Day 8: Kruger

Today began in Nelspruit with a 5:30am departure. An interesting logistical challenge with Kruger National Park are the gate closings. This time of year, the main gates are open only between 6:00am and 5:30pm. Moreover, once in the park, you must either exit the park before closing or make it to one of the rest camps before the 5:30pm lockdown. The rest camps are actually fenced islands within the massive park, and the only place where one can exit their vehicle. With so many dangerous animals it is simply too risky to be without the protection afforded by a car or the camp fencing.

As for the game drive through the park, the day was simply magnificent. We had encounter after encounter of wildlife usually only seen on TV. We saw herds of zebra, wildebeest, elephants and warthogs resting near a watering hole; came across an elusive rhino that evaded our attempts to capture him on camera; found a herd of buffalo just waking from their night's rest; and got caught in a road crossing of an elephant herd which nearly - though quite unintentionally - provoked a mother elephant into charging our vehicle and resulted in a brief but stern lecture from a park warden.



Picture of the Day: Zebra, Wildebeest, Elephants and Warthogs at the Watering Hole.

MORNING DRIVE

We entered the park at first light greeting the sun as it came over the eastern horizon. Our objective for the first part of the day was to trek the nearly 175 kilometers to Olifants, our camp in the park's middle section.





As with Addo Elephant National Park, Kruger also has a number of Kudu antelope. Impala are likewise abundant, numbering nearly 130,000 strong. With so many of both, the photo opportunities were nearly endless with these creatures!







A short ways into the drive, and still very early in the morning, we happened across a herd of resting buffalo, still nestled in their previous night's bedding.








We were also fortunate enough to see one of the park's more elusive residents - the rhino. But unfortunately, we were never able to get a decent camera angle, so the shots below are the only evidence of our encounter. See the horn?? It's a rhino - we swear!








Not long after our rhino encounter, we were progressing northward on the main tarred road when we suddenly came across an elephant munching happily along side of the road. But what we thought initially to be contact with a lone elephant turned out to be a run in with an entire breeding herd, numbering at least 20 strong. Unfortunately we had stopped our car immediately adjacent to the lone elephant, not realizing there were others nearby or where we were relative to the herd. By the time the herd started crossing the roadway, we were squarely in amongst them. Having no option at this point, we simply sat there, elephants surrounding us. We were okay until a small elephant felt compelled to explore our car. At this point the mother took exception to our presence, pulled the young elephant back, walked hard towards us and stopped just short of our vehicle. She repeated this gesture a number of times, with each time, stopping just short of coming up on the hood of our car. Eventually, the young elephant headed off in another direction, she gave us a final look of warning and walked off after him.











After the herd passed, a warden in a pick-up truck came up through the traffic and positioned himself next to us. He then proceeded to tell us exactly how risky our situation had been. Apparently, being in the middle of a herd is quite a big no-no and elephants have been known to flip cars that catch themselves in our predicament. Luckily for us, no such excitement today!

Further along the drive we encountered a crocodile, resting in the river.




Saw a good deal more zebra, which Rachel never tires of!




Saw a hippo coming up for air at a watering hole.




And came across a number of giraffe, watching in awe as the creatures made their way, with their huge stride, from tree top meal to tree top meal.



Again, we saw some warthogs, but this time were thrilled to see a mother with her young! They're cute enough full grown but with baby's are absolutely adorable!




Finally, we made it to Olifants Camp and settled in for the evening.





Having read in a guide book about the Rondavels overlooking the Olifants River, we asked about availability and were able to secure an upgrade to our accommodations. It was well worth it!




As advertised, the view was unbelievable!




With the accommodations squared away, we then set about making reservations for our guided game viewing. For tonight, we elected to go with the Night Time Game Drive.

NIGHT GAME DRIVE

Settled into camp, we quickly prepared our dinner (grilled cheese!) on the patio kitchenette and then gathered our belonging for the drive.




The nighttime game drive uses large spot lights to scan the fields and trees looking for the tell-tale glows of hidden eyes.

Of course, running across creatures actually in the road is a good way to spot them, too, such as this hippo making his way back to the River.




One of the more interesting creatures seen on the drive was the Spring Hare. It literally hopped like a kangaroo, but is apparently from the hare family. Very cute little creatures.




We also saw an interesting owl. We'll have to look up exactly what is was and provide some more details later. Suffice to say, though, it was pretty cool.




So that was our first day in Kruger. Tomorrow morning will bring a sunrise game drive as we exit the park.

Until then,

Becky & Rachel

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Location:Olifants Rest Camp, Kruger National Park