Kruger Safari days 4 + 5
Day 4 we took a trip to another reserve for a change of scenery in an attempt to spot some different animals. On the way there we passed a large herd of buffalo, several giraffes and a jackal (african version of a dingo). We also saw another white rhino running in front of us. It’s amazing how light on his feet he was for such a huge animal, almost dancing in a curvy line down the road before running off. I finally managed a few, albeit not great photos, of a rhino. Brilliant to watch!
Then, in the other reserve, all of a sudden a snake appeared in the middle of the road. What happened after that was so fast it was unreal. I didn’t see it at first because I was looking off to the side at that moment, but the snake rose up off the ground, then there was a collective gasp by everyone, the guide on the front viewing seat jumped half up onto the front of the vehicle, the snake dropped down again, the vehicle stopped and the next thing I knew the snake was directly below me at the back of the vehicle hissing and moving very quickly into the nearest bush. That snake was a 2 meter long black momba, one of Africa’s deadliest snakes. It can kill you in 45 minutes. No wonder the guide was jumpy.
We stopped at a campsite in the other reserve for lunch, then headed off on a drive. The terrain was more hilly in this reserve and slightly more open making it easier to spot stuff. First we saw a large group of baboons not far from out lunch spot. Then, coming across a large open area we saw a group of impalas, a few warthogs that retreated into the distance very quickly and a couple more jackals.
Not far away from there was a group of wildebeast mixed in with impalas. Apparently the wildebeast are quite stupid animals so they hang around other animals who have a better sense of danger.
After a short walk, we stopped at a water hole on the way out of this reserve with 3 hippos in it, slightly more visible than the one previously seen.
On the way back to our camp, just before leaving the other reserve one of the best moments of the safari happened. We saw a couple large bull elephants eating and stopped to watch. We’d seen lots of elephant by this point but these 2 weren’t very far off the road and were pretty large ones (for elephants even). One of them soon wandered away, but the other one slowly came closer. We stayed here for around half an hour and eventually he slowly walked within 3 meters of us, alongside the vehicle, eating as he went. Every now and then he’d stop and look at us, but wasn’t bothered in the slightest. Being so close to a wild elephant is amazing, I took videos but even they don’t convey the awesomeness of the experience.
Lots of various kinds of antelope on the way back to camp and a few more giraffes. After a braai (South African bbq) of ostrich sausages we went out on another freezing cold night drive…
Didn’t see much this time, though at the end we saw a couple jackals running alongside us.
The weather, which was awesome on days 1 and 2 had become much cooler and overcast on days 3 and 4. The last day however was warmer with hardly a cloud to be seen. We didn’t see much on our early drive, went back to camp, packed up and headed out of the reserve. On the way out we saw a family of warthogs come out of nowhere, cross the road and disappear on the other side just as fast.
Several kinds of antelope, including the quite large, waterbuck. We saw several different groups of baboons, and this one with a baby.
My last sight of the park was a herd of elephants eating just off the road. Nice way to finish a fantastic 5 days. I saw 4 or the big 5, countless birds and smaller animals and had a great time the whole week. We didn’t find any leopards or cheetahs, though this isn’t too surprising and never saw any zebras (though we did see their tracks), slightly more strange but overall we saw a lot of wildlife and had a great experience doing so.
I’m back in Pretoria now for another day, leaving here tomorrow morning for the Drakensburg mountains.
Tags: South Africa, Travel
Adam
Awww…..but zebra are my favourite! You have phailed me, comrade.
sorry, we all begged the guides but they kept saying something about wild animals being hard to predict sometimes… lame i know