Kruger National Park
South Africa
South Africa
Trip Report: Leaf Leopards & Stone Lions: Kamping in Kruger
Our journey to Africa started Wednesday night. 2 overnight flights. Plus 1 short hop. This also included 10+ hours of layovers. Aeroplan can now officially shove their loyalty program up their ass. The routing and the cost of reward tickets are making them unusable.
It was 42 hours from the time we left our front door until we landed in the middle of a viscous rainstorm after the 45 minute hop from Joburg. Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (MQP) is high on a large hill above Nelspruit in northeastern South Africa in the foothills of the Highveld. After the rain had finished lashing the airport, we rescued our luggage and secured our rental - aka the White Beast - a Toyota Fortuner which is the SUV version of its famously indestructible HiLux. The overhead canopy had collapsed on the SUV during the storm, so I had to hold it up while the attendant drove it out of its spot. A small mark on top was duly noted. Like I said, it is famously indestructible.
It was 42 hours from the time we left our front door until we landed in the middle of a viscous rainstorm after the 45 minute hop from Joburg. Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (MQP) is high on a large hill above Nelspruit in northeastern South Africa in the foothills of the Highveld. After the rain had finished lashing the airport, we rescued our luggage and secured our rental - aka the White Beast - a Toyota Fortuner which is the SUV version of its famously indestructible HiLux. The overhead canopy had collapsed on the SUV during the storm, so I had to hold it up while the attendant drove it out of its spot. A small mark on top was duly noted. Like I said, it is famously indestructible.
So we hit the road - on the wrong side once again with RHD - but at least the White Beast was an auto. The hardest part is trying to remember that the blinkers and wiper controls are reversed as well. I went around many corners with the wipers on.
Anyways, the rain continued for our whole drive but at least it wasn't torrential anymore. The road was fast as it winds through the mountains that spill over from nearby Swaziland. It was Good Friday but there was a surprising amount of truck traffic about so I was thankful for the numerous passing lanes. They also have a paved suicide lane that drivers use to allow faster traffic to pass. Except for some confusion at the toll booth - I thought our transponder covered the highway toll but it did not - we made it in one piece to the Spar supermarket in a plaza in Malelane near the park entrance.
Shopping in a supermarket in a different country is always an odd experience. I even see big differences between Canada and the US. An African supermarket was different again. They had racks of non-refrigerated milk. Their meat cuts were quite different and it was all unattractively vacuumed sealed - a better preservative undoubtedly than the styro trays we get in NA. We found out - the hard way - that fruits and vegetables are weighed and priced in the aisle where they are found - not at the cash register. The food prices were a lot lower than in NA btw.
Anyways, this was just a light shopping episode but it was successful including a stop in Spar's separate liquor store for essentials. Then it was a 15 minute drive to the Malelane Gate of Kruger Park to begin our adventure. Since Kruger has day use visitors as well as overnighters, the gate is where you get your park pass. No money changes hands if you are an overnighter. They limit the day use crowd to keep the roads manageable during peak times and Easter weekend was one of them.
So finally, after a year of planning and anticipating, we drove into the park. Now, in most parks, this is not that big of a deal except for the nice trees. In Kruger this means that you go into animal search mode. You drive slowly. The park limits tar road to 50km/hr and dirt to 40 km/hr. And yes, we did see a speed trap with radar in our park travels so beware. Animal mode also means that both driver and passenger constantly scan the bush on either side of the road for animal sightings.
But the Number 1 Rule is that you never, ever leave your vehicle unless you are in a safe area - camps, picnic areas, viewpoints & some bridges. Otherwise you may be dinner.
About 5 kms in on the road to our camp we spied a big bull elephant on the right hand side munching on a bush. Now the thing about elephants is that they are primarily very peaceful giants. But you always have to remember to plan an escape route because they can crush your car or easily spear it or you with a tusk. The herd matriarch and mother's with little ones need careful watching. But the biggest danger is from single bull male elephants in must - the male equivalent of in heat. An elephant in must can be very unpredictable and downright dangerous. And guess what?
Yes, this one was in must. Usually you can see a dark wet patch in front of their ear as a sign, but since it was raining, it was hard to see on this one. But he did take umbrage with the White Beast being so close - we were about 20 feet away. As he started to come out of the bush, I started down the road. He followed us for a short time in a lazy way giving us a great photo opp of a charging bull elephant.
Anyways, the rain continued for our whole drive but at least it wasn't torrential anymore. The road was fast as it winds through the mountains that spill over from nearby Swaziland. It was Good Friday but there was a surprising amount of truck traffic about so I was thankful for the numerous passing lanes. They also have a paved suicide lane that drivers use to allow faster traffic to pass. Except for some confusion at the toll booth - I thought our transponder covered the highway toll but it did not - we made it in one piece to the Spar supermarket in a plaza in Malelane near the park entrance.
Shopping in a supermarket in a different country is always an odd experience. I even see big differences between Canada and the US. An African supermarket was different again. They had racks of non-refrigerated milk. Their meat cuts were quite different and it was all unattractively vacuumed sealed - a better preservative undoubtedly than the styro trays we get in NA. We found out - the hard way - that fruits and vegetables are weighed and priced in the aisle where they are found - not at the cash register. The food prices were a lot lower than in NA btw.
Anyways, this was just a light shopping episode but it was successful including a stop in Spar's separate liquor store for essentials. Then it was a 15 minute drive to the Malelane Gate of Kruger Park to begin our adventure. Since Kruger has day use visitors as well as overnighters, the gate is where you get your park pass. No money changes hands if you are an overnighter. They limit the day use crowd to keep the roads manageable during peak times and Easter weekend was one of them.
So finally, after a year of planning and anticipating, we drove into the park. Now, in most parks, this is not that big of a deal except for the nice trees. In Kruger this means that you go into animal search mode. You drive slowly. The park limits tar road to 50km/hr and dirt to 40 km/hr. And yes, we did see a speed trap with radar in our park travels so beware. Animal mode also means that both driver and passenger constantly scan the bush on either side of the road for animal sightings.
But the Number 1 Rule is that you never, ever leave your vehicle unless you are in a safe area - camps, picnic areas, viewpoints & some bridges. Otherwise you may be dinner.
About 5 kms in on the road to our camp we spied a big bull elephant on the right hand side munching on a bush. Now the thing about elephants is that they are primarily very peaceful giants. But you always have to remember to plan an escape route because they can crush your car or easily spear it or you with a tusk. The herd matriarch and mother's with little ones need careful watching. But the biggest danger is from single bull male elephants in must - the male equivalent of in heat. An elephant in must can be very unpredictable and downright dangerous. And guess what?
Yes, this one was in must. Usually you can see a dark wet patch in front of their ear as a sign, but since it was raining, it was hard to see on this one. But he did take umbrage with the White Beast being so close - we were about 20 feet away. As he started to come out of the bush, I started down the road. He followed us for a short time in a lazy way giving us a great photo opp of a charging bull elephant.
Shortly after that nice welcome to Kruger, we pulled into our rest camp for the next 3 nights - Berg-en-Dal - at around 2pm. After a brief stop at reception we had a key and drove to our bungalow. We had arrived!