Kruger Park – part 1

I had the opportunity to ride along to Kruger Park with Marjorie from the embassy and her friend Allison. Both are Kruger fanatics and like nothing better than to take off and head for the park on a free weekend. April 18-20 was a three day weekend, as Monday was a public holiday for the king’s birthday. We set off from Marjorie’s place in Mbabane around 7:30 am and arrived at the park I think around 10 am. Other than freezing from the air-conditioning in Marjorie’s Lexus (despite having worn two pairs of socks, two shirts and a jacket in preparation), it was a pleasant enough ride. And I always appreciate NOT being the driver.

Our first day in the park was quite productive. I was amazed at how adept Marjorie was at spotting animals. Even though she was driving, she still managed to spot more creatures than either Allison or I (admittedly, I was abysmal at it). Sometimes, I never did manage to see what she was insistently pointing out. I soon learned, however, just to say that I had seen whatever it was, as she would keep after me, trying to describe the location, until I claimed to have seen the distant creature.

Soon after entering, we stopped at Ntandanyathi Hide – one of the few places other than a rest camp where people can leave their vehicles. In fact, along the roadway, you can be fined for even sticking your arm or head out a window. I suppose, with lions, elephants and hippos around, caution must be more than just advised. From benches in the rough wooden shelter there, we looked out over a watering hole and saw elephants, crocodiles, hippos, assorted birds, and nearby, a small herd of zebra. I could have sat there watching for hours, but we had to move on.

Regarding the photos -- The pic of two elephants was taken at the hide, while all others were taken from the road. Do note that I don't have a camera with a long telephoto lens. My basic Canon digital has only a 4X optical zoom, which means that animals which appear to be quite close really were! I tried to get a video of the line of cars following the two giraffes -- they strolled along ahead of us for at least a couple of minutes -- but it didn't turn out. Another of the parkk rules is to always give animals the right of way. Unfortunately, we did encounter a few motorists over the three days who didn't respect that rule and who honked their horns obnoxiously or even refused to stop the car and drove right through groups of animals to get them to move. Jerks are everywhere (but why come to a park if you don't want to watch the animals?).