I’ve just come back from a week with Ray and his family in the Kruger National Park. I’m not sure where to begin writing about it. This was an extraordinary trip.
Sunrise in the Kruger.
I’ve visited lots of games reserves in South Africa over the years — mostly private reserves with luxurious accommodation and a “guests must not lift a finger except to press the camera shutter” kind of approach. (There are tons of private reserves around the borders of the Kruger, while the park itself is public.) I know the drill at places like this: Wake up early, guided game drive or walk, return to luxurious accommodation, eat gourmet food cooked by others, sleep, eat more food, another game drive, drink sundowners, eat more food, go to bed, repeat.
Such trips usually last three days at most, because: 1) Few people can afford to stay longer; and 2) Eating and drinking 10,000 calories a day is surprisingly exhausting.
Luxury safaris are wonderful. I’m ridiculously fortunate to have stumbled into a profession allowing me to take trips like that from time to time. (Read about a few of them here and here and here.) But my do-it-yourself week in the Kruger — traveling with tough, seasoned South African nature-lovers who know every inch of this massive national park and would never think of seeing wildlife in any other place, in any other way — was eye-opening.
The Kruger National Park is one of Africa’s oldest and most iconic game parks. Self-driving the park for seven days was a totally different experience than anything I’ve had in a private reserve. I came away with a new perspective on this particular type of South African holiday, and on the natural world more generally.
After seven years of living in this country, the Kruger made me love South Africa in a way I never have before. The Kruger made me more South African.
Left to right: Ray’s brother John (aka Jack), Ray’s mom Diana, Ray, and me, at a lookout point near the Skukuza Rest Camp.
My Favorite Moments in the Kruger
We did a top-to-bottom tour of the Kruger, starting at the far northern tip of the park and exiting the southernmost gate. I’m going to do a longer post after this one, with more impressions about where we stayed and what we did and what I do and don’t recommend.
But to start, I’ll share a three-part photo series documenting my favorite game sightings of the week.
1) Mud-covered Tuskers
On our second afternoon in the park, just north of the Shingwedzi Rest Camp, we ran into a group of giant-tusked elephants coated in mud.
Look at those tusks! That car is a bit too close for comfort, in my opinion.
Shaking his head, providing a better perspective on the length of the tusks. Unfortunately we didn’t witness this elephant actually wallowing in the mud — I’m sure that was quite a sight.
A smaller elephant with smaller tusks. Still freaking huge.
This elephant was having a nice rub against the tree. I’m fascinated by the eye, which is either closed or covered in mud.
More tree-rubbing.
This guy also has a massive tusk, but just one. I wonder how he lost the other?
Amidst all the tuskers, we also watched a group of tsessebe cross the road. Tsessebes are fairly uncommon in South Africa, and also just super interesting-looking.
2) Side-striped Jackals on the Hunt
We spent two nights at Shingwedzi Rest Camp. On our second evening there, Ray impulsively turned down a short dirt road on our way back to the camp. Di and Jack had gone ahead in a separate car.
The sign said we’d find a watering hole in two kilometers, but when we reached the end of the road we found only a dead end. We shrugged and laughed.
As Ray turned the car around, he saw a jackal. Then we saw two.
Jackal!
We only realized the next day, after another jackal sighting, that these were not the black-backed jackals more commonly sighted in Kruger. Rather this was a pair of side-striped jackals, which are exceedingly rare and difficult to spot because they’re nocturnal. Di estimates she’s been to the Kruger more than 30 times and has never seen one.
After seeing this photo, a friend commented that side-striped jackals look more wolf-like than black-backed jackals.Â
Here’s a black-backed jackal we saw the next day, for comparison.
Jackals often disappear quickly but these two hung around, trotting a few steps down the road and stopping to turn and see if we were following.
Waiting for us to catch up.
One of the jackals veered off into the brush, and moments later a small hare darted out in front of us and streaked across the road. The jackals were hunting!
On the hunt.
Eventually they gave up on their prey and ran off.
Not the sharpest photo but I love the fact that all four feet are airborne.
3) Hyena Motherly Love
Our longest drive of the week was between the Shingwedzi and Satara Rest Camps, through the middle section of the Kruger. We left particularly early — just after 6:00 a.m. when the gate opened — and were rewarded with a spectacular early-morning hyena sighting.
A female hyena chilling in the road, bathed in early morning sunlight.
I was already madly clicking away when Ray tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the left. The hyena had a cub.
I die.
I’ve always loved hyenas. (I once wrote a blog post called Hyenas Make Me Laugh.) This was my first time seeing a hyena cub and it could not have been better.
Seriously now, I’m dying.
Dead. I’m totally dead.
Are you getting tired of these yet? I’m not.
They’re playing!
Okay I’m done now.
More Kruger posts to come.
Such a special place, love the Hyena pics you could have gone on posting more.
I’m glad you agree 🙂
Awesome pics. That cub is great great great!
I know ????????????
Heater! I love this post so much, especially the part of how Kruger made you more South African! <3
Thanks. It’s totally true.
Ohhh, I didn’t know you had never done a self drive Kruger trip before, you are now spoiled for life! Beautiful photos and some really lucky sightings. When are you going back 🙂 ?
Oh god, soon I hope.
Hahah, I knew you were hooked!
Yeah, I really didn’t want to leave.
I never do either, even after 2 or 3 weeks!
I love the idea of going for that long, although there would be enough hard drive space in all of South Africa for my pictures ????
haha, I don’t have enough space right now to download the photos from my last couple trips, need to work on that!
The jackal looks a lot like our coyotes. OMG, love the hyena sequence. Adorable.
Yes, they are very similar to coyotes I think. And yes, those hyenas are way too much.
Wow! Especially the hyenas. I think I may have one grainy picture of one adult hyena. These are precious! Thanks of sharing. I’m very jealous:)
Thanks. I’d also only seen a couple of hyenas here and there before. On this trip we saw tons!
Those elephants are huge, I know that sounds silly but – you don’t often see such huge tuskers in Kruger.
Your trip looks amazing, I want to read more.
I know, it’s true. I remember seeing elephants that big in Tanzania once but never in SA.
maybe they’re coming home!
Besides the amazing park and sightings, the Kruger experience was always made whole by encounters with friendly visitors, the barbecue-and-sundowner culture, strolling around the campsites to look at weird safari caravans, preparing for a trip by participating in the lively SanParks website forum, and all the other SanParks delights and oddities. Just a pity that Kruger seems to be mainly enjoyed by a minority of pale and elderly South Africans – hope the new generation will enjoy the park just as much.
Yes, I especially noticed in the northern part of the park that the average age of visitor seems to be about 60 (and 100% white). But visitors in the south, the closer we got to Nelspruit, seemed a lot more diverse in both age and ethnicity. Hopefully things will continue to change.
totally cool – can’t wait for the next installment!
Thanks 🙂
Incredible photos! I love the mom and baby hyena! Can’t believe it’s been seven years since you’ve lived there! I remember I began following your blog right after I started mine about 6 1/2 years ago!’ Fun to follow you along exploring SA!
I know, time flies right? Hard to believe.
Wow, wow, wow!!! It looks like those hyenas were totally posing and playing it up for you!