Kruger National Park
We spent 5 nights in Kruger, May 26-30 and checked out on
May 31st. Introduction, some highlights and pictures of our stay in KNP are in earlier post
I'll cover a short report of our KNP stay here with some general observations and video links.
Logistics:
We booked our Kruger accommodation online and availed the 5%
discount.
Wild card:
We had bought our Wild card also online, so we did not have
to pay the daily conservation fee at the Park. We showed them our card and ID
at checkin and it was all sorted!
gives details.
For us, the calculation was as follows:
For us, the calculation was as follows:
WILDCARD R 3,005 for 365 days for 2 international
visitors
Our expense if we had opted to pay cash:
R 280 /day conservation charges kruger: TOTAL for 2: 560x5: R2800
CAPE POINT: R125… so for 2: R250
BOULDERS: R 65…for 2: R130.
We got a 20% discount for the table mountain cable car too.
So definitely viable for us economically leave alone the convenience of not having to pay at each point!
Choice of month of visit:
Dry Season:
The winter months from April to September are extremely
pleasant with warm dry days and cold nights. Traditionally, the best game
viewing is in the winter as the vegetation becomes sparse and water is
restricted to rivers and water holes.
We like to avoid heat and we found the choice of late May excellent for Kruger, Cape Town as well as Victoria falls.
Malaria risk:
The highest malaria risk period is between
December and April, the last day of April marks the end of the rainy
season. We did not take any prophylactic medication... please read up thoroughly, consult your doctor before taking a call!
The ankles are the most critical area Malaria mossies tend
to hunt low, going for legs and ankles, as opposed to incessantly and
annoyingly buzzing around the head. It's probably at least part of the reason
the insect is known as a 'silent killer.'
In reaching a decision about adequate protection, it's
worthwhile to read SaTHNet's (South African National Travel Health Network)
expert advice on malaria:
Any person developing flu-like symptoms 7 to 20 days (or
even longer) after being in malaria areas should be tested immediately for
malaria, until the symptoms clear or an alternative diagnosis is made.
Expectations from safari:
May 26, 2016,
Thursday:
Flight:
We had a flight booked on SA Airlink Cape Town to Nelspruit
10 am reaching Nelspruit at 12.35. We had had the option of flying into Skukuza
or Hoedspruit but had chosen Nelspruit. It’s just an hour’s drive to Malelane
gate and Berg-en-Dal is just 8 km from the gate, 20 minutes at game driving
speed.
What didn’t work:
Our day did not pan out as planned… it was almost a washout.
Our flight got delayed. It could not land in Cape Town and was diverted. It was a sunny
day but there appeared to be a haze preventing planes landing! We took off only
after 12. We had checked out of our apt at 7 am and gone to the Company’s garden
on the way to the airport but could not devote time… we had to return the car
and report for boarding by 8.30 am. We just sat wasting our time till the delay
was resolved.
We landed at 3 pm. To get optimum use of time, son rushed to
the car rental counter while I waited and collected our one checked bag. This saved precious time and we avoided the
queue that forms when others also get to the car rental counter after collecting bags.
We collected our rental car (upgraded to the luxury category
Audi) and were on our way only by 3.30.
We were at Malelane town around 4.45 and were racing through the mall SPAR there for our provisions. We made it into the Malelane gate by 5.10. The security gave us our exit pass card and told us to drive to Berg-en-Dal. We drove in the fading light. Thankfully we did not encounter any animals.
We were at Malelane town around 4.45 and were racing through the mall SPAR there for our provisions. We made it into the Malelane gate by 5.10. The security gave us our exit pass card and told us to drive to Berg-en-Dal. We drove in the fading light. Thankfully we did not encounter any animals.
We checked in, got our room keys and had to creep around in
the dark with our bags. We were thankful it had not been more late.
