Kruger with its more than 20,000 sq kms of area cannot be described. It has to be Experienced.
As far as the eye can see- (360 degrees) and beyond- from any vantage point of the multiple safaris we took is the Jungle.
To reach you can either fly into the park or take a 6 hour bus from Johannesburg.
There are multiple camps within the park- from the mega luxurious to the basic camping sites and all levels in between. You can drive your own car or hire a car or use the canters of the touring companies and guides. I personally prefer the open canters — notwithstanding the icy winds which hit you in early morning and late evening you get a 270 degrees view of the jungle and just by looking back you get the remaining 90 degrees as well —
a car or a van kind of encloses you and limits the scan. But there were many, many people (mostly in the older age bracket or with young families) driving their own cars. There are strategic signposts at each crossroad to guide the driver.
My attempt to share the experience of visiting a safari- there is an underlying excitement of seeing animals in the raw the first thrill of seeing the first few animals- even if they are as ordinary as a colony of baboons, or a herd of impalas, the stately kudus with their curved horns (by the 2nd safari these are so common that one does not stop for pictures!)
Suddenly a leopard crosses in front of your canter and goes into the bush along the road. For an instant he turns and looks straight at you- and your heart skips a beat, your breath suspends to be slowly released as he slinks away and you get busy clicking
Elephant babies are like human babies. We came across a group of elephants crossing the road- most of the herd had crossed over- just two smaller elephants were sampling leaves on the other side.
As our canter crossed over, the mother Harrumphed loudly- calling the children. Turning back, we saw the two elephants running, falling over their feet literally to obey 🙂
One thing we noticed was that whenever there were baby elephants in the herd and some stranger (humans in vehicles) approached — a large female immediately took position close to the road facing it — kind of ensuring that no one approaches to harm the kids.
The above image is of elephants drinking from water tanks made for the animals at various places in the park. The water is pumped out of rainwater reservoirs using solar energy via units installed close by.
We were merely seeing this herd of buffaloes- when a driver of another jeep mentioned that there is a pride of lions following this herd.
Excitement galore- this would be the 1st lion sighting. Fingers crossed.
We shut off the engine and sit patiently. and soon the patience is rewarded. there is a lioness emerging from the bushes, followed by another and a third !. All disappear behind some bushes. we wait.
suddenly the three start running in circles and we hear a mighty ROAR.
A quick glance towards the herd shows them all motionless, staring intently towards the lion- on high Alert.
We saw some separate 4 prides of lion + multiple lionesses. In all one thing was common- one lioness was the lookout. she would walk away separately from where the pride was resting and locate possible prey. She would stalk it from a distance. If the prey managed to make eye contact with her ( looked steadily in her direction) she would give up the chase and return to the where the rest of the pride rested. Else she would keep stalking.
some more pictures
Another time- we were listlessly looking around- not having seen any animal at all for the past half an hour when suddenly on the road
A tip- carry a camera. all animals typically look straight at you for a few seconds. By the time the phone camera is opened- the animal has looked away — however we still managed to capture a few good ones.
Bird lovers will have a marvelous time too — phone camera was unable to do justice by enlarge but saw more than 50 species in the 3 days we were there
Outside Kruger there are many Private Game Parks. we were told that these were mainly parks where game is bred for their meat (much like the chicken farms we have in India) Apparently, for a price individuals can hunt these animals and many go here to learn to hunt wild life.
We visited South Africa, Cape Town, Johannesburg and the Knysna — a separate write up for each