Kruger National Park 28 – 31 December 2011

Left Johannesburg at 9am for Kruger National Park. Arrived at Tremisana Game Lodge in Balule Nature Reserve at 4pm. Had a rest for a while then went for the very first game drive I ever had at 5pm. I saw quite a lot of common animals like zebra, impala, warthog, eagle and some others.

For me, the objective of the game drive is to see The Big 5. They are lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo.
The first big 5 I saw was buffalo.

While watching zebras we heard a lions’s roar. From the roar the driver was able to tell the name of the lion and the name is “The Big Boy”. We were so eager to see the lion and the driver was very cooperative to help tracking the lion. Unfortunately the roar was coming from an area where we were not allowed to enter so what we could do was to wait for the lion to come nearer. After waiting for 30mins still no luck the driver called another driver from another tour company who has access to that area. Once he arrived he drove in trying to locate the lion and after he found it he came back to fetch us and our truck followed his to enter that area. It was worth the wait! We saw the lion lying in the bush. That’s the second Big 5. We were about 10m away from the lion. For some reasons the lion started moving toward the original place we were waiting. We kept following the lion and it didn’t seem to be afraid of us. Then the lion stopped stopped again showing a pose of ‘this is my territory’. This time our truck was so close to the lion about 4m away. The lion then moved again we followed again until 7pm then I returned to the lodge as happy man.

"The Big Boy" Lion, Balule Nature Reserve, South Africa

Had dinner at 8pm showered then slept.

Next day woke up at 4:30 to do a bush walk. 1 hour drive to the bush walk area then walked in the bush for 2hrs trying to track more lions but failed then another 1hr drive back to the lodge.

Bird found in Balule Nature Reserve, South Africa

At 3pm we moved to Marc’s Camp that is closer to the Kruger. I slept in the tree house and the bed was surrounded by the net to avoid the insects. Too many kinds of insects hanging in the net including spider. My toilet is outside the tree house so must walk a bit to have nature’s call. There was beetle in the basin and grasshopper in the toilet bowl. At night there monkeys jumping on the roof if the tree house. Interesting!

Marc's Camp Tree House, South Africa

Early in the morning headed toward Kruger National Park. It was about an hour from the camp. The next Big 5 I saw was elephant followed by rhino and finally leopard. Leopard was indeed the toughest to find. During morning drive we only saw the carcass of the impala hanging at the branch of the tree. We expected the leopard to come back for it. So in the afternoon we returned to the same spot and there it was. Instead of standing in the same tree as the carcass, it was actually standing at the branch of the other tree next to the tree where the carcass was. Unfortunately it was too far away so I couldn’t take a pic of it. Someone from Belgium lent me her binocular to have a better look of the leopard. From the angle we saw, we couldn’t really see the head since the leopard hiding his head behind the tree.

Zebra, Kruger National Park, South Africa

Elephant, Kruger National Park, South Africa

Giraffe, Kruger National Park, South Africa

Rhino, Kruger National Park, South Africa

Buffalo, Kruger National Park, South Africa

Leopard, Kruger National Park, South Africa (where is it???)

We left Kruger at 6pm and reached the camp around 7:30pm. Had dinner chatted with people around and slept.

Next morning headed back to Johannesburg and on the way back we stopped in Blyde Canyon for 20mins.

Blyde Canyon, South Africa

Blyde Canyon, South Africa

Reached the airport at 5pm and flew to Cape Town at 7:30pm.

Advertisement