Kruger gates observe
strict opening and closing times. Late arrivals are only allowed in cases
of emergency (proof and valid reason required) until 21:00 for guests with
pre-booked accommodation at certain camps within 10km distance from the
relevant gate. An extra late arrival fee will be charged which is payable at
the gate. A ranger car will have to be paid for to accompany the latecomer to
the camp. No late arrivals are allowed
at Pafuri, Phalaborwa or Phabeni Gates or any other gates for camps more than
10km away.
There is a big board about what to do in case of snake
bites; warnings about being careful around baboons and not feeding them are in
each accommodation. When some visitors feed any wild animal, they change its
behavior and it starts expecting food from all visitors. Baboons which have
been fed some times become aggressive when they don’t get food from other
visitors.
We decided not to book any activity in this camp… we planned
to get up early and be on our own game drives.
Our strategy:
We drove around slowly, when we spotted an animal/bird, we
took a picture and a few seconds video if possible and then sat and watched the
scene for a while. We missed out recording many of the interesting things we
saw but our videos still contain quite interesting footage!
May 27, 1016, Friday:
We had got up well before 5, packed food, had breakfast and
were in our car by 6 am. We drove slowly out of the camp on the tar road and within
a minute saw this elephant just a few feet away. Wow!
After a few more sightings of warthog, giraffe, buffalo etc,
we turned into a secondary road.
A truck was tailgating us, we gave way for it
to pass. When we reached a bend, we saw the truck parked and an elephant
standing right on the road eating. Talk of space crunch… here we are invading
the elli’s territory on a narrow road! We were remarking how glad we were that
the truck had overtaken us and was ahead right now when the elli stopped
feeding and started walking toward us. I have already described the scene in the earlier post.
Here is the same account for reader convenience:
Elli kept coming…
Here is the same account for reader convenience:
This elephant found this truck guy a little too close, stopped feeding, started walking toward him throwing mud on himself… we backed off speedily as the track is a little too narrow for surviving an oncoming elli.
Truck guy pulled to a side almost into bushes giving space for elli to walk and waited.
Elli kept coming…
We wondered if we should follow the guy’s lead and park by the side… but the track is too narrow for our comfort and the bushes too thorny!
We made a 3 point turn and left the scene watching the rear view mirror for updates! We saw truck guy reversing and elli continuing calm strides… then could not see the truck. Decided to turn back.
The elli had decided to continue with the feed and had turned back to his tree. The truck guy again stuck quite close as you can see!
After these few minutes of drama we quit the road, enough excitement for our very 1st hour of game drive!
(Well actually, son wanted to stick on and watch further developments! Truck guy was his hero! I was uncomfortable with the situation…what if another elli or 2 decide to emerge behind the car… we’ll be truly trapped then! I ordered that we should leave the scene!)
Guess the truck guy would have had his fun observing the elli at close quarters for as much time as he wanted, engaging in silent drama with a very aware elephant!
Here’s a short video of the elli walking toward us toward
the beginning of the video…
Kruger 1 :
A little while later, we were on another secondary road when
we saw 2 symmetrical elephants statue, it turned out to be 2 ellis mirroring
gestures with their trunk…. Pretty nice to watch!
The other interesting highlights were watching a herd of 30
plus ellis crossing the road, which is also in this video.
A matriarch was standing by the side observing us while the herd crossed…
my camera is jumping all over because I tried to keep the matriarch in sight while trying to see the main herd too. Son was slowly moving the car a little forward for better viewing and we did not want the matriarch to get annoyed at our movement when her herd was crossing
A matriarch was standing by the side observing us while the herd crossed…
my camera is jumping all over because I tried to keep the matriarch in sight while trying to see the main herd too. Son was slowly moving the car a little forward for better viewing and we did not want the matriarch to get annoyed at our movement when her herd was crossing
Our fav sighting: Elephants
We saw several elephant herds with small babies… Kruger exit
pass issued when we check in has to be kept with us all the time and it gives a
list of instructions on things to do/not to do when in the vicinity of
elephants. Not to get too close to elephant babies is one of them. We saw the
babies always under the watchful eye of an adult, even when they wander off,
the mother rushes to its side. We saw this several times and captured it once
on video.
