Day 4 - Mid Kruger to Southern Kruger

A 0415 start was required for my very first morning safari. It was a cold morning in an open truck but it was worth it. We were so lucky to see Giraffes, Water Buffalo, Hyenas, Wildabeast, Kudu and Elephants. We came right up onto a group of 3 elephants who crossed right in front of our truck, for my first up close experience of elephants it was a little unnerving.

We sat down to breakfast after the drive and had some uninvited guests. Two Warthogs pottered around the bus and sat down with us for some food (we didn’t feed them). 

We had a 4 hour drive down south through Kruger. About 15 minutes in our leader Tshepo whistled to the driver to stop and we were presented with 3 white rhinos, one of the most endangered species in the world grazing in the undergrowth in the distance. Our guide told us that when he started back in 2008 there was only around 5000 rhino in the whole of South Africa, due to the poaching potentials Tshepo told us that they no longer report on the numbers of rhino in the National Parks. By the end of the day we had seen over 10 endanger rhino, our tour guide was speechless and just didn’t know what to tell us, had had never seen so many in such a small amount of time and told us that we obviously were good luck charms. Hopefully this luck would continue throughout the trip!

We got to the camp site and pitched out tent, it took us a lot quicker this time now we knew what we had to do.... our hands are already mangled with pushing in tent pegs and unclipping clasps, thank goodness I have a spa day lined up when I get home, I’m going to need it.

We went for our final game drive of the day, desperate to see some big cats, unfortunately they were illusive. The sun set during our drive and the driver pulled over to watch the sun go down over the Kruger National Park, it really was a beautiful sight. On our 3 hour game drive we saw herds of elephants, giraffes, wildebeast and were fortune enough to come across a large pack of wild dogs fighting over a kill in the middle of the road, unfortunately as it was so dark, I couldn’t capture the shot which was a shame. Another spot of good luck, Wild Dogs are another engendered species with only 4 remaining populations in the whole of Africa.

We got back to the campsite, sat down for dinner, a few laughs and chats were had and we then head to our tents for the night. As we fell asleep we had the sounds of Bullfrogs, Crickets and Hyenas howling close by. Incredible!