Elephants and Eagles

Welcome back to the second part of the post about our trip, this will cover our final days in Kruger.

3 little piggies going to drink

 Once again we were ready and waiting for the gates to open, ready to drive all the way down to Skukuza for our next 2 nights in the park.  The drive was slow (not seeing much) down the S100 and then the S6 and we arrived at N'wanetsi picnic site at 9am for a breakfast sandwich. Wandering about we found a small path heading up a hill and I remembered something Oldrich told me about a picnic site and a viewpoint on a hill so up we went.

A very happy elephant after a mud bath

 We reached the top enjoyed the views over the river and after 5 minutes we noticed a herd of elephants on a hill about 1 km away. It didn't take us long to realise that these elephants were coming slowly but surely down the hill to the river only about 100m away, indeed we were correct. Half an hour later the first elephants had made their way to the river and the rest followed with young calves in tow. 

The elephants coming down to drink

The feeling of being on our own and not in the car with around 20 elephants was unbeatable and amazing. Two of the elephants were drinking only a few meters away from a crocodile, this was until one of the elephants got fed up and took a swing at the crocodile with his trunk. Eventually after an hour of the elephants drinking and frolicking in the water they started to move away and so did we.

Young elephant drinking

 Back on the main road from Satara to Lower Sabie we ended up stopping for zebra crossing the road and even more elephants! We turned a corner and a big bull elephant was in the middle of the road coming right towards us. Shoving the car into reverse we move backwards keeping our distance from the elephant, as well as snapping a few pictures. Eventually after reversing for about 700 meters he finally left the road and we started once again on our journey.

"I think we should reverse!"

 A few more kilometres past and we are stopped once again, for another elephant in the road! This one was not happy with us and was staring us down flapping her ears when we realised there were other elephants around, we found ourselves pretty much surrounded by elephants, but the main risk was the big female standing less than 30m from the car. Unable to reverse the herd crossed the road behind the car and the matriarch moved away, that was close!

That is one very angry elephant

 We eventually reached Lower Sabie and after a quick bathroom break we headed along the Sabie River to Skukuza. Just outside Lower Sabie at Sunset dam we found another group of elephants escaping the heat of the day by having a mud bath only a few meters from the car.

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud

 On the road we ended up stopping what felt like every few minutes for elephants crossing the road. Finally we reached Skukuza and got ready for a night drive. As we were getting ready a family of warthogs were playing in camp chasing each other around the huts, making us laugh as they ran with their tails in the air.

Fight!

 The night drive in Skukuza was not that eventful, seeing a few buffalo and then the backside of a black rhino but no cats. On the way back dad saw spots in the bush and yelled thinking there was a leopard, he felt disappointed when it turned out to be just a Civet but I was excited! the first African Civet I have seen!

is it a leopard? nope just a civet

 The next morning we woke up and made sandwiches. We had to be extremely vigilant as a troop of vervet monkeys were moving through, one jumped on the table and tried to steal our sandwiches, the cheeky little devil! We headed back along the Sabie Road and then headed down towards crocodile bridge, this morning going was very slow in terms of wildlife, until the Sabie road on the way back. We ran into a pile up, after asking someone told us that there were lions on a rock, not surprising seeing as every time we have driven this road we had seen lions! We decided to park and see these lions when we noticed movement next to one of the females. They have cubs! 

Simba and Nala

A few kilometres further on we were stopped watching a huge heard of buffalo crossing the road after going for a bath in the river. It's interesting watching the buffalo crossing the road as one individual moves to block the road and all the others cross behind him.

Spotted Eagle Owl

 Driving early evening on a loop near Skukuza we came to a koppie (a rocky outcrop) with gorgeous views over the savanna, a few km from camp we came across two spotted hyenas less than 2 meters away from the car.

Watch out where the Hyaena comes!

 That evening was very anticipated by me as we went to the restaurant in Skukuza to show dad how amazing the steak is, he agreed with me that it was the best steak he had ever eaten. As we were eating cracks of thunder was rolling over the savanna. We ran back to our hut just as it was starting to rain and made it just in time. The storm hit! The thunder was so loud, vibrating through our bodies, nothing like thunder in the UK and the rain was fantastic being soaked up by the thirsty soil.

African Fish Eagle

 The next morning it was cloudy as we headed to Panic Hide, which was absent of birds apart from a lonely fish eagle. We headed towards lower Sabie, on a dirt loop road we pulled up next to the car in front of us, A rhino! The last member of the Big 5 that had previously alluded us, when we got there the other car pulled off and it was us and this white rhino alone, perfect!

Our first Rhino!

 As we got closer to Berg en Dahl camp the scenery became hilly and more picturesque. Pulling into Berg en Dahl our final camp we cooked and fell asleep ready for a long drive the next day down to St Lucia, Zululand. Leaving the park I had mixed feelings, I enjoyed my time in Kruger but was sad to leave. However it made me determined to come back to Kruger before I leave South Africa

Everybody look left

To Be Continued

Next week St Lucia and the Hluhluwe-Imfolzi park!