Kruger National Park
Kruger is a massive park - it's 380km long and approximately 60km wide - with an amazing collection of wildlife and diverse plant life. To our amazement, you don't have to join a safari tour to see the park; instead you can just drive your own car (in our case a Toyota Corolla) through the extensive roads and trails, spending the evening in fenced-in camps (we stayed in a rondavel - round hut - with private kitchen and bath..... really roughing it) ;-) So all the photos below were taken from car - you are not allowed to walk around. We didn't manage to see all of the "big five" - elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, and buffalo - but in a place like Kruger it hardly matters. The wilderness and overall wildlife you see makes any time you spend there special.
Spots and Stripes
Kruger contains many different types of vegetation zones. The "classic" African open savanna is present, and it was here that we saw plenty of giraffes and zebras. Giraffes are a lot of fun to watch: they're huge, they walk like Jurassic park dinosaurs (0r maybe it's the other way around), and they have this extremely long purple tongue with which they strip leaves off the trees.
Yet another impala.... and friends
The first evening in the park, we spied a lone impala. The light was fading, so we pulled off the road and shut off the car to use the window as a makeshift tripod to nab a photo of him before he ran. We must have been a funny sight to those folks driving by, for little did we know that there are something like 150,000 impalas in the park and you see them EVERYWHERE. Good thing, too, as our pictures of that first impala were crap. Another impala story of note involved us hearing a satanic roaring and snorting from the bush accompanied by the sight of a female impala in full sprint across the road. Convinced we were about to see a lion or something impressive, we quickly pulled out the camera only to be greeted with a truly "horny" male impala doing his best to impress the ladies with his lovesong.
It gets to the point where it seems everything you see out the window turns out to be an impala, but we did manage to spot a few other species of antelope: the big-eared kudu, who sometimes carry an awesome set of spiraling horns; the minature steenbok, the furry waterbuck with characteristic bull's-eye butts, and an incredibly cute klipspringer, permanently standing on tip-toe.
The Lion King Cast
Karen appropriately had "I just can't wait to be king" running through her head our second day in Kruger, as we almost managed to see the entire cast. Our morning started with a camera-shy hyena, so you'll just have to trust us on that one. Next was a close encounter with three lions. It was amazing to see these animals pacing comfortably down the line of cars, only 1.5 meters away from our open window (which Ben would not shut no matter how many times Karen begged him to). Zazu (the hornbill) made numerous appearances throughout the day as he liked to hang out near the road and scold us. We didn't see a mandrill like Rafiki, but we saw many chacma baboons (more pictures later). No meerkats either, but we saw plenty of cute dwarf mongooses scurrying in to the bushes. And, finally, we can't forget our warthog friend Pumbaa. Can you feel the love tonight?
Monkeys and Baboons
Unlike the Bolivian jungle, there was only one species of monkey in the park - the grey and white vervet monkey. They have a very long tail, and if you look carefully, you can spot the brightly colored male "plumage". The troops of baboons were often to be found around water sources, and two memorable moments with them stand out: (1) watching the sunrise with some calm, almost meditative, baboons at Sabie River and (2) laughing at the antics of another troop taking their time crossing a bridge (you can see one of them has the right idea and caught a free ride!). Ben was amazed at how human-like their movements and expressions were.... when they looked at you, you could tell that they recognized you as more than just a part of the car.
Big, Fat, and Grey...
describes many of the park's star animals: elephants, rhinos, and hippos. We were lucky to spot four or five elephants at close range, including this young one with the big ears. We quickly learned that an elephant was near if the football-sized turd on the road was still steaming or if it looked like half a tree had been pulled onto the road. Their trunk is not nearly as delicate as the giraffe's tongue. We only saw the white rhino - the black rhino (which, from what we understand, is the same color.... grey) is much more reclusive.
While we never managed to spot a hippo out of the water, we still had fun watching them bob to the surface and noisily clear their nostrils of water or engage in a symphony of hippo "humming" - amazingly loud groans and grunting whilst submerged. They look so comfortable in the water, spending hours with just their eyes and little ears poking out of the water.
Friends of a feather
We confused a fair number of people with our interest in birds; they would stop to see what we were looking at, then would drive away once they learned it was "only a bird." It was somewhat sad as the park has a great number of really cool birds, some people estimate near 500 species. We had tons of fun spotting and trying to identify them. Below, with tentative identification, are the marabou stork, red-billed hornbill, cape glossy starling, lilac-breasted roller, and bateleur eagles (doing what we can only imagine is a mating dance - wish you could see the video!).
