Kruger National Park

This past Thursday through Saturday I spent in Kruger National Park, the largest game reserve in South Africa. After a 6+ hour bus ride from Johannesburg to the park we moved into the awesome bungalow-type houses we were staying in and went right out on our first game drive – an evening ride from five until eight. We were all antsy with excitement and it didn’t take long for us to see some animals. Almost immediately we saw warthogs and then a few minutes later we came face to face with impalas, which are in the antelope family. The thing is, antelope are like deer; they are really exciting to see at first but eventually they barely warrant a head turn. So, the excitement lulled for awhile as we drove through the various roads, until all of a sudden we turned a corner and BOOM, a white rhino was grazing some 30-50 feet away from us. There were a lot of hands-over-the-mouth gasps, as people tried to stay quiet despite their excitement. We watched the rhino for awhile and then continued on our way, only to come face to face with a giraffe a few minutes later. The fully grown male was even closer than the rhino was and took a few minutes to check us out as we all frantically snapped pictures. The evening drive ended quietly, like it began, but seeing the rhino and giraffe was amazing and no one was complaining.

Look how close that elephant is!

We were up before 4:30 the next morning for our 5am morning drive. Just as our evening drive ended, we started in the dark, using two spot lights to search the bush as we drove by. It’s about as difficult as it sounds and it wasn’t until dawn started breaking that we came across our first animals. First it was zebras grazing in a field, a few minutes later it was giraffes eating trees alongside the road, and our action packed half hour ended as we finally came across our first elephants! The ride turned out to be jam packed with elephants, we saw probably half a dozen over the three hours. At one point we were watching a mother and baby elephant when we noticed a large male in the trees a little ways across the street. We moved up to check him out and watched as he slowly made his way to the road. He emerged from the trees and crossed the road right in front of our truck, pausing for a moment directly in front of us to turn and size up our truck. I’m not sure what was going on, but our driver quickly told us all to stop talking. The huge male was only a few feet from the front of our truck and would have only needed a step or two to be next to us, it made me rethink standing out on the edge of the truck like I was. Further in our ride the driver suddenly slammed on the brakes and backed the truck up, saying there was a lion out in the field. He wasn’t lying; a female was sitting under a tree probably 150 yards off. How our driver managed to spot her, with just her head poking out of tan colored grass, while also driving the truck no one could figure out. Even though she was so far away, it was awesome seeing her and being able to say I’ve seen a lion!

Look closely, there's a lion!

After sleeping the rest of the morning away, I went and ate lunch by the river and watched two hippos swim right by where I was. Another animal added to the list! The afternoon consisted of a bush walk, where eight of us went out with two guides with huge guns to walk around looking at different aspects of the safari and looking for animals. We walked along rhino trails for a long time, stopping from time to time so the guides could explain different aspects of the bush to us. During one of these explanations the other guide called over to us, saying he had just seen a rhino in the bush a ways off. We silently set off to track him, but it was to no avail. Aside from a few antelope we didn’t see any animals, but it was still awesome walking around in an environment so different from what I am used to.

The beautiful bush where we went for our walk

We left the park the next morning, bright and early at 6am. Our drive out was essentially another safari though, we saw elephants, giraffe, wart hogs, a hippo, and to top it off, water buffalo. The water buffalo is part of the “Big Five,” so that means in addition to the rhino, lion, and elephant I saw four out of the five. The only one I missed was a leopard, which is apparently pretty rare. The drive out was icing on the cake to an amazing couple days in Kruger National Park. It was certainly a unique experience, though I hope it wasn’t once in a life time. From here I have five weeks left in Cape Town. The next two my school has off, though I have plenty planned to keep me busy! Then I have three weeks left of teaching until I get on a plane bound for JFK! I am definitely starting to get ready to come home and see everyone that I’ve missed these past few months but I am looking forward to the time I have left in South Africa.