G&B: 2007: Kruger Park

On Friday 20th, we left Benoni (at 5am!) to have a four-day weekend in the Kruger Park with Des and his friend Bobby. Between them, they ensured we had a memorable and enjoyable time.
	Des made sure we would not go hungry by filling his VW Combi with enough food (and booze) for four days (or four weeks).
It was a long drive. A view of the Abel Erasmus pass, taken from the entrance to the J G Strydom tunnel, where the highveld ends and one descends to the lowveld.


We arrived at the Park's Phalaborwa Gate by midday.
For a map of the Kruger Park,	click here.

We drove East, and soon we were seeing some wild animals.
Starling
Some were hard to miss - these elephants just wandered across the road.

	Others were more difficult to spot - Des saw a rock move - a Leopard Tortoise.
We were soon at Letaba Camp where we had lunch and visited the Elephant Museum.

We then drove south to the well-named Olifants (elephants) Camp. We saw this herd on the way.


We arrived at the Olifants Camp mid-afternoon, where we were staying in a thatched rondavel.
	The kitchen was outside.
Our rondavel overlooked the river - beautiful view.
	We unpacked and had a nap. Later that afternoon we set off again and soon saw our first impalas.
Back to the Camp, and Bobby and Des made supper - braai-ing about 4kgs meat. We ate and were fast asleep by 9 - it had been a long and exciting day. Des warned us that we needed to be up and ready to go at 6am the next morning.
Saturday morning, Bruce and I were up and ready by 6am. Guess who did not emerge until 6:30? But we soon set off, driving South, towards our next Camp, Satara.

We stopped at a lookout point above the Olifants River, with fantastic views. Des made sure our car was locked and the windows closed. We quickly saw why - within moments the Vervet monkeys scrambled all over the car to see if we had left anything open and any food out. We did not - but another car did. They were in and had stripped it of their drinks and sandwiches in moments.
Being early, it was cool enough for animals stil to be at the water holes. Zebra, impala and warthog.

	A mother and baby elephant came very close.
A zebra crossing, Kruger-style.
	A giraffe crossing.....

Zebra, widebeest, giraffe and kudu.



Bobby spotted the lions in the long grass.
	A warthog crossing.
We had brunch at the Timbavati picnic site. Bobby prepared a delicious fry-up in a skottelbraai.

We drove on South to Satara, where we stayed in another rondavel.

Another nap, then an afternoon drive to see more animals.

Zebra, wildebeest, and giraffe.

We drove to a hide overlooking the river which was full of noisy hippos.




On the way back to Satara, we encountered another elephant.

	It passed very, very close by. It stopped by the car, turned its back to us and had an enormous dump. Cheers, mate - and you too!
That evening, Bobby and Des made another braai. We were close to the fence and could hear the hyenas prowling around outside. There were roars from all sorts of creatures.
Sunday morning, bright and early (all of us!), we set off South towards our final stop, Lower Sabie Camp. The roads were full of wildlife - impala, baboons and beautiful waterbuck...

	...and hyena.

Two male impala sparred at the side of the road, and a little duiker scuttled off at our appraoch.

We stopped at another viewpoint where Des managed to drop and break his binoculars. There is allegedly a rhino somewhere in that plain. I never saw it.

We were stopped by the driver of an oncoming vehicle, who asked us if we wanted to see a lion having its lunch, and directed us to a place off road where we saw a lion and its kill of a buffalo. We then stopped and had our lunch.


We got to Lower Sabie where we stayed in a family bungalow.

	That afternoon, we had another drive, where we saw our first (and only rhino - we were very lucky as it was the rare black rhino. I managed to take a (bad) photo as it wandered off.
On Monday morning we set off for Benoni early and were immediately greeted by a gang of baboons sitting on the road.

	And, amazingly, a nightjar sitting in the road. I think it thought if it sat very still, we would not see it....
Impala and a guinea fowl.

We saw this wild dog. It followed the car for almost a kilometer.

	A Goliath Heron.
Another close encounter with an elephant.



Kudu and zebra.

Besides the animals we photographed, we saw many others and Des' interest in birds meant that he was able to identify most of those we saw. For a full list of what we spotted, click on the image below.