Kruger Nature Park
For one final night on tour we all ate together, knowing we had other, different experiences to come on our 2 day visit to Kruger National Park. An early start had us on the road, so we could get to the park in order to take a sunset game drive. Sure enough with time to spare we check into the Berg En Dal camp, safe behind fences and guards. Our guide made us a great supper before we joined others in the camp on the truck for the drive.
You have to keep reminding yourself, this isn’t a documentary, there are things out there somewhere that are very dangerous, so keep all limbs inside the cars at all times. We drove around the park roads, lights from the 4 corners of the car searching for shales and eyes. We managed to see elephants, rhino and a civet which we were told was quite rare and unusual.
Following day our guide had arranged a private vehicle for the day, and we were to set off 6:30 am (no lie-ins on this trip) to make the most of the time available. It can be quite chaotic on a group tour, everyone has their own needs and expectations, thankfully before hand we all agreed we would swap rows in the van every few hours to give everyone a fair chance of observing whatever we came across.
So, what did we see, well, we saw 4 of the Big 5 before morning coffee and the final piece to the jigsaw was the lion we saw just before lunch.
However the day took on a dramatic turn driving back to the lodge, we had earlier witnessed a giraffe at a watering hole, but something spooked it, and it moved on. We found out later what. A leopard had caught some prey minutes after had left the watering hole, it had taken the prey into the trees, to get it away from other predators and scavengers.
We had to pass the watering hole, and all this drama was still taking place when we arrived. The dropped prey had been commandeered by hyenas, and all the leopard could do was watch from a branch in a nearby tree, as they fought amongst themselves for the larger share. We were just in the right place at the right time, as one made a break for it, carrying the remains in its jaws, intent on keeping it all, the hyena passed no more than a few feet behind our van, hotly pursued by the others and off the disappeared into the bush. We could hear the growls and yelps from the van.
If that wasn’t enough we saw two herds of elephants on either side of the road, not far from where we had earlier seen large male lion. You could tell the elephants were spooked, and there were two youngsters among them, which a lion could try and attack. At one point the young elephants strayed a little too far from their mothers, and with a trumpet were clearly ordered back, they made it back to the herd safely, but you could tell they were all still on edge. The lion wasn’t far away.
The eight or so hours in the van flew over, we could have stayed for longer, but park rules say all non residents have to vacate the park by 6pm so we hurried back to the lodge so our guide could leave safely. The photos we took can't convey how it felt to be there.
I have previously visited elephant sanctuaries where once working elephants and those who have got used to humans will interact, but this was as raw as it gets, real life and death in the bush, amazing.
After all that excitement we came to our final meal together. Our guide and driver had created a fantastic final supper for us, local meat dishes, and accompaniments, huge portions and we had all brought beer and wine to wash it all down. We sat and ate and reflected on a great trip. We were certainly happy seeing such wildlife both above and below the waves.
Next day we drove back down to Jo’berg, one of the comfort stops we took had its own game park attached to it, I think we managed to see 3 of the Big 5 before we had a chance to order a coffee. We continued onto Jo’berg, the bus was remarkably quiet, arriving at the airport mid afternoon, where quickly and without too much fuss or ceremony, we all said our goodbyes, and went our separate ways.
Our adventure though would continue for a few more days yet, one night at an airport hotel and onto Victoria Falls.