November 27-29, Kruger National Park

So the beach camping though nice was not quite what we expected. While certainly beautiful the surf and waves (and initially some nasty looking bright blue jellyfish) made swimming and snorkeling impossible at Cape Vidal. Despite our initial reaction to Sodwana Bay, we were able to swim and snorkel a little – but if planning on coming here, know that it is much more a divers paradise – needing a charter boat/tour to get you out to the 'spectacular' (just what we hear) reefs a coupe miles out. So after three nights in Sodwana Bay which though initially disappointing got better with a little snorkeling and the friendly cat, we left and drove 7-8 hours north around Swaziland to get to Nelspruit – another nice town where we were staying the night before going to Kruger National Park. Kruger is one of the greatest game parks in the world, about 380km long and 60km wide – 20,000 square kilometers – with the reputation of having the greatest variety of animals of any park on any continent (147 mammal species, 507 bird species, 114 reptile species, 49 fish species – didn't see any of them!) Generally people are looking for the big five: lion, leopard, elephants, cape buffalo and black rhino – but of course there are hundreds of others ranging from tall giraffes to tiny insects. When we were here three years ago we did a two night tour which cost about $700 – we thought surely we can do it for cheaper by ourselves and we did.

Last time we saw many things but no big cats – no little cats for that matter either. We were hoping we would this time, but somehow the 1500+ lions, 1000+ leopards, 200+ cheetahs all managed to evade us – even though we would get up at 4:30AM and be out of our camp gate shortly after it opened. We did have many encounters with elephants including one that got a little too close, lots of baby elephants, one very attentive rhino up close too as we were leaving after three days, many hippos in the water, cute and solemn giraffes, countless impalas, kudus, waterbucks, warthogs, buffalo and many many birds. We even witnessed a highflying bushbaby mama do a roof to tree top rescue of her baby offspring! A highlight for Andrea. Kruger is a wonderful camping spot – many camp sites with a wide variety of accommodation – some a little like little villages with stores, restaurants, even swimming pools – which are super handy when the temperature hits 100 degrees. It would be 72 or so when we got up in the morning at 5, but by 9am the temps were rising. Yesterday the temperature in the sun on my watch was a toasty 45 C...wait for it... 114 F!!

So despite no big cats yet again, Kruger was great! Loved that we could do it ourselves. Loved the wide open spaces – again, good for the mind and soul. Every now and then you run into a few cars who have stopped to look at the same thing, but much of the time it's just you in your car out in the bush. Oh and I began to teach Andrea how to drive a manual! She can say more on that!

Duncan