A Trip to Kruger National Park – Adventures & Escapades

 

At nearly 2 million hectors, Kruger National Park is one of the biggest national parks in South Africa and certainly the most popular one. Its official website claims that the park is home to innumerable species including 336 trees, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammal species.

This Easter we had four days of uninterrupted holiday starting with Good Friday and ending with Family Day on Monday and decided to pay homage to South Africa’s most visited destination.

One of the main gates (out of a total of 9) to Kruger lies in the town of Malalane, which lays approximately 400 kms from Johannesburg and which was where we had booked rooms for our stay.

There are many rest camps within the park that offer good accommodation from tented camps to comfortable bungalows, as well as numerous restaurants, shops and petrol filling stations. This should be the first choice of anyone visiting Kruger. Unfortunately, our trip was planned pretty last minute and so all the camps were fully booked and we got rooms at Mhlati Guest Lodge, a very comfortable B&B located just 2 kms from the Malalane gate into KNP. We drove the 400 odd miles to Kruger from Joburg through a very scenic route with many rest stops in between and took us around 5 hours.

The Scenic Route

Two of the days we drove ourselves into the park and on the third day went on a guided safari vehicle. The advantage of going on a guided tour is that the tour guide will help you identify the animals and give you an insight into their habits and behaviour. Also you don’t have to drive which can get tiring. It being Autumn, the vegetation which mostly comprises of bushes and few trees was sparse and provided a good platform to view the animals.

On our first day itself we managed to spot many creatures. Our first sighting was of the Impala and we were so excited, I must have clicked scores of pictures of the herd. It was later we realised that Impala is the most common animal with over 1 million of them there. They are beautiful creatures however and quite willing to pose for the camera. Their sheer numbers will ensure that you will spot them every few kilometres into the park.

The majestic male Impala

Another surprise multiple sighting was of the enormously gorgeous African Elephant. We spotted huge herds of elephants frequently during our three day stint at the park. Many of them sauntering right on the road, seemingly without a care in the world. This was my first time seeing African Elephants who are much larger with huge fan like ears as compared to their Indian counterparts.

Causing a Traffic Jam!!

 

The African White Rhino was another interesting sighting. There was this particular rhino that was quite close to our car but still hidden behind some bushes. I had my head and upper torso out of the window in an attempt to get a good click. I could see the watchful eyes of the rhino on me, when suddenly it started rushing towards our car. Rhinos are known to charge towards vehicles and to see this rhino march towards us truly scared the living daylights out of me. We pulled our car ahead, great photo-op be damned, and the rhino coolly crossed the road behind us.

The not-so-happy-at-the-attention Rhino

Giving me a dirty last look

 

Poaching of these beautiful beasts for their horn is a major threat in Kruger and South Africa; everywhere in the park you would find information on anti-poaching and how you can help prevent it. We did our part by making a small donation to the cause and getting an anti-poaching cap as a thank you.

Though we managed to catch a glimpse and sometimes more than a glimpse of many species of animals at the park, the great cats eluded us. With supposedly over 2000 lions in the park, it was terribly disappointing that we couldn’t spot even one. Our guide told us that the lions being the lazy creatures they are, probably were sleeping under some tree. Their skin is such a great camouflage that we wouldn’t have spotted them if they were lying even 300 metres into the bushes. Ofcource even with spending three days in Kruger, we could only explore the south side of this enormous park, so I guess it would be just as safe to assume that the elusive lion decided to spend Easter in the north. After all, he is King and the king doesn’t parade himself in front of photo-crazy tourists like moi.

 

 

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