The ellis are so light footed we can hardly hear a twig
break when they silently move about in a bush just near us. Several times we
were taken by surprise seeing a huge elli close to the road in the undergrowth
after initially thinking it was just bushes.
We had been observing a herd for some 2 hours, driving off
and coming from the opposite direction, watching some of them cross to the
other side etc… we were just remarking how gentle 2 of them looked. One decided
to cross back… we were in her path and we backed off slowly. She started
crossing but the car at the other side also in her path stayed put. She had to
veer a little… she turned to face the errant car, took a couple of steps toward
them and shook her head… before scuttling off into the bushes. We were so
surprised because we had just a little while ago remarked how gentle this
particular one was!
Some times they started to walk toward us and that was our cue for moving off!
It was really such a privilege watching wild elephants free
in their habitat.
Other highlights:
We had assumed the water hole scene we see in all animal
documentaries can only be witnessed by professionals who wait around for hours
at the scene. But we saw at least 6 lovely water hole scenes…
small elephants
butting and playing with each other, 2 males swaggering and making mock
charges, a giraffe pacing near a man-made tall water well waiting for an elli
to finish, the same elli making way for a new comer elephant, several zebras, a
rhino, a giraffe and an elephant all at the same water hole,
impalas drinking with a lovely reflection in the water,
hippos enjoying their dip, buffalos and a croc enjoying a snooze (not side by side of course), several birds frolicking around… the list goes on.
Warthogs were pretty fun to watch… saw one warthog kneeling
to be better positioned to have his food … quite interesting.
In the beginning we found rhinos pretty skittish and moving
away when they sensed our presence.
Later we had great close up views of rhino babies as well as adults…
This cute little baby pranced near the mother and the
mother drove away a male rhino which came a bit too close! Caught in our video!
Baboons and vervet monkeys were found grooming each other!
They were around in day visitor picnic area as well. In the evening when we were returning to camp, we pulled up at a day visitor area hoping to use the restrooms. We saw this baboon quietly sitting at the table, looking around … as if waiting for the wait staff to come!
We did not get down but drove on…
Saw several animals trying to deal with their itch… ellis,
buffalos scratching themselves on convenient trees,
the ox pecker birds pecking at giraffes, rhinos …
the ox pecker birds pecking at giraffes, rhinos …
This is the very rare black rhino... very few left in the wild or even zoo as reader Mike has pointed out in the comments below...
Again we had assumed only pros who wait around for long
manage to get a glimpse of these!
Saw hyenas as pack eating a kill
and later a hyena mom with her baby in a burrow!
and later a hyena mom with her baby in a burrow!
It was great to see zebras getting frisky
and a zebra mom nursing its baby.
and a zebra mom nursing its baby.
Giraffes were always a delight to watch...
These cheetahs gave us an amazing glimpse for 10 minutes right near our car before a noisy car drove them away into the bushes
Kudus were plenty though they are supposed to be endangered. In fact, the bull kudu’s horns are the symbol for
We saw some little out of the ordinary stuff….
This young
one looked a mix of kudu and impala to our eyes! It was alone, unlike the rest
of the clan which are always found in groups.
We named it Impudu and hatched up
a story of how it’s being sidelined from the herd because of its odd looks!
We
found a young impala all alone, bravely grazing and wondered in what
circumstances she got lost!
We saw a very hurt hyena limping away. We so wished
we could do some thing to help in these cases but then what can one do!
When we exit the park, they check the boot of the car … I
guess they want to ensure people are not smuggling away such abandoned young
ones! Just kidding, ha ha!
We had assumed the
African wild buffalo will be big… it is the size of domestic cattle.
