Kruger National Park Safari - South Africa (Part Two)

Day two of our safari had us waking early for a breakfast of poached eggs, sausage and beans and heading off to Kruger National Park, which was about a 45 minute drive.

Kruger National Park History website states:

The surface area of Kruger National Park is 7,580 miles² (19,633 km²).

• The park was first proclaimed in 1898 as the Sabie Game Reserve by the then president of the Transvaal Republic, Paul Kruger. He first proposed the need to protect the animals of the Lowveld in 1884, but his revolutionary vision took another 12 years to be realized when the area between the Sabie and Crocodile Rivers was set aside for restricted hunting.

• James Stevenson-Hamilton (born in 1867) was appointed the park’s first warden on 1 July 1902.

• On 31 May 1926 the National Parks Act was proclaimed and with it the merging of the Sabie and Shingwedzi Game Reserves into the Kruger National Park. 

• The first motorists entered the park in 1927 for a fee of one pound.

According to Wikipedia, Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of 19,485 square kilometres (7,523 sq mi) in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends 360 kilometres (220 mi) from north to south and 65 kilometres (40 mi) from east to west. The administrative headquarters are in Skukuza. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898, and it became South Africa's first national park in 1926.

To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is Mozambique. It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.

The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere an area designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as an International Man and Biosphere Reserve (the "Biosphere").^[6]

The park has nine main gates allowing entrance to the different camps.

Our open-air vehicle had to drive on the highway to get to the entrance to the park. While we could see animals such as monkeys, zebras, and antelope, the fast pace and early morning made it very cold. We dove under the provided blankets, zipped up our jackets and snuggled!

Entering the park, at the pay station, we were able to see our first animals, baboons in the trees.  As I shared with my family, I felt these animals were haunting me. While my family finds it amusing, the animal of my nightmares were not a welcome sight!

The boys came prepared with their binoculars and were eager to see what the park would bring. 

At first, the animals were far from the road, quiet and doing their own thing. We did not mind the distance as the overall atmosphere and beauty of the place enveloped our senses. We began to see elephants, zebras, wildebeests, giraffes in abundance!

One way to locate an animal was to look for stopped vehicles. As we approached a stopped car, our guide pointed out a LION! It took a while to see it as the bush offered camouflage. Zooming in on the camera, it was easy to see a male lion, sleeping under a tree, legs in the air! Comfy as can be!

As we continued on our drive, our guide pointed out a tree full of vultures indicating a fresh kill that led us to an leopard's most recent meal hanging from a tree.  The leopard was hiding behind the tree and was not visible, but they said it would never stray away from the tree. 

 The antelope are referred to as "McDonald's" because there is one around every corner!

There were so many birds of all colors, shapes and sizes!

Inside of Kruger there are a few main, paved roads that stick to the middle of the park. Off of this there exists dirt paths, some well-worn and others a little rough, that you may take. Many of the people we passed, which were not many due to the size of the park, were there on their own and not with a safari driver. 

The animals do not see the roads, but just another pathway. They hear the vehicles, but when at a distance they check it out and move on with their lives. They are not comfortable in anyway - if you get close, they take off!

Our lunch stop was at a camp inside of Kruger. We had time to sit down and enjoy a decent meal while observing the animals around us. The boys were able to run off some energy and even explored some of the local bugs.

After lunch we continued on our drive and were impressed by the groups of animals that we saw!

The night ended with some extremely wind-blown hair and a dinner at the lodge. 

Our visitors at dinner were a little smaller but still intimidating!

A dung beetle, centipede, and frog. Each of these was over 3 inches long.  

Again, we crashed early and had to be up by 4:45 the next morning!