Kruger National Park
On Saturday we went to Kruger National Park. The day
started off with a 4.45am depart from the Hands village.
On route to
Kruger park we picked up Floyd (who works with Hands) and his 2 year old son from the local
community Masoyi. We got to the Numbi gate of Kruger at 5.30am and
waited for the gate to open at 6am, we were the second car there. Once
we had all paid our entrance fee we entered the park all excited for the
day ahead. We had planned a route, which began by heading south east
towards Afsaal. Around 6km's into the journey we were amazed and excited
to see our first sighting... 3 lions! These were sat 3 meters from the
road staring at some Zebras in the distance, and then following the
lions was a pack of hyenas, which often follow packs of lions as they
eat the left overs of their kill. The Lions then walked in front of our
vehicle gracefully into the bush.
We proceeded on with our journey, heading to Afsaal. The journey to
Afsaal took around 2 and half hours, driving through the bush on the
dirt road makes you realise how big this country is, the vast expanse of
un-spoilt bush. Our second big sighting was the White Rhinos, the
white Rhino having a squarer lip distinguishing it from a black Rhino
which has a curved lip. We then saw a Mother and her Calf within 10
meters of our vehicle eating and slowly walking away from us into the
bush, 2 of the big 5 seen before breakfast, we where having a good time.
We arrived at Afsaal aound 9.30am where we rented a Gas Braai or what is
also known as a BBQ. We had brought with us some bacon, egg and bread
rolls. Chef Chris cooked the food which went down a treat. We all sat
to eat breakfast on a bench in the sunshine and we were accompanied by a
very naughty and mischievous monkey which Alice S did a great job at
fending off from stealing our food! Once breakfast was finished we
decided to head north towards Sakuuza which was around 60km's away from
us.
Our next sighting was of the Elephant, we were driving over a dried
up river bed and just as we were about to cross the first
Elephant began to cross we stopped the vehicle and began to watch in
amazement of their pure size, strength and yet had such gracefulness.
The herd consisted of 14 including a two newly born elephants. As the
last elephant crossed the road it gave us a friendly warning to back off
by flapping its ears and we then reversed to give it some space, it did
give some of us a fright!
Our next sighting was Giraffe, which were in the bush some distance
from the vehicle but could still be seen due to their immense height. A
little further into the journey and we arrived at Sakuzza, where we
where able to go for a swim. Being South Africa's winter at the moment
the air was nice and hot but the water was far from it!! We got a few
strange looks when we asked if we could swim, but we all enjoyed it once
we warmed up in the pool, some being more adventurous and swimming more
than others!
After Sakuzza we headed to lake Panic which
was a bird hide on the edge of a lake. From the bird hide we could see
Hippos in the distance, Crocodiles and numerous types of birds. Just as
we were about to leave the bird hide, a Leopard appeared from the bush!
The excitement in the group was great and everyone had their cameras
out to try and get a picture of this rare animal.
The final sighting of
the big 5 was Buffalo, this happened as we were on the way to the gate
to leave the park, we were lucky enough to see a heard of 9 walk right
behind our vehicle, again their size is hard to believe until you see
them close up. By the time we got to the exit gate it was 5.45pm making
it a long day in the vehicle but a thoroughly enjoyable day by all of
us, although we were very ready for an early night's sleep we were very
grateful to have seen such amazing sights in one day.
Fantastic photos.
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