Kruger National Park, S.A.

The Intrepid trip Alan & I are taking is called Experience Southern Africa, but it is made up of two shorter ones: Kruger to Vic Falls and Okavanga & Beyond.

Thus, Kruger National Park is a big part of the first part of our adventure. Early the morning after our meeting, we were off on a long drive to Kruger. This first batch is part of getting there…

Our first stop was to the Black Mambas headquarters where we camped and had an introduction then a walkabout with two of the Anti-Poaching Unit, an all female, unarmed group of dedicated animal protectors. The rhino skulls have had the horns cut off by poachers!

Refer that to scatology, it’s a fecal matter! Yes, this batch begins and ends with poop: zebra, impala, giraffe, and baboon. In between is our walk with the Black Mambas and a nice night around the campfire.

The next day we were up very early for our safari in Kruger. Right off the bat we saw elephants. This batch also includes a female kudu, birds, impala, giraffes, warthog, zebra, and wildebeast (who gnu?)…

A safari in Kruger means a lot of driving, and we made a few detours based on the chatter amongst the guides. This batch starts with visiting a pride of lions, our driver “Jimmy”, up close elephants, a baobob tree, birds, zebra, our safari truck, and a collection of animals on a river tableau with hippos, crocodiles, Impala, elephants, etc…!

Can you find the hippopotami, kudus, wildebeasts, impalas, and giraffes? Which two like to hang out together? Which females have horns, and which males don’t?

More wild animals in very dry KNP. Can you find the snake in the tree, the buffalo from afar? What else?

Can you find the hyena, the elephant statue, our guide Jimmy? After a whole day, we went back at night! Can you find the dead impala in the tree (we couldn’t find the leopard that put it there)?