South Africa (October 2009): Krüger National Park 1

After our time in Cape Town, we flew back to Joburg, and had a night in a dodgy "guesthose" in some wird residential area (we didn't like it at all, and were glad to get out of there early next morning again). We got there and back to the airport by rental car, and without Emily I think we would still be looking for it... From the airport we took a taxi to Bobo Campers (the Discoverer 4), which is usually a 10 minute ride. Our taxi driver took 45 minutes, because he had no clue whatsoever! He was on the phone with Bobo, and still couldn't find it. I turned on Emily, but he wouldn't listen to us. When we finally arrived, I didn't even wait for him saying how much he wanted, but gave him 100 Rand (it was supposed to be around 80 Rand), and he gratefully took it and buggered off. We did the whole take-over procedure, and Bobo appeared to be a nice, clean, professional business. The camper was clean and modern, with all you need. Not long after, we were on the road. A stop at the next supermarket to stock up for 10 days, and then towards Krüger National Park. We got a bit delayed, and wouldn't make it in time to the park when the gates close. But we were at the Malelane Gate just before closing. They didn't let us in, said we'd have to continue to the Crocodile Bridge Gate (at the border to Mozambique), and ask them for an escort to the Lower Sabi Camp, which we had booked in advance. At the Crocodile Bridge Gate, the guy said there is no way we'd get an escort, since Lower Sabie is too far away. But he made a few phone calls, and let us drive the 700 meters into the ark to the Crocodile Bridge Camp, where someone would be at the gate for us. After a bit of searching (there was lots of construction, and it was pitch black), we found it, and had our first night in the park - yahoo!

The coming week we have planned entirely for Krüger, and stayed one night at Crocodile Bridge Camp, then a night at Lower Sabie, the next two at Satara, then two at Punda Maria (the northernmost camp), and the last night at Letaba (all to see on he map below)...

The first few days it was rainy and gloomy, so not the best weather for taking photos, but we did see far more animals during those days. I don't think that this related to the weather, but simply due to the fact, that wildlife density decreases significantly the further north you go. Despite the weather, we took no less than 2882 photos, and it was a real hard task to reduce them to a decent amount. Still, there are (too?) many photos I put in this blog, so I divided it into two separate blogs. Some photos are not of the best quality (sorry for that), due to the poor weather and/or the distance of the animals (i.e. cropping). We were absolutely amazed by the variety and beauty of the animals, and we were very much looking forward to having lots of time to do the game drives ourselves, and being able to stay with animals as long as we wanted to. We even loved the birds, despite not being bird watchers. But many of the birds were just too beautiful to dismiss them... I will post the photos just in chronological order, which is probably the best thing to do. By species would become boring. I also try to identify all animals, but take no claim for correctness. Especially some antelopes and birds I wasn't too sure about. If you know where I made mistakes, please let me know, so that I can correct them... But most important: Do enjoy the photos. All are clickable to enlarge them, and despite not being able to convey what we felt while in South Africa, they still provide you with a kaleidoscope of the wildlife in Krüger National Park!

Brindled Gnu (Blue Wildebeest)

Lilac-breasted Roller

Impala

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

An ancient wall painting at the Hippo Pools

A Buffalo and Waterbucks

Swainson's Spurfowl

Warthog

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

Vervet Monkey

Impala

Dwarf Mongoose (?)

Giraffe

Fever Tree

White Rhino

Giraffe

Glossy Starling

White Rhino

Hippopotamus

Striped Skink

Village Weaver

juvenile Village Weaver (?)

Saddle-billed Stork

Impala and Red-billed Oxpeckers

Warthog and Red-billed Oxpecker

Common Duiker

African Fish-Eagle

Bushbuck

Waterbuck

Warthog

Giraffe

The view from Lower Sabie Camp

Burchell's Zebra

This poor thing had a huge wound, maybe from an attack of a big cat?

These Spotted Hyaenas were resting on the asphalt in the rain, and didn't really want to move at all. I assume that the road was still radiating heat from the time before the rain set in...

How can someone say Hyaenas are ugly???

Wildebeest

This old lady didn't want to get up either - you can see the dry spot where she lied...

And suddenly we could see a couple of lions in the distance. We watched them for some time play fighting. And we were lucky: They decided to come move on, and their track took them right past us. One of them was so close by, right next to us in the ditch, that Neil said I should close the window, in case the lion would jump!

The rain got heavier and persistent, as can be seen in the following photos...

Elephant

White Rhino

Lion

Burchell's Zebra

Natal Spurfowl

Waterbuck

Hippopotamus

Impala

Elephant

Vervet Monkey

Egyptian Goose

Impala

Blacksmith Lapwing (Blacksmith Plover)

Hippopotamus

Little Grebe (has frog for lunch...)

Egyptian Goose

Hadada

Waterbuck

Red-breasted Swallow

Waterbuck

Giraffe and lots of Oxpeckers

Bateleur

Glossy Starling

Baobab

Martial Eagle

Swainson's Spurfowl

Kudu

Buffalo

African Hoopoe

Grey G0-away-bird (Grey Lourie)

Laughing Dove

Cape Glossy Starling

Redbilled Hornbill

Satara Rest Camp

Squirrel

Crested Barbet

Centipede

Dark-capped Bulbul (Black-eyed Bulbul)

Squirrel

Impala

Vervet Monkey

Pearl-spotted Owlet (?)

Impala

Saddle-billed Stork

Hippopotamus

Ants

Waterbuck

Spur-winged Goose

Yellow-billed Stork

Goliath Heron

Nile Crocodile

Wildebeest

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

Steenbok

Lion

Lilac-breasted Roller

Elephant

On our way back to Satara Camp we saw a bunch of cars stopping on the road (just about 3 km south of the camp), so we knew there must be something special. And rest assured, we saw a leopard crossing the road! I was just breaking and grabbing my camera to take the photo below. Sadly, it was a second too late (and slightly out of focus), but I got a few nice shots once it has left the road... This was the only leopard we saw, and means that the Big Five (Elephant, Rhino, Lion,Leopard, Buffalo) are complete!