Travelogue: Kruger National Park, The Sequel

Adam writes:

Since Jess has already written an extensive Travelogue about Kruger in the past, this one will simply serve to mention those great new sights and sightings this time around.

This time, instead of booking a day trip with a tour company, we booked the trip with Paul, one of the owners of Nelspruit Backpackers. We stay with him and his wife Natalie, and there three lovely children, fairly regularly as Nelspruit is usually the launching point for our travels and our last night of showers on our return trips. They are wonderful people with whom we have become friends over the last year. So this time our guide was not only familiar with the park, but we were quite familiar with our guide which made for a far more enjoyable day than the first trip, and we loved our first trip. Also making this trip more fun, was the fact that we went with two other PCV’s whom we consider close friends. So all and all, we were set for a day of fun with friends.

Again our trip was marked with tons of sightings of what we have taken to calling the familiar things. Animals like Elephants, Warthogs, Impala, Kudu, Steenbok, Baboons, Monkeys, and Guinea Fowl. Not to say that we were any less impressed by these magnificent and beautiful creatures, but how fortunate we are that we now consider these animals ‘familiar sights’. There were some differences though. This time we saw a lot more baby and juvenile animals in general and specifically of some of these. Baby Monkeys, Baboons, and Impala were common. And thoroughly proving Jess’ argument that everything is cute when it is a baby, were the baby Warthogs. That’s right, they were freaking adorable. To be honest I was tempted to jump out of the car and kidnap one when it wandered a little too far from momma. But the reality that momma was meaner, stronger, and faster than me was driven into me by my loving and caring wife. Too bad, he would have been cute for a while and then, according to Paul, ugly yet delicious as a juvenile, a perfect combination. Another stark difference in this trip was that we would see far more water animals, e.g. Hippos and Crocodiles, as it was the rainy season and there were more watering holes and the rivers were higher, and more birds due to migration patterns.

My biggest fear for the day driving into the park was not that we wouldn’t see any of the big cats, for they are a rare sight indeed, but that we wouldn’t see any Giraffes. It had been nearly six months since our last visit and Jess was still heartbroken that she had yet to see a Giraffe in the park. You see, Giraffes are supposed to be one of the more common sights in Kruger and Jess is nearly obsessed with their goofy shape. We were a few hours into the visit and had seen plenty of animals and were on our way to Skukuza for some coffee and breakfast when Jess started yelling “STOP” at the top of her lungs. There in the trees on the side of the rode were four Giraffes! I cannot begin to describe how giddy my wife was. We sat for nearly twenty minutes snapping pictures and taking video as the rest of us joined in and joked around about her excitement. As far as Jess was concerned, we could call it a day. We would continue to see Giraffes throughout the day.

After our morning break we headed out again. Soon we started seeing beautiful birds. There was the European Roller which had beautifully brilliant blue wings. Shortly after that there was a sighting of the Ground Hornbill. This is a large ground bird the size of a young turkey with a bright red face and bill. We were able to see three of them hunting in the grass for bugs and small rodents. This was a big deal as there are only an estimated 250 of these birds in all of Kruger, a park that is roughly the size of Israel.

Soon after this we stopped to watch a large group of Impala that was joined by a small heard of Zebra. The Zebra soon broke away and we followed them for a while down the road. Paul explained to us that though the Zebras stripes would make them seem like an easy target, Lions only see in black and white so the stripes actually made the Zebras hard to discern and when they move it can be quite confusing to the predator.

We then had our first encounter of the day with a watering hole that was full of Hippos and Crocodiles. However, they were refusing to surface much. Later in the day we would find a spot where we would snap some great photos of Hippos coming to surface and get a few great looks at the Crocs. The day was marked with such watering holes, which was exciting as Jess and I had only seen these animals through binoculars barely making them out on the last trip.

There was some real excitement when we saw a giant flock of White-backed Vultures circling in the air ahead of us. We were all hoping that this meant we might be able to spot a big cat feasting. As we drove up, we realized that something in fact had been killed, an Impala, but it had already been picked clean and left behind. It was evidence that things did hunt and get hunted in the park, though we wouldn’t be privy to seeing it that day. We would spend the rest of the day spotting what we began calling ‘lion rocks’ and ‘leopard trees’ but in fact no actual Lions or Leopards. But there is always next time.

For lunch Paul took us to a pavilion overlook as we had packed a picnic of sorts. It was a beautiful spot that allowed some time to look through binoculars and get a grander look at the park. What I saw reminded me of watching Jurassic park as a kid. On the banks of a river there were Hippos sunbathing and playing in the water, a few kilometers away there were the necks and heads of Giraffe standing above the tree line of the neighboring grove of acacia. In the grasslands beyond there were a few Rhinoceros and herds of Impala and Zebra. All of them were together in one expanse of land grazing and going about their business. It was there that I understood why people always say that after Kruger, zoos no longer cut it.

There were a couple more notable bird sightings in the afternoon. Towards the very end of the day was a Goliath Heron, the largest Heron in the world. We watched for ten minutes as it pulled a fish from the water and had lunch. Our favorite, however, was a King Fisher. This bird is relatively small, maybe eight inches or so, and as the name implies, he hunts fish. This particular one had already caught itself a meal and was perched on the side of the bridge. You see, since King Fishers are so small, they must make sure that the fish is completely dead and not moving because if the fish is to wriggle or flop on the way down, it would lodge itself in the bird’s throat cutting of air supply and most likely choking it. So we proceeded to watch as the bird repeatedly and violently smacked the fish against the concrete. With every smack there was a resounding chorus within the car of “Bam!”. And yes, we have video, to be posted at a later date. This spectacle would come to be known as the ‘King Fisher Beat Down’.

Towards the mid-afternoon spirits were falling as our chances to see one of those elusive cats began to drop and everyone was feeling the effect of our 4:30 wakeup call when our fellow PCV said “Stop”. Jess then confirmed that she too had thought she saw something. And in fact they had, a two ton White Rhino. He was barely visible through the bush and so Paul pulled around a bend and we had a perfect view of this guy through an opening in the trees. He was wallowing in the mud and he was huge. We were excited to see him up so close and boy was he excited too. We were able to snap some really great photos from our vantage point and Paul would bang on the roof of the car to get his attention so we could also get some shots of him looking at us. We all decided that there was big, and then there was Rhinoceros big.

Our last notable spotting of the day was as we were driving out of the park. It was raining pretty good and we had all but given up on cats when Jess and Paul spotted a couple of Mongoose darting across the road. Paul told us that this was a sure sign of a predator nearby and sure enough he was right. A few meters up the road were a pair of juvenile Hyenas standing in the road. As they stood only feet away from the car we were able to grab some great close up shots in spite of the rain.

So, we didn’t see any cats. That means that Jess and I have yet to see a Lion, but we all agreed that this was a great trip into the park. And Jess and I agreed that this trip was even better than the first one. We now understand the addictive allure of Kruger National Park and you can bet that we will be back in search of a Lion. Oh, and Jess got to see her Giraffes.