Mala Mala Rattray's Camp Mala Mala Private Game Reserve

... airport. My family thought your were
humorous too. Many thanks for
getting us safely and on time for
our flight. May your son have the
best time and experiance in the USA! Mark i offer you my thanks to you for getting me to a safe haven with my stomach cramps. You would make a great emergency driver. Kruger National Park is an amazing place to visit, your country should be proud of it. I would ...

Early on the 15th day of our journey we departed for the airport in Durban and flew to Mpumalanga airport for Kruger National Park. Here we transfered by coach to the Protea Kruger gate Hotel a beautiful open area at the registration desk was the gathering place for people going to and from their safaris. Here we ...

... course that was other rangers. We head back to have some amarula drinks waiting for us, and then we were guided to the boma. It was pitch black, and with no fence you had to be escorted everywhere. Apparently the elephants we saw earlier made their way to our camp and we very close by. They also tell us that a few days prior a group of 100 buffalo walked right through. All the guests had to stand perfectly still until they all passed ...

... and our favorite drink that we listed on the survey earlier. It was now completely dark out and as we continued our drive, Themba had to pull out the spotlight. He would weave it back and fourth looking for the tiniest movements. JB commented how it was like watching tennis as your head went side to side trying to follow the light. After 30 minutes of nothing, Van gets on the radio and finds that another ranger has spotted a ...

... Sarah rolled her eyes) Drive #4 (5am-9:30am) this drive was the last and the only animal we had not seen was the Leopard, but we didn't have our hopes up... Really I think all of us were so content by the massive amount of animals we had seen...remember we took 400 pictures and only uploaded 150 of the really good ones...so really we were all so happy that it was a relaxing drive and we all sat back and enjoyed. Our first friend was the Hyena...Disney got this animal right...just ...

... dinner is served. DAY 5 After a leisurely start we have breakfast and set out to explore this former gold mining town, with it's many old world attractions. There is the museum and the old graveyard, and don't forget to ask about "Jock of the Bushveld". After lunch we depart for Johannesburg via a short stop at Dullstroom, a small town renowned for its fly-fishing. We arrive in Johannesburg [Pretoria] in the late afternoon."

... and almost everything from the first day. Note to other travellers: we realized that the best times for viewing was early morning and late afternoon and dusk. Here's a recap of our coolest animal experience. Nate and I were high-tailing it back to our camp because the gates closed at 5:30. As we were driving over a bridge, we looked over and saw a young male elephant. We stopped and watched him drink and splash himself for a while. Just as we were about to leave we ...

... t stop smiling. Yes, yes, yes please! Oh thanks, of course, yes, when, oh that doesn't matter, of course, great. Thanks! 'It's only for two days, one night' 'That's fine, great, perfect, two days, yes, oh thanks, that's great, terrific, great. Thanks!' Poor guys! Maybe they just shouldn't have mentioned it! It's about five hours from Pretoria to the most southern gate of Kruger NP. This in itself was quite an education. How on earth you ...