We have just got back from our first long trip to Kruger National Park in South Africa (cut short by Winston, the dog being ill). It’s only just over the border from us, and as it was the end of the girls’ summer holiday and the COVID numbers in South Africa were dropping quickly, it seemed a good time to go.

On Thursday night Zoe, Imogen and I drove to the border at stayed at Joe Moz, just a stone’s throw from the border, where a warm welcome awaited us. Harriett was already in South Africa (another long story) so we were going to meet her in the morning. On Friday we got up early(ish) and headed for the chaotic crossing into South Africa. As we’ve done it before we know what to do and it was pretty quick. It’s then about a 15 or 20-minute drive to the park via a stop for a South Africa Sim card and some Rand. At the gate, we caught up with Harriett, registered and headed into the park.

We are used to the Maputo special reserve, where all the roads are deep sand and the infrastructure is limited to an entry post, a campsite and some signposts and it’s very quiet. This was a very different experience. The park is huge with a network of tar and gravel roads (better than many Mozambican paved ones). Our first aim was to get to Lower Sabie, one of a series of camps in the park. The camps have facilities for day visitors and places to stay. We headed for the famed Mugg and Bean Coffee shop overlooking the waterhole for brunch. That meant driving quite quickly as we were all hungry. We agreed not to stop to look at every Impala as we went and headed there as quickly as we could. Even then there were a few things we couldn’t avoid stopping to see as we drove along, including some Warthogs running down the road. We then spotted our first predator (there are no predators in our local reserve); a spotted hyena. It looked an amazing creature and not like the evil characters in the Lion King, which until that point, had been our only experience of Hyenas. It was light in colour and spotted. It looked peaceful enjoying the morning sunshine, before getting up and ambling off slowly into the distance. We also saw a mother elephant with her calf. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve seen the elephants, they are always so amazing to watch, especially when there are some little ones involved.

We managed before long to get to the Lower Sabie camp and we were soon sitting out on the deck of the coffee shop ordering a nice breakfast and sipping some good coffee. The waterhole was a small lake created in the river running past. There was a large group of hippos in the distance enjoying the water, with some out on the bank grazing. We hadn’t been there long before a family of elephants, much closer to us than the hippos, came down to drink. Once they had drunk and splashed around a little they all headed across the river, which was quite deep for the little one and up onto our bank. They quickly disappeared into the elephant grass. It must be one of the best places in the world to have brunch.

We then had the mission to get around 80km north to the Satara camp, where we had a sunset safari booked and a place to stay arranged. So again promising not to stop for every Impala as we had a place to get to, we drove off. It is great in the park to be able to drive around yourself and choose to do things at your own pace.

The park is huge and there are always areas you drive past without animals, but before long there will be a group of them, there is so much to see. Along this drive, I think the highlights were another hyena and a wild tortoise that none of us had seen before. Then in the distance were some weird black lumps on stilts. Once we got closer we realised they were Ostriches. They are bizarre-looking animals with their massive bodies and tiny heads. We spent quite a while gazing at these strange animals. We then stopped about halfway at a lookout point. We were on top of a ridge and we could see down onto a huge plain. It was quite bare with brown grass and dotted trees. At a glance, it looked devoid of life. But, when we looked closer we could see Zebra, giraffes and more, most of them shading themselves under a tree from the heat of the day. Although it’s still winter here, the days are starting to warm up, and this one had easily hit thirty degrees.

After driving further (and losing some popcorn to a monkey who raided the car at the stop) we saw a Rhino. It was sat in the long grass 50 metres or so away. It was lying down resting in the afternoon heat. We willed it to turn around so we could get better photos. But it was happy as it was whiling the afternoon away. It was an honour to be able to see such a rare animal.

We arrived at the fortified camp. It’s surrounded by high fences to keep the larger animals out. Although a good few of the smaller animals have sneaked in and enjoy being in the camp with the extra food that provides. The camp had a restaurant, shop, pool, playground and lots of accommodation. It was all laid out in large circles. Each circle had a road around the outside and contained a circle of identical brick-built roundhouses. We had a couple of them. Each one had a bedroom and bathroom inside and a covered outdoor kitchen and Braai (BBQ) area. After a quick rest, we were heading for our sunset safari. There were about 10 of us in an open-sided safari truck with one guide/driver who insisted her name was “Stop”. As that was what we had to shout when we saw something.
We had only gone a few hundred meters from the camp when we saw a large group of cars and went over to join them. We found they were all looking at a couple of Cheetahs. We’d only ever seen these as Whipsnade zoo before, and nice as their enclosure there is, it’s not like seeing them out in the wild. It wasn’t long before we saw another pair much closer. We’d turned onto a road which only the Park vehicles were allowed on. And there, much closer to us was a pair of Cheetahs. We got to stay with them for a while as they carried on with their lives, seemingly ignoring us. They crossed the road right in front of us and carried on their way off into the distance.

I had thought that maybe the rangers would have a better idea of where the animals were than we did when we went for a drive. But it seemed just the same case of randomly driving around until something pops out in front of you. We did see a lot of antelope and some baboons. We were quite keen on watching the baboons but it seemed top predators or the big five were what the guides wanted to show us. By about 6 pm it was going quite dark and the temperature was starting to drop. The guide turned on the floodlights on the side of the vehicle and gave powerful spotlights to Imogen and someone on the other side of the vehicle, to sweep around looking for animals.
The animals eyes do show up easily at night, so they are quite easy to spot, but they have to be quite close to see any more of them beyond their eyes. We managed to see a small spotted Genet, which was pretty cool. There then seemed to be a lot of time in the dark in a cold truck, not seeing a great deal. I think having more of the safari in the daylight would have been preferable. But as I was starting to feel ready to get back to the house and get a beer and light the Braai, we came across a Hyena den. There were several adults and a good few Hyena pups. They were very inquisitive, coming up and putting their paws up on the side of our vehicle. The pups were having fun playing and running around.

The next morning was an early start which the kids decided to skip. We’d booked a walking safari. We were up at 5am to meet them at 5:15 for a 5:30 departure. There was Zoe and I and another couple who were from E-Swatini, along with a couple of guides. The walking safari started with a drive to get to the start. In the cold of the morning, I was glad they had provided blankets for the drive. As we parked up, the sun was poking over the horizon and the sky was slowly getting light. We stepped out of the truck and started to walk across the park. It was so nice to get much closer to the park and have it underneath your feet, rather than seeing it from the safety of the car. It was a lovely morning as we walked through the stubbly brown grass. Before long a small group of giraffes were happily eating a few trees and stayed quite close and calm as we walked past. We walked through a variety of terrain, near streams, bush and open grassland. As we got to about the furthest point from the car, we saw a group of something in the distance. As we got closer we could see they were buffalo. Another first for us. The sun was rising behind them and you could see the steam rising from them in the chilly morning air. The group of them was huge. As we got closer they started to become interested in us. Most just grazed happily, but a few became interested and started to head our way. The group followed a little. The front ones then came closer still and gradually edged their way towards us being inquisitive as to what we were and what we were doing. They didn’t seem to see us as any sort of threat.

Breakfast was with the children back at the camp with all sorts of birds flying around us. The number of Southern ground hornbills was huge and their long beaks seemed as adapted for eating chips as for whatever its natural food is.

It was after breakfast that we found out that Winston wasn’t well. We drove ourselves out of the park, watching the animals as we went (including a lion). We got to our next accommodation and got more news about Winston. Having been there for around ten minutes, we realised we were needed at home, and then came the long drive back.