Kruger National Park, South Africa
January 12th, 2009
After seeing Andrew and Shannon off at the airport in Cape Town and heading towards the romantic city of Paris, the rest of us flew to Jo’burg. After staying with Andre and Elize and having a brillant mini-Christmas reunion, we drove up to the Kruger. Booked in advance on the advice of a trusted friend and Kruger connoisseur, Riaan, we checked into Olifants. Enjoying sundowners overlooking the river, we sighed with contentment and admired the beauty. After spending two nights there, we moved to Lower Sabie for two nights and then Satara for another two nights.
At each camp we booked a night drive, an evening drive, a morning drive and a morning walk. They were run by the highly knowledgeable park rangers, who were amazing. We lucked out completely and had cooler than usual weather with temperatures in the high twenties rather than the high thirties, and also had amazing sightings despite warnings of the thick vegetation. Seeing the Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo) four times over was unbelievable. We also were lucky enough to see all of the Small Five, the babies of the Big Five, who are unbelievably gorgeous and really look like they would like to be your friend, even though it would not be a good idea.
The highlight sightings would be seeing a leopard grooming herself after a long night’s hunt, seeing a group of eight cheetahs stalking something in the bush, seeing a herd of about a hundred buffalo and being right in the midst of it, and seeing two lion cubs half sleeping in the early hours of the morning, waiting for their pride to collect them after a hunt.
*This time without any tickets!
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