Day 4/5 - Kruger National Park

1/1 – 1/2 Kruger National Park

After leaving the Blyde River Canyon area, we drove south and then wound our way down the 3,000ft elevation drop down to the “Lowveld”, or low lands, where the Kruger is. We dropped our bags at our hotel and then went right to the park for a sunset safari (4:30pm – 7:30pm). Many animals are most active at dawn and dusk, so this was a great time to be in the park. The next day we did a full day safari (5am – 3:30pm). While September- November are the peak season for the park due to good visibility since there isn’t a lot of foliage, a lot of animals have their young in December, so we saw a lot of baby animals which were adorable. Rather than blabbering on about seeing animals, I’ll just post a bunch of pictures as well as a tally of animals we saw:

Lions
Elephants
Giraffes
Rhinoceroses
Cape Buffalo (nicknamed the Black Death because they are so aggressive and are the #1 killer of hunters in the bush)
Zebras
Wildebeests
Crocodiles
Hippopotami
Baboons
Warthogs
Impala
Hyena
Turtles
Lots and lots of birds (including a very rare, nearly extinct hornbill)
Monkeys
Kudu
Monitor Lizard

This was Bridget’s favorite day in South Africa. She lovesd scanning the horizon for hidden creatures and spotted several along the day’s journey. We had an excellent park guide who has been doing safaris for decades. He did his best to help us see all the creatures that were on our lists and answer all our questions about the animals’ behaviors.

...and here are the pictures (in no particular order)!

Impala (including a little one!)

Wildebeest

Zebras (plus two little ones!)

Young male elephant

Cape Buffalo

Herd of elephants (including a little one)

Hyena

Us :)

Warthog mom and two mini warthogs

Crocodile

Kingfisher (check out that beak!)

Committee of Vultures (that's actually what a group is called...)

Baboons on the side of the road

Lions (See if you can spot them)

Herd of Giraffes

More elephants

Us with an elephant in the background :)

Kudu