Tag Archives: elephants

The Viewing Game – Krueger National Park

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Giraffes!

Giraffes!

After a little taste of wildlife viewing in Zimbabwe and Botswana, we were pretty psyched to head to Krueger National Park in northeastern South Africa for a four day safari. We were even more excited to be sharing the experience with friends from the States. Our friends Mary, Paul and Jack met up with us in Johannesburg for a week of sights and safari before they head to Uganda for a two week cycling trip. (Very cool!)

The thing about Krueger is that it’s huge – the size of Wales. As a result, you have to be extra patient while you ride about in an open vehicle with every ounce of clothing on wrapped up in a wool blanket. It is winter here. The chilly mornings and long drives are definitely worth it. Krueger has the greatest variety of animals in Southern Africa and is home to all of the “Big Five” – lions, leopards, buffalo, elephants and rhinos. Did you ever wonder why they call them the Big Five? I didn’t know and couldn’t figure out why the buffalo rated as one of the Big Five. I mean, we have buffalo in the U.S. Big deal. Turns out Big Five means the five most dangerous land mammals – or so I was told. Mr. Buffalo is big and bad.

While we didn’t spot any rhinos or leopards, we had many encounters with elephants and buffalo along with many other animals and birds. But perhaps the biggest highlight of our time in Krueger was watching lions. Our first sighting was on a night drive. As Dave was holding the spotlight in search of eyes glowing in the dark, we rolled right up on a pride of 10 lions laying at the very edge of the road. We were speechless. Uh, uh, uh stop please. No wait. Move ahead just a little. It just didn’t seem right to be sitting in an open vehicle feet away from these guys. Really amazing. And we were just about to give up on the night drive which until the lions had only resulted in seeing the glowing red eyes of the bush baby hopping from tree to tree. Not that I am underestimating the bush baby. he was cute too.

It always seemed kind of strange to me the whole idea of going on a safari. Like something you have to have a lot of money, khaki clothes and a funny hat to do. But observing wildlife in its own environment is absolutely fascinating and can be done for a resonable amount of money. Of course sometimes the animals don’t always stop and pose for you, but just watching a giraffe chomping on leaves is entertaining. These animals are just surreal. Well, ok not the buffalo so much, but we’ll still respect his bad-assness.

How the Other Half Travels

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Hello Mr. Giraffe

Hello Mr. Giraffe

One of the first countries we had talked about visiting in Africa was Botswana, but alas the Botswana economy is doing relatively well and tourism tends to cater to the up market, which needless to say is not us. So when we learned that there were overnight trips available from Vic Falls to Chobe National Park in Botswana, we were very excited.

The original plan was to do an overnight camping trip in the park with game drives, boat cruises and “sundowners”- game viewing at sunset with a little beverage of choice. Following the normal amount of confusion we of course were unable to do that trip. The alternative was to stay at a private lodge just on the Zim side of the border and then take a day trip to Chobe with the masses. I was a little skeptical that it would be as good, but it was a bit cheaper and our options were running out.

Remember that mantra: expect the worst, hope for the best? This time we unexpectledy experienced the very best. When we arrived at the lodge and went to our room to freshen up, Dave immediately became concerned. How much is this again? I swear she said it was cheaper than camping.

We enjoyed one of the most pleasant days of our trip. Dining on fantastic home cooked food made with fresh vegetables from the garden, taking a private guided cruise down the Zambezi, sitting quietly just meters away from a pack of 40 or more elephants and their babies, waking up in our private bungalow to the sounds of hippos along the banks of the river…so this is how people with money experience Africa! I highly recommend it. It was especially nice because it’s a very small, private lodge with incredibly personable folks who shared their tales of life in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia I was reminded).

We realized it would be hard to top that day of indulgence, but the trip to Chobe National Park also proved rewarding. Chobe has the highest concentration of elephants in Africa, so sighting them is not hard work. Drive to the river. Simple as that. Cruising the Chobe River also affords fun hippo viewing and loads of water fowl.

Without knowing it or planning it, we gave ourselves a brief vacation from our travels. Meanwhile we also made it to one little corner of Botswana. No signs of Precious Ramotswe this time, but maybe we’ll make it back to Botswana in the future.