The inclusion of buffalo in Big 5 is because of the difficulty to hunt one.
The inclusion of buffalo in Big 5 is because of the difficulty to hunt one.
And the birds were so colorful...
Lilac breasted Roller...
Burchell's Starling...
Glossy Starling...
Go-Away bird... Grey Lourie...
Vulture...
Yellow billed stork...
Fish Eagle...
Our videos capturing our highlights are presented at the end
of this post.
Returning in fading light:
We felt early morning drives are a little over rated in cold
seasons as animals are probably in some warm bushes waiting for sunrise and
warmth. The ranger strategy of driving us to waterholes before sunrise
obviously did not yield any sighting during our morning game drive with Skukuza
ranger. As we joked, a hot chocolate/cappuccino fountain might have attracted animals,
not cold water in such weather!
Driving back to camp in fading light was a challenge for us.
On our 1st full day in Berg-en-dal, we found a car stopped in front
with its light on an elli on the road. We were there for some 10 minutes till
that car moved. We assumed the elli is gone and moved forward, only to find the
elli quite close as we passed!
On the following days, we tried to follow another vehicle as
pilot when returning… when possible of course!
On the last day, we got delayed and were on our own…there was
a big giraffe right in the middle of the on the road… as we slowly cleared him
there was another one again right in the middle! During day light hours,
animals seem to tolerate vehicles but as darkness falls, it becomes their
territory fully. We ended up 20 minutes past curfew returning back to camp and son
got an admonition from the gate security. The guard asked for our exit pass and we
thought we were going to be fined. Thankfully he let us go after our profuse
apologies!
I’ll wind up the Kruger days with some comments on lodging.
Berg-en-Dal:
The name Berg-en-dal means Mountain and dale... very apt. We
had booked here because we heard the lodging is refurbished and the landscape
is more scenic with koppies. Of course it’s game rich as well. We found all
these true and had a great time here.
The game viewing was AWESOME in Berg-en-Dal area.
We drove to
That was near where we saw the herd of 30 ellis crossing.
There were plenty of rhinos to be viewed at close quarters right near Berg-en-Dal, in the secondary road that branches off to the right when we leave the entrance of the camp.
Giraffes and zebras were plenty to sight, right on the road. Though the crocodile river is bone dry because of the sad drought, there were plenty of sightings and we never had a slack time.
Only whinge was that we had to pack up and leave after a
relatively short stay. (Our first day here had been so delayed because of
flight delays. The next evening, we had to pack up as we were moving to
Skukuza.) I know many people stay in several camps, moving everyday to a
different camp! Guess we are not happy to cope with such movings.
Skukuza:
In January 1st week, we found we could not book
the river side bungalow for all 3 nights of our stay by May end. So we booked
the interior bungalow for the 1st night. This proved a bit of a
hassle as we had to check out after our 1st night and check in again
at the river side bungalow.
Our rondavel...Rondavels are African thatched huts
Also the interior bungalow had no hot plate and I had to use
the one in the communal kitchen for making rice and soup for us. The fridge is
outside (no cage or lock) and I found it a little odd when baboons are around.
Anyways, we did not have any incident.
The river side bungalow was way better than the interior
one, we loved it.
Yes, that's the fence keeping out the ellis... not sure how??
The African sky was so amazing… we had not seen that many
stars anywhere else! Even the Milky Way is visible. Such an unforgettable
sight!!
Ranger Activities at Skukuza
We booked 2 activities in Skukuza. We booked an early
morning game drive. Besides us, there were only 4 others, 3 girls and a man.
We
had heard that there is a tracker and the driver. We had only one ranger who
drove the vehicle, the girls who sat at the back of the jeep held the torch and
shone it on the dark bushes. Hardly saw much game.
We wore thermal innerwear, a
sweater and jacket, wool cap, gloves and were fine. We used the blankets
available in the vehicle too.
Our ranger was a nice guy but we felt the vehicle
is too noisy and emitted fumes.
