Kruger Park: First Game Drive

We got up very early this morning 05:00 to go for a game drive in the park. The gates open at 05:30 in time to catch the big five brushing thier teeth. It gets so hot later in the day, that most animals seek shelter and are simply out of sight. Many visitors make the mistake of going too late/early and complain about not seeing anything. Our first drive was to Skukuza camp and then out by the Numbi gate, its around 100km round trip. We saw a lone “rogue” elephant, 2 black Rhino, Giraffe, Zebra, Water Buffalo, Wart Hog, Eland, Bush Buck and tons of Spring buck. Thats pretty good going if you ask me. None of the big cats were ont he menu, but I am exstatic to see Rhino. We also saw hornbill and the famed lilac breasted roller. Skukuza camp has also improved thier facilities greatly. It used to resemble a prison mess hall and was overrun with alien starlings. It is now quite swish and hordes of fluffy fruit bats have taken up residence under the thatched boma’s where the starlings once roosted (and pooped). You can sit and have a spot of lunch overlooking the river bubbling with crocs and hippo’s. Entrance to the Kruger park is R30 ($4) for South Africans and R120 ($15) for tourists, so bring along your SA i.d, passport or drivers license of you have/bought one, or you will likely pay the full price.

Around the Pretoriuskop region we spotted a group of rangers on foot patrol accross the mountains. I warned them about the rhino’s we had just seen, but they were more concerned if we had any spare water for them, which we did. Brave dudes. Why they don’t give them a vehicle, I don’t know, especially when it’s 40C (billion Farenheit).