During our safari with Viva Safaris we spent one entire day dedicated to Kruger National Park. The park itself is a massive 19,485 square kilometres, about the same size as Israel. We only covered 103 km and sadly did not get to go exploring too much as many of the tracks were closed due to recent rains, making the conditions unpredictable.
Because it is a national park there are more rules to be followed. From the type of vehicle, to the roads and tracks that must be driven on. No impromptu 4x4ing here.Our 4 hours in the park started slowly with this European Roller greeting us at the front gate. The sightings quickly got more impressive.Loved the spiky mane on this young zebra.There were plenty of wildebeest, or gnu, to be seen. They have the dubious distinction of being one of the “Ugly 5” when it comes to African Safaris. I thought they were kind of neat. The name gnu comes from the sound they make.The great thing about safaris is you have someone with you who can teach you things. As in, the gnu on the left is a male and the one on the right is a female. Apparently horn placement is the thing. The same went for the Cape Buffalo.One of the things you always keep your eyes open for are the circling vultures. If you can get to where they are hanging about you frequently find large predators feeding on their latest kill. We didn’t get to any fresh kills in Kruger, but had great success later on.A fair number of Reticulated Giraffe were spotted.As well as several types of antelope, such as this Kudu.As always there were baboons to be found. This young fellow was particularly interested in fresh leaves.Probably the highlight of the day was coming across this herd of hippos. What was unique is that they were out of the water during the day. Because they are so sensitive to the sun they usually stay in the water during the day and only come ashore to eat at night. When they are out of the water they apparently can be very nasty. They are the number 2 killer of humans in Africa, with only the mosquito beating them out.
It was a long day at Kruger in the sun, but very much worth it. The only big animal we didn’t get to see in South Africa was the rhino. But we did get to remedy that later on. If you ever get a chance to visit South Africa make sure you take in a safari. We found our 4 days here to be long enough, but there are plenty of longer and shorter ones available. We are very glad we did it.
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