Kruger: here we come

  Olifants Rest Camp, South Africa
Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Our breakfast is served by 4 (black) servants. Bert cooked it and tells us more stories. We need an Avis office since we learned we have to have special permission to enter Swaziland, where we plan to spend one night. Ann proposes the airport. That chick has good ideas, sometimes.

And, indeed, we find an Avis office at the airport and get the papers for Swaziland and Lesotho. It is for free but Mozambique is not, so we do not take that option. While we are there, the girls inquire for a flight to Jo'burg from Cape Town, since Nationwide Airlines still do not fly. They indeed book a new flight. Then we go shopping and buy: an esky !!! And the drinks and the ice to go in it, of course. We need to rearrange our car. Ann is being helpful, don't you think ? You can see Ann and Greta use it already. We have a water.

Ann finds the first giraffes behind a fence: we are impressed.

Kruger National Park is the largest game reserve in South Africa and probably the most famous in the world. It is roughly the same size as Wales. It covers 18,989 square km and extends 350 km from north to south and 60 km from east to west.

To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Mpumalanga and Limpopo. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is Mozambique.

In case you were wondering what you can find:

25,150
African Buffalo



200
African Hunting Dogs



350
Black Rhinoceros



32,000

Burchell's Zebras



500
Bushbucks



200
Cheetahs



300
Common Eland



9,000
Giraffes



5,000
Greater Kudus



3,000
Hippopotamus



over 170,000
Impalas
.


1,000
Leopards



2,000
Lions



160
Mountain Reedbucks



300
Nyalas



300
Reedbucks



60
Roan Antelopes



550
Sable Antelopes



11,670
Savannah Elephants



2,000
Spotted Hyenas



200
Tsessebes



3,800
Warthogs



5,000
Waterbucks



5,000
White Rhinoceros



17,000
Blue Wildebeest


We enter the park. Tonight we are staying inside the park in a lodge called Olifants camp: set on a cliff overlooking the Olifants River. 100 meters after entering Kruger we have zebras next to our car. You are lucky that I feel compassion: I will limit the animal pictures. We see our first impala: a kind of antelope. I did include several pictures of elephants. The group was taking a bath. The little one. Laying down, is rolling in the sand with joy, after his bath. Second picture: 2 babies having fun in the water. The adults had a hard time to make clear to them it was time to leave! The last elephant pictures show how well these huge animals are disguised. Believe me, if you drive more than 40 km an hour, you pass by this big boy without noticing.

The next antelope is a Kudu. The amount of curls in his horns indicate how old they are.

And then we arrive at the giraffe. Apart from the cat family (but we are not there yet) these will prove to be my favorite. They are so different from any other animal and they can stare at you more than you stare at them: so cute.

Olifants is a camp and we all have our own hut: primitive but charming. We stay here 2 nights.

We play liar dice on our own terrace and then go for a meal in the only restaurant. It is a buffet, take it or leave it and it is very nice. Tomorrow: up early. We all hope for the cats ... .

NOTE: the majority of the pictures are taken by the girls, mostly by Greta. Their camera has a strong zoom and ... she is a gifted photographer. So: tribute to her!