Hluhluwe-Umfolozi
Bidding goodbye to Tracey and folks, we caught a bus to the coast - specifically Durban on the eastern coast of South Africa. Here we were met by Duncan, the dad of Ben's friend, Mike, and hosted by him and wife Cecile (and their two highly energetic kids) in their fabulous oceanside home in Umdloti (pronounced "oom-schlotee") near Umhlanga (pronounced "oom-schlanga"). Again, we were strongly recommended to see a nearby national park: Hluhluwe (pronounced "shu-schloowee") -Umfolozi. After wiping the schpittle off our faces, we headed north to the park.
African Skies
Duncan and Cecile were most unbelievably kind to loan us transport for our stay in South Africa - it is the stylish white beast that Ben has mounted below. It can handle pretty much any terrain you'd like, but we're not going to set any land speed records. Why would we want to when we can cruise and enjoy the amazing scenery of this part of Africa?
More Birds
Here are some more lovely bird species, again with tentative identification: crested guineafowl, crowned lapwing, mocking cliff-chat, and a giant kingfisher.
Ziraffes and Gebras
You think you’ve taken all the photos you need, but each time we encountered these animals, we were amazed again with their charm and “African-ness” (and Ben kept clicking away). The giraffes in this park seemed much more concentrated than in Kruger, perhaps due to the smaller size of the park. Particularly cute were the baby giraffes we saw, long-legged and ungainly, but running and jumping and having a ball. Check out the tongue on the one drinking... hee-hee.
The giraffes weren't the only ones with babies, as we spotted a couple of equally cute knobbly-kneed little zebras. The zebras are really amazing to look at, as the patterns vary for each part of their body. Some of them even sported a few brown stripes among the black. We cannot figure out why the zebras have stripes as it made them easy for us to pick out.... maybe it's so they blend in with each other?
Antelope
Although Ben took even more impala photos, we've choosen not to bore you with them this time. Instead we introduce a new antelope, the nyala. The male nyalas are a furry dark brown with light legs, with white spots and stripes, as well as an impressive set of horns. The ladies have the same spots and stripes, but are lighter and horn-free. Also included are some male waterbucks showing off their racks.
Wildebeest and Buffalo
Though we saw blue wildebeest and buffalo in Kruger, they were never close enough for a good picture. Here we saw large herds of each and even managed some close encounters. Suffice it to say, buffalo are ugly buggers.
Warthogs and a lonely Croc
Although the warthog doesn’t have the most handsome face, they are really cute when they run. It is impossible to describe how comical it looks when a warthog family sprints away in a line with their thin, little tails sticking straight up in the air.
We didn’t spot any hippos here, possibly as water levels were at an all-time low. We did spot one water denizen, the beautifully-patterned Nile crocodile.
Rhinos
This park is renowned for its rhino conservation program, and one of the benefits of that is the number of rhinos present in the park. Still no black rhino sightings for us, but we did see quite a few white rhinos. The best part was that we saw three mother and baby pairs – one of whom came within about 4 meters after drinking at a seemingly popular waterhole. Such a cutie!! Also, check out the monster horn on the mother rhino in the last photo.
Elephants on Parade
We had some excellent elephant experiences in this park. One morning we were greeted by an elephant enjoying a good-old scratch, and we later learned that Ben is only butt-high to an elephant! Their size becomes really apparent when you see them next to other vehicles on the road. We were warned that the elephants in this park could be agressive, so we tried to keep our distance; however, we unknowingly got too close as we took the photo of the jolly-looking one - his buddy charged our car from behind. We were only saved by Karen's quick reaction to his trumpeting when she screamed "Ben, hit the gas!!". We also watched (from a safe distance this time) with much amusement when a large male elephant played traffic cop and held up three safari jeeps, some cars, and a tour bus while he mock-charged and showed off his wares (yes, we are VERY sure it was a he..... that photo not included).
Our crowning elephant moment came on our way out of the park when we somehow timed it perfectly to see multiple elephant families gather at a mud hole. We sat in amazement as elephant after elephant came through - big ones, medium ones, and even some tiny babies - all enjoying a good splash before marching off directly behind our car! If we had been there 5 minutes earlier or later, we would have missed the whole thing.... what luck!
We have been a bit lazy in our travels while we enjoy the good life here at Duncan and Cecile's but it is time to move on. We leave tomorrow on a road trip to Cape Town (1800 km away) checking out the lovely coast in between. Tally-ho!
