Adventure Coming Soon!

New adventure happening next week! I’m off to the Kruger National Park for a few days with my family, and I’m excited. It’s been a while since I’ve been there, and for the first time ever we’re going to stay in the Park for a night and we’re staying quite far North which gives us the chance to see a different variety of animals than normal.

Hopefully we have some incredible sightings and I will be posting when I can, hopefully with some awesome pictures too! I’m considering this an opportunity to promote my amazing country and give you all some motivation to get your butts to South Africa!