Kruger National Park (South Africa)
02 December - 05 December 2017
The intro that I’m using below also doubles as the intro for the second
of my Kruger Park entries. The reason for this is because it was scheduled to act as the opening entry for Kruger but I added it into a piece that I wrote for my friend & Kruger park guide extraordinaire guide, Robbie Williams. He requested a write up for a book that
he’s writing, so the intro also became part of that story.
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Ever
since I was a child I had known it was my mothers’ eternal dream to go on
safari in Africa. It would often come up in our family conversations when
discussing our top of our list destinations. However dreams
can have the propensity of remaining just that, aimless thoughts that lie
sedately in your mind, uncomplicated and uncommitted to ever finding a way to
realisation. It had seemed, in my mind at least, knowing the financial
situation of our family growing up, that my mothers’ dream would always be just
that, a fantastic dream without the means to be realised.
We were a
lower middle income migrant family that lived in the suburbs of Sydney,
Australia. Not that we ever struggled in life, my father worked tirelessly as a
storeman for our national carrier, Qantas for nearly 30 years. But making plans
for what felt like an adventure for the rich and famous was
somewhat contrary to our standard , and somewhat mundane, biennial visits to
Belgrade, Serbia where our relatives lived. I,(we), were fortunate enough
however to have substantially discounted airfares, (which we could afford),
through Qantas, due to my fathers’ tenure with the company.
In recent
years our family circumstances changed. My father passed away five years ago
and I, now older and earning a reasonable salary, was now in the
fortunate position to be able to make my mothers’ dream come true, which
is something that I had personally always wanted to do for her.
On our way to Kruger National Park - South Africa
On our way to Kruger National Park - South Africa
On our way to Kruger National Park - South Africa
Numbi Gate - Kruger National Park - South Africa
It’s a
funny thing but something feels right
with the world when you can help someone else achieve their dream. Much in the same manner, before my father passed away, literally two (2) months prior, I was able to send my parents on a holiday where dad got to
visit some of the places that he’d talked relentlessly about seeing during his
life. And these weren’t major touristic spots, they were small towns in fact, places
where he had stayed during WWII with his family after they had left their
destroyed home in Belgrade and moved, and shifted, with the tidal swings of the
war. Thankfully he was able to do this, it was just in time, and it goes to show that sometimes you can leave things too late if you're always planning for the future, waiting for that optimal time..
Mum made it!
Numbi Gate - Kruger National Park - South Africa
Nhongo Safaris!
Numbi Gate - Kruger National Park - South Africa
So for my
mum at least I hope this experience will survive a long, long time in her memory.
As I said
early, the idea of a safari was never a romanticised type of dream or adventure
that was burning inside of me. The excitement that you would expect to have
when commencing something like this just wasn’t there, and for Inga it seemed,
the feeling was mutual.
Arriving at the Numbi Gate entrance to Kruger National Park we changed vehicles, got
into our safari equipped ride and was introduced to what we would discover to
be our fantastic guide, Robbie Williams.
Now
first, from an historical perspective, Kruger is known as being South Africa’s
first national park, is iconically South African, and has been part of the
national psyche for as long as anyone can dare to remember. The romanticised
idea, obviously conjures up images of glorious sunsets, campfire tales, dirt
roads, braais, khaki shorts, big game and close call wild life experience.
Our first
stop was at the Pretoriuskop Camp, situated
in the South Western corner of the park, it is one the oldest and spaciously
laid out, with a mix of lodging, comfortable bungalows, some small shops and
eateries. This was going to be base for the next two nights, whilst for the
third we would be based at another camp within the park.
After a
morning driving from Johannesburg we were allowed some time to settle in, have
some lunch and then get prepared for game drive later in the afternoon.
Kruger National Park - South Africa
Robbie Williams in the drivers seat
Robbie Williams and David Crouch
Kruger National Park - South Africa
The goals
for most people coming to the park tend to be the same – a desire to see the Big 5 game animals – Lion, Leopard,
Rhinoceros, Elephant and Cape Buffalo. The actual term , the Big 5, was coined by big-game hunters, and really refers to
the most difficult animals to hunt on
foot. I know that for both my Mum and Inga, seeing any animal in the wild was
going to be a thrill. For me personally, I really wanted to see a giraffe, that
desire coming directly from a project that I did when I was 10 or 11 years old
whilst still in primary school. The second goal or desire for me was just to
experience the African bush.
Heading out of Pretoriuskop Camp around 2:00 in the afternoon, the sun was high
and the day was warm but not excruciatingly hot, for us it felt like the
perfect day to get out and explore.
