AFRICA-PART 1
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(We will break down Africa into two parts since there’s an awful lot to report and even more pictures to share. So, this Part 1 is our four days “roughing it” in Kruger National Park South Africa. Part 2 will be our Safari to Zimbabwe and Botswana).
The flight from Dubai, U.A.E to Johannesburg, South Africa was one of the few flights that we paid for out of our pocket rather than redeeming airline miles. We have never flown Emirates, and since we were paying; not redeeming, we decided to select them and experience their legendary service. Of course, we flew coach class since business class was way out of our budget. The flight was only about half full, so we had plenty of room to spread out. Here's the significant thing about this flight … we were just not that impressed with Emirates. It was OK… Food was acceptable, the flight attendants were somewhat aloof and it really was no different than flying with the big three from the U.S. And, they locked the bathrooms whenever the seatbelt light came on!
There is a very nice hotel that is attached to the Johannesburg International Airport and you can walk to it very easily-never going outside. We discovered this in one of our previous trips to this country and it’s really a huge benefit when you were flying in and then flying back to start Safari at another location. Since the last time we were here they have an offered an outstanding and a cheap dinner buffet and a great bar. We were originally meeting friends here for our South African journey so we had booked two nights here since they were arriving a day after us. Unfortunately, circumstances changed, and they were not able to join us. We used our extra day just to relax, get pedicures facials, etc.
The next morning we boarded a flight for Kruger International Airport.
Hitting the road in Kruger
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| View from our plane |
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| We find the African people amazing |
Kruger National Park is South Africa’s flagship game park and it’s a VERY cool place. It is roughly the size of New Jersey and has numerous ecosystems. It has a great series of both paved and well- maintained gravel roads and several dozen rest camps and campsites. These rest camps are not five-star accommodations but they are very adequate and best of all- completely in the bush and each one is unique. They ARE fenced and the main gate is closed at night to prevent the wildlife from getting inside and attacking Andrea. We discovered these rest camps on our first trip here back in 2007 and have loved staying in these places ever since.
After a stop at a very nice SPAR grocery and an equally nice TOPS booze store next door, we headed out to Kruger NP. They drive on the wrong side of the road in this country so our car’s driver seat and steering wheel is on the right side and in addition it was a manual transmission. Took a while for Bill to get used to it but soon enough it was no problem. Our first rest camp for two nights was Lower Sabi and we really liked a cute little hut right beside the Lower Sabi River. After two nights we moved to Olifants Rest Camp for two nights. “Olifant” is the African word for elephant. This camp sits high on a ridge and overlooks the Olifant River and it is really breathtaking. This will be our third time staying in this camp.
Each day we would head out about mid-morning in a different direction and search for game. The amount of different game, birds and miscellaneous wildlife was just amazing and we never knew what was going to be around the next curve of the road. We had some great picnic lunches during the day and each night we did a “Bush Bria’s” … a very South African thing to do which we call a “barbecue” in the states. This procedure involves starting a fire with wood in your own pit outside your campsite around 5 PM, watching the sunset and having several cocktails until about 7 PM when the fire is down to hot coals and then cooking your meat of choice.
The big five consists of the Elephant, the Lion, the Buffalo, the Rhino, and the Leopard. It was a term coined by big game hunters considering that these five animals were the most difficult to hunt on foot. Here our favorite pictures of the big five, minus the Rhino. He was hiding from us.
The Elephant.
We had some great elephant encounters. From watching a family swim across a river to going full throttle in reverse to outrun one we came upon as we crested a small hill. We saw many herds of these magnificent creatures.
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| Taking a bath |
This series is of the elephants crossing the river. There is also a video. The babies use their trunks as “snorkels” since they are completely submerged.
Crossing the river video
Bill throws it in reverse video.
As we came over the top of a small hill this big guy was coming down the road. Bill thru it in reverse to get out of his way!
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| Crossing the Olifants River, view from our roundelle. |
Leaving on our last day when we were a little pressed for time, we came upon this herd right in the road. They were waiting for one big guy to quit eating and then moved to the other side.
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| He was taking his time! |
The Lion.
We saw two males and one female. Lions mostly rest during the heat of the day so spotting them is best in the early morning or evening. We saw these in the afternoons.
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| Male, left, female, right |
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| Hey, wake up! There's people here. |
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| Standing proud |
The buffalo.
The Leopard.
During our first two visits to Kruger we never saw the leopard so we were thrilled to see him this time.
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| If you zoom in on his bottom paw you can see he is injured. |
Kruger has many other animal species that are just as fun to spot while on safari.
The giraffe. These guys are so beautiful and graceful.
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| This poor bloke has the "wats" causes by the papilloma virus. It’s is possible that it contracted the disease thru the birds who eat the ticks of the giraffe then hop from animal to animal possibly spreading disease. This is rare and we reported the giraffe's location and a picture to the camp ranger who explained what was going on with this giraffe. |
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| One of our favorite pics |
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| So tall! |
The Zebra.
The Hippo
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| Another favorite pic |
The “little guys” in Kruger
Crocodiles
Warthogs
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| This family was so cute |
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| The warthog is so fun to watch! |
Just rooting around video
Baboons
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Wildebeests
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| Impala, they are everywhere |
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| Waterbuck |
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| Greater kudu |
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| Waterbuck Standoff |
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| Impala, playing king of the hill |
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| Kudu |
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| Kudu |
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| Waterbuck |
The birds
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| Southern yellow billed hornbill | |
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| Lilac-breasted roller | |
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| Southern Ground Hornbill, sightings are rare and the bird is endangered. | You submit your sightings to a research site. |
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| Pearl spotted Owlet |
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| African Fish Eagle |
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| Yellow billed stork |
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| Kori Bustard |
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| Giant Kingfisher |
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| Egyptian Goose |
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| Natal spurfowl |
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| Blacksmith lapwing |
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| Red wing starling, tried to steal our food! |
Beautiful sunrises and sunsets and evening stars
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| Sunrise at Lower Sabie rest camp |
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| Sunset at Olifants |
The southern cross, Andrea’s favorite constellation.
The BBQ beast
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| The beast eats |
The explorers throughout Kruger, there are very few opportunities for pictures together since getting out of the car is quite dicey.
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| Sitting on our deck in Olifants rest camp |
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| Olifants camp has laundry facilities but they were "out of order" so if you leave your laundry on the bed with a few dollars and a note that says" please do our laundry" you get full laundry service. We of course tipped more when the job was complete. |
Our four days in Kruger N.P. ended by so we dropped off the rental car at Hoedspruit Airport and flew back to our favorite hotel at Johannesburg Airport to stage ourselves for the next morning’s flight up to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. This required some major repacking because these bush planes that we will be on have a thirty-three-pound limit per person on luggage. Fortunately, our friends at the City Lodge Hotel will store our suitcases and some of our clothes and we will just be taking duffel bags for Part 2 of the African trip. ATW70 is flying by...this is day 42.
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| Bye bye Kruger, until next time! |