Dirk, one of our longer standing guides, imparts on some exciting experiences that he recently had in Kruger while on the Walking South Africa tour JJa14. Kruger National Park is a highlight for many of our tours and is included in the SA18, LM22, SAa17, ZBa16 and MOa14 itineraries.

Having just returned from our walking tour through South Africa I thought about our highlight and it has to be the Kruger National Park. On arrival at Kruger Gate I walked our clients across the bridge as I always do and explained the history behind the park. Walking from one side to other we saw hippo, buffalo and lots of tilapia. After checking in at the gate we proceeded to drive to the pic-nic spot near Skukuza for our lunch. On-route we had plenty general game but no big 5.

After lunch we headed to Lower Sabie traveling along the banks of the Sabie River. I mentioned to Phumzile that it would be really great if we could get at least 2 of the 5 on-route to camp, we managed to get 3!! A nice heard of Elephant crossed the road in front of us with Buffalo in the river maybe 100m down the road. Just before Lower Sabie we found 3 lionesses on the hunt which was amazing to see as they split to try and get some dinner, impala was on the menu, but unfortunately no luck this time round.

Early the next morning (5am) we headed out crossing the Sabie River and heading for the plains to locate some Rhino. Just after crossing the bridge we had a few Elephants and a heard of +- 800 Buffalo grazing the fresh grass on the left of the road which had been burnt not too long ago. Stopping at our breakfast spot we watched as a herd of 120 Elephant came down to drink. After breakfast we headed furhter north in search of Rhino and the elusive Leopard. We found another heard of +-400 Buffalo and a few White Rhino but unfortunately they were very far away. Once turning around to head back to camp we took one of the side roads and found 2 Rhino bulls having a mid-morning nap in the shade. After leaving the Rhino we found a pride of 10 Lions also having a sleep in the shade.

Our afternoon drive was probably the best of the trip with 4 out of the 5 being found in a matter of 2,5hours!! We found a beautiful male Leopard playing in the burnt area amongst the burnt remains of some Acacias. The only one of the 5 that failed us that afternoon was lion.

The next morning on-route out of the park we had a very quiet drive (in comparison to our previous day!) with some general game, but again we were so lucky because we saw a few Hyena running across the road… I love hyena!

What an incredible experience in Kruger, we really were delivered the most wonderful game viewing experience.  Buffelo till they came out of our ears, rhino, elephant, lion, leopard, hyena and all the plains game you could want.