Which animal will stay around such noise and fumes is beyond me! Also the girls were a little loud and scared away a kudu by shouting! We had much better experience in our own self driven vehicle.
When we returned from the game drive, we had to check out, drop the key in the box at the gate by 10am.
Which animal will stay around such noise and fumes is beyond me! Also the girls were a little loud and scared away a kudu by shouting! We had much better experience in our own self driven vehicle.
When we returned from the game drive, we had to check out, drop the key in the box at the gate by 10am.
Early morning Bushwalk was available only on the day we were
leaving and we booked that as well. Only 8 people in each group and we were
accompanied by 2 rangers each carrying a loaded gun.
As I had already read in
reviews, we were shown animal droppings and given a lecture on which animal it
belonged to. The reviews said there will be a talk on plants/ trees as well… we
did not get that! Basically we were driven in a jeep for ½ hour, and walked in
a loop around pretty bare grounds. No chance of surprising any animal but it
was nice to watch the African sunrise. The snacks (crackers and cheese, dry
mango slices, roasted peanuts) and juice they provided was pretty good too…
only one item was meat, so we vegetarians had no complaint.
The game viewing near Skukuza was surprisingly sparse for
us. Hardly any sighting on the famed H4 road. We drove up to Pretoriuskop, the
day picnic area there was pretty stranded. There was one group using the area
and after they left we were the only ones around. A bit scary. There are
mandatory warnings that we are getting down at our own risk in all these areas
and of course we sign an indemnity bond absolving the park of all
responsibility in case of untoward incidents.
http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2016/06/south-africa-trip-report-panorama-route.html
is the next post covering the following 2 days in the panorama route
http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2016/06/south-africa-trip-report-panorama-route.html
is the next post covering the following 2 days in the panorama route
Our videos:
Here’s a link to our videos with a short description of
contents:
Kruger 1 :
Elephant Space crunch when elli decided to walk on the road toward us throwing mud on itself,
Elephant Space crunch when elli decided to walk on the road toward us throwing mud on itself,
chatroom when 2 ellis mirrored gestures with trunk,
slinking elli in bushes, elli salute, warthog kneeling, zebras
giraffe, 30 plus ellis crossing
slinking elli in bushes, elli salute, warthog kneeling, zebras
giraffe, 30 plus ellis crossing
Kruger 2: Rhinos,
waterhole with giraffe, rhino, zebras and elli,
buffalo's mighty itch, rhino again, zebras, baby elli,
elli itch,
ending with elli showing annoyance at car by stepping in and shaking her head
waterhole with giraffe, rhino, zebras and elli,
buffalo's mighty itch, rhino again, zebras, baby elli,
elli itch,
ending with elli showing annoyance at car by stepping in and shaking her head
Kruger 3: zebra crossing, frisky zebras for some 7 min, cute
rhino baby with mom, giraffe
kruger 4 : ellis at waterhole, cheetahs, zebra mother
nursing its baby, hyens as mom with her baby in burrow
Kruger birds
Kruger 5: Elands, vervet monkeys, baboons,
impudu?? solitary impala cub,
giraffe, hippos, blink n you'll miss glimpse of Lion,
impalas at water (with reflection)
impudu?? solitary impala cub,
giraffe, hippos, blink n you'll miss glimpse of Lion,
impalas at water (with reflection)
Kruger 6: warthogs, dungbeetle
Ends with baboon at table... hey what does one have to do to get some service around here??
Ends with baboon at table... hey what does one have to do to get some service around here??
Do you realise the photo of the single rhino with wound on its side is the very rare 'Black Rhino'! Very few left anywhere in Africa or in zoos around the world. Plus an excellent sighting for 10min of 3 cheetah.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mike for flagging the fact about the endangered Black rhino... has a hooked lip, ha?
DeleteYes, the cheetahs were awesome, we caught it in video as well