Day 23 – Mopani
Day 23 – Morning Self Drive
See pics here.
Got up early (5am) so that we’d be first out the camp gate when it opened at 5:30am. At this time of the year, all camps close their gates at 6pm, and reopen at 5:30am. If you are not at your camp by 6pm, you are fined.
We came across a small river crossing, where the water moved across the road. Here, a couple of crocs were resting their heads on the road, the rest of their bodies submerged, waiting for the Goliath Heron that was nearby to walk by. The name of this heron does it justice – it is huge. It was not skittish at all, and as a matter of fact, it seemed to pose for our camera. A beautiful bird.
We saw lots of wildlife up close: zebras, giraffes, buffalo, elephants – we were surprised at how close we were to the animals and it was just us in our car – no guides, no rifle, just us. We wished that our friends were with us to experience it.
It is interesting that upon entry to Kruger, that none of the staff give any warnings or verbal instruction on driving around large wild animals. Within the page brochure “Conditions of Entry” there is the following information:
“Stay in your vehicle. Unless in a designated area, visitors must remain inside their vehicle. No part of your body may protrude from a window or sunroof and doors should remain closed at all times.”
“Elephants – General Rules for Safe Viewing: 1)The potential dangers of breeding herds: Be careful when approaching elephant breeding herds with small calves. The matriarch or members of the herd can become aggressive, especially when small calves feel threatened by your nearby presence. Keep a safe distance and stay in your car. 2) How to identify, approach and behave near musth bulls: Musth bulls are identified by the constant passing of small amounts of very strong smelling urine on the ground and hind legs. When walking on the road, they leave a characteristic trail of urine. Their temporal glands will also exude a dark liquid which is visible between the ear holes and eyes. Musth bulls can be quite aggressive and it is advisable to keep a safe distance at all times. 3) Strict regulations on how to behave near wild elephants: do not drive off the road; do not follow the elephants; respect the elephants at all times; always allow the elephants the right of way; drive off slowly if they get too near; do not cut off their path, especially when more than one vehicle is present; do not rev the engine near elephants.”
I wonder how many people read the brochure? Not only that, the Rhino and Buffalo can also be highly aggressive, as can a giraffe!
We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, and ‘alighted from our vehicle’ momentarily, as this is one spot you are allowed to get out. However, there are always warning signs that you do so at your own risk.
We headed back to the camp, and had a late lunch at the restaurant – excellent food. Had a nap for 4o minutes before we headed out for our afternoon drive.
Day 23 – Afternoon Self Drive
No sooner did we leave the park gate, we came across a herd of 15 elephants. We came upon a male giraffe right outside of Kristin’s car window. Then, a herd of impala, a dazzle of zebra and an elephant all in one spot. This place is truly amazing. The afternoon was terrific. A hot day though – by 3pm it had reached 42 degrees celcius!
We snacked on cheese, olives and Doritos for dinner, played a game of SkipBo (our favourite camping game – Jim won) and then watched (and listened) to an amazing thunder and lightning show. Jim had called Kristin outside to see the sky light up – at first it was just lightning where the sky would all of a sudden light up (heat lightning) but we’d hear no thunder (too far away). A while later, the storm turned into a more regular thunder/lightning storm with loud, booming thunder – the storm had obviously gotten much closer. It was an eerie night – the rain came a bit later. Seemed like a cool front was moving in. We stayed inside and kept our minds occupied by watching a movie on our computer. Then off to bed.
Kristin
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