Kruger Park. Highlights of our Safari.

Here are some of the highlights of our tour in the park. You can see the best and rest of my photos if you follow this link.

https://plus.google.com/photos/118127966611743934447/albums/6061770323761416049

Pour le blog en Français sélectioner dans TRANSLATE, "French" en haut AD

For those who are interested I used a Nikon D3200 with a Nikkor 70-300mm lens and sometimes a 2x Doubler. The videos were also taken using the Nikon. © 2014 All images are copyrighted. 

Video - Kruger National Park

BEST WATCHED FULL SCREEN. Click above   ^
This is a short video of our time in the park. 

There are other video clips in the blog below.

Kruger Park is huge, over 30,000 square kilometers and about the size of Belgium or six times the size of Greater London!!

Over a five day period we visited a small part of the southern end of Kruger. We stayed in a tented camp, which in effect has several large very comfortable huts with solid wood frames and a canvas surround. All are air-conditioned with showers and plenty of room. The main building had the open fronted dining room, lounge and terrace over looking a large garden with a swimming pool and a large lake where game come to drink and play. The camp is actually inside the park.

The must see animals are The BIG FIVE - Elephant, Buffalo, Lion, Leopard and Rhino, so called as they are the most dangerous of all the wild animals but we also saw the rarer animals like the Wild Dogs, the Cheetah and the Spotted Hyenas. We saw them all!. (The number given is the park's population of them.) 

Elephant 14k

Buffalo 37k

Lion 1600 to 1700

Leopard 1000

Rhino 10k

The two species of Rhino are White and Black. White is actually a mis-interpretation of WIDE as the White Rhino has a wide mouth and the Balck Rhino was called Black for obvious reasons but in fact has a small mouth. There you have it.

And the rarer animals....

Wild Dog 170

Cheetah 170

Spotted Hyena 2k/5k

We were picked up at the airport by Mike Miles, our guide and before getting to Kruger Park, had a 4 hour drive with stops to see the world's third largest canyon and other sights.

At about 4pm we changed into our Safari jeep 

Kruger Park opens at 6am and closes at 6pm.

Anne-Marie, Manon and I entered the park with our guide and had 2 hours before having to check in at the camp.






The camp consists of a large central area with he dining room and lounge and terrace. It is fenced and guarded.

Our tented room

The rooms were very clean and comfortable with two showers and air conditioning

Inside the a/c room

The Camp Pool at night

Beyond the pool area is a lake where animals come to drink












Bearing in mind that some animals are there in large numbers, like the Zebra (28,000) or Elephant (14,000), some are not. There are only about 120 Cheetahs and 120 Wild Dogs over the whole park so imagine after just twenty minutes in the park we saw this....

Mother

Two young

Typical running stance

Video - Two Cheetahs Playing

BEST WATCHED FULL SCREEN. Click above   ^
The two young Cheetahs were playing next to their mum.

 And the two cheetahs were trying to catch this bird

 but failed!

Then as the sun started to set, we headed for the camp and dinner for our first night.

The second day breakfast was at 05h30 and Mike asked if we wanted what was suggested: a tour in the morning then in the afternoon a break at the camp midday or tour, tour, tour. We chose the latter and spend 12 hours each day in the park. The only way to go.

That day started out with a walk in the park not far from our encampment. We were accompanied by two armed guides and given instructions about what and what not to do. 

The guides taught us how to read tracks and whom the droppings belonged to. 

We saw a few animals and returned mid-morning unscathed.

One thing that you see a lot are Ant-Hills. They are actually termites that are eaters of wood. These ant-hills are every where and are sometimes two or more meters high. What is not well known is that the ants often abandon their nest and then are taken over by others who expand the hill. They are perhaps ten meters deep or more.








The trees that grow from the ant hill are sometimes from seeds that the ants pr other animals deposit there.

Then we set out with Mike again and were extremely lucky to find a family of Wild Dogs. Another rare animal in the park.

Four wild dog cubs. 

and an adult sleeping as only dogs do.

                                                                                                                                 We returned several times but they were always out hunting 

We did however see the pups on the road on the third day, probably out on their own and training. They were only there for a few moments before heading into the bush towards their den. 

Then our first leopard. She was up in the tree watching some Impalas and we waited for 45 minutes before she came down. 

A  truly magnificent animal. Solitary, unafraid, elegant and dangerous.

They warn you repeatedly not to lean out of cars and yet people do. When you see how near they come to the cars and how hidden they can be, you understand.

Wart Hog

Video - Animal Traffic

BEST WATCHED FULL SCREEN. Click above   ^

Impala, one of the most common animals

Honey Badger, said to be the world's most aggressive land animal. It is not related to the common badger

 It is a vicious little creature with incredibly sharp, pointed claws. He can see off most big cats and will attack buffalo too. Anne-Marie spotted him and we followed for about 20 meters when he suddenly found a Tortoise. He then proceeded to eat it limb by limb and then scoop out the rest. We watched (Mike had never seen this before) and below is a short clip......

Video - Honey Badger eating a Tortoise

BEST WATCHED FULL SCREEN. Click above   ^

Then of course the lions. We saw about thirty during our short stay. King of the jungle is a very apt title. They hide under bushes to sleep.

Or sleep on rocks in the morning to warm up

And show their teeth!!!!

Video - Lions

BEST WATCHED FULL SCREEN. Click above   ^

Our best sighting was a group of nine lions some way across a river bed.

Suddenly they rose up and walked in line across the river towards us

They came within a few meters, walking in line through the bush and then lay down, waiting for some Impalas to stay still. 

This Leopard was lying in the shade right next to the road. So beautiful

A Kudu

Video - Giraffes fighting

BEST WATCHED FULL SCREEN. Click above   ^

We saw many Elephants with their young

This male lion was lying here watching a group of Impalas and other antelopes.

A Leopard stalking.

Mike and I. A rare moment out of the car. What a guide, what a driver. Thanks Mike.

Finally we said goodbye to Mike after a really great trip. We shall go back as South Africa is a wonderful country. Maybe a Safari in Botswana. Mike are you up to it?

Our last sunset in Kruger

I hope you enjoyed this. We did!

See the article on the Birds of Kruger