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SA - Kruger Park

Mozambique

  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Kruger Safari Park

The Potjie is bubbling its beef and onion on our braii and is joined by countless others, sending what must be a maddening waft of food over the fence into the noses of the circling hyenas. They are so sad-shouldered and just about the ugliest thing you're likely to see. They say (the famous 'They') that if you sleep out in the bush it's more likely that the hyenas will eat you than the lions.We are staying at the Balule camp in the middle of the park and found it wilder than the more southerly ones we visited later. There are only a handful of pitches and with no electricity the shower blocks are lit by oil lamp.

Kruger National Park is actually the first bit of Africa we have come across. Most of South Africa is beautiful but not too wild. It's only here that you start to get that light and knuckle size bugs. I would recommend this park to anyone who hasn't seen any wildlife outside a zoo. We have subsequently met people who have called it a zoo but to us, with virgin eyes, it was great. We saw elephants by the side of the road, crocs and hippos down the slope from the car and hundreds of antelope and giraffe around us within two hours of entering the park at the Phalaborwa gate.

When we left the camp the next morning at 06:30 we unwittingly drove into a herd of elephants, separating the great bulk of them from one sulking teenage bull, who reacted by trying out his combat skills. He flapped his great ears, jabbed his tusks and charged sideways across the front of the car. As he approached, he must have seen that our car was slightly bigger than him and so he backed off, side stepping into the bush. An auspicious start to a day which included sightings of buffalo, white rhino and, on a night safari organised by the park (from Lower Sabie), we saw a mature leopard, looking satisfied with a belly of prey, sitting not two metres from our open, high topped safari vehicle. He eyed us with cool suspicion but didn't move an inch, putting on a little show. He cleaned himself, stretched his long limbs and when we still didn't leave, he got up and scratched his claws on a nearby tree.

Our guide then informed us that the leopard is the most dangerous of wild cats and can jump quicker that the eye can register, landing on its prey and mutilating it before leaving it alive to suffer its scalping in slow death. The cat then began to prowl around the back of the vehicle.

"Okay. We're fine, thanks. Got all the photos we need."

Photos

Elephant
Elephant
Zebra
Leopard