It must have
been only a few minutes from the gate of the camp ground when we encountered
our first animals, several Kudu right
near the road. All the tourists in
the car where immediately amazed and an audible ‘awww’
was heard as pulled up by the side of the road. I say tourists, but let me say that in the car it was just Mum, myself,
Inga and Robbies’ friend David Crouch. So the amazed tourists were really just my family, marvelling at some
Kudu, which I know now, to people that do this every day, it just like ordering
a Big Mac from McDonalds and being astounded at the culinary delights that is a
McDonalds hambuger.
The Big Mac of Kruger
Kudu in the wild!
Not so unique we found out!
Kruger National Park - South Africa
Kruger National Park - South Africa
Still, the thing
that actually was very cool was the silence and simplicity of the bush. The
obvious raw nature of the wild, the sounds made only by an animal moving as is
rustled in stride, that’s something that really stuck with me. Living in major
cities, as I’ve done all my life, you get use to background noise, there’s
always something going on that you don’t really tune into but you know that’s
there. If you were to focus and deliberately isolate those sounds there would
be a raft of identifiable sounds that make up the soundtrack of your daily
existence. Out here in the bush its far more simple, for earthly, more real
somehow. The wind through the trees, the movement of animals nearby, the call
of a bird off in the distance. It was that purity and the simplicity within
that purity that I found such delight it. I didn’t even know it at the time but
reflecting on the experience, many months removed now, it stands out as a true
highlight.
Of course as we
moved on and started to get use to the encounters, coming across such animals
as Kudu, Rhebok, Steenbok, Waterbucks,
Impala, etc., became common place and somewhat predictable in their
frequency.
In one of our
first major sightings we actually went to a water hole to ‘just see what’s going on’, to paraphrase Robbie, and were luckily
rewarded for the choice be encountering a herd of elephants frolicking and
attempting to cool themselves off.
Elephants cooling off in the African sun
Kruger National Park - South Africa
Kruger National Park - South Africa
Kruger National Park - South Africa
Who said African elephants can't dunk?
Kruger National Park - South Africa
For some reason
I personally did realise until that point just how amazed I would be to see
these animals in the wild. I mean there they were, animals in their habitat,
uninhibited, unscripted, undirected, just acting as they would any day of the
week. They were in the water hole just cooling off, as you do. One of the
elephants, we were told one of the younger ones, actually got up and walked by
a row of vehicles parked near the water
hole and crossed to the other side. Then there, on several occasions it decided
to just dunk itself in the water, get up, and then do it a few more times. It
was just a great thing to see. These majestic animals doing typical things in
their world.
As the afternoon
continued we managed to come across some zebra, hyenas, baboons and finally for
me, even the elegant, but at same time ungainly giraffe. Standing so still, at
a wonderful height, their movements are so smooth, graceful and beautiful.
Taking deliberate strides and it traversed the shrubbery, their long legs
propelling them a distance that visually looked to be quite a distance.
Kruger National Park - South Africa
Kruger National Park - South Africa
Kruger National Park - South Africa
Kruger National Park - South Africa
Kruger National Park - South Africa
Kruger National Park - South Africa
Cutting through the bush
This place was just a treat to experience
Kruger National Park - South Africa
Kruger National Park - South Africa
Sunset in Kruger National Park - South Africa
Another thing
that you pick up on very quickly is that even for a giraffe, at that height,
once it moves away from the main road and into the bush, you can’t freakin see them. I’m sure
professionals like our guide Robbie could pick them but for me I found the way
that they blended into the background to be both fascinating and disconcerting.
I know both Inga and I thought, if given
the opportunity, would we step out
of the vehicle and take a quick toilet break behind a bush somewhere – the resounding
answer to that of course being a HELL
NO!!!! I would imagine that by just
wondering off, even a few metres from the road you would be putting yourself
into a position of becoming the prey
quick smart. You’d have no time to react, to be able to defend yourself or
escape. These animals live in this environment and live on their abilities to
hunt, find food and do it with stealth, on a day to day basis. An unlearned
human would be toast out there!
Sunset in Kruger National Park - South Africa
Hyenas at dusk
Hyenas at dusk - Kruger National Park - South Africa
Kruger National Park - South Africa
The beautiful colours of a Kruger NP sunset
Kruger National Park - South Africa
As the afternoon
drew closer to the end and the sun started to colour the African sky with its
own inspired artistry we headed back to our camp. It’s was amazing, for me at
least, to recognise how that short drive changed my perception of this part of
the world so dramatically. Earlier that day I entered the park without much
interest, with no excitement and by the end of the day I had been completely
won over by all of it. It’s beauty, it’s greatness, it’s simplicity and it’s
silence. There’s a hundred reasons as to why this part of the world is so
special and so endearing, I think in the short few hours of that day I got to
realising a few of them.
