Kruger Park Weekend - Part 2

It's been a few days since I've written but with Cara's return home it's been a flurry of activity and poor thing has just been running herself ragged with this she needs to get done. But that's a story for another day.

On Saturday at Kruger Park there weren't a lot of animals to be seen. Since it's rainy season here Liese said they were probably farther south than we were that day. You have to understand what a massive park this is. Stefan said that to travel the entire park you would need to be there for a week. And keep in mind that not all of this area has roads. Some of the roads are just dirt and they get damaged from all of the rain and vehicles traveling them. There are paved roads as well but I think there are more of the dirt roads through the park.

Late in the afternoon on Saturday after the air conditioning went out on the Combi with 6 of us in there, we had the fright of our lives. Stefan was driving and of course we were all looking in different directions for animals to see. All of the sudden a giraffe came galloping across the road! I think we all saw him at the same time! Stefan hit the brakes hard in order to stop from hitting the giraffe. Once he had crossed the road he stopped and began grazing on a tree. We were all laughing and to think, this giraffe doesn't know how close he had come to being hurt or killed! I found it amazing that he even tried this but I guess by this point they think cars are a natural part of their world.

It was very warm out on Saturday as we drove around the park but we survived the heat in the van with no air in it. I was fortunate to see a hippo out of the water in the middle of the day at one of our water stops. He/she was out grazing on the grass and it was amazing actually. I had seen hippo earlier in the day but they were in water so the only thing you could really see was a head bobbing up every once in a while. That was very cool to see on it's own! I think I got some pretty good shots with my telephoto lens on and they were uploaded to the photo album.

The park has picnic areas throughout and we stopped during the afternoon for lunch there on all 3 days we were there. None of us are much into breakfast so it was more of a brunch thing. There weren't as many birds hanging around the area as there was the last time I was there, but then again, there were no monkeys either. This time there were monkeys in the picnic area. We had an avacodo that had gotten mushy and squished so we set it aside for the trash. One enterprising mother who had a baby with her found the avacodo and decided this would be a wonderful lunch so she sat on one of the little tables and proceeded to eat her avacodo not far from where we were sitting! What a sight that was for me. Santi and her family are used to seeing this but for me it was awesome. I love the monkeys but here they are considered more of a pain.

Saturday night we spent at a different camp then on Friday. The weather was better but the power kept going out for some reason. Yes the wind was blowing and there was a storm coming but it wasn't like Friday night, it didn't come in so fast. We were able to get the bbq started without a problem but as the women were preparing the salad and other things the power went out. Santi was sitting in the dark making a salad by the Braile method! I don't know how she kept from cutting herself with her sharp knife but she did a wonderful job of it and the salad was great. Fortunately the lights came back on in time to serve dinner.

The South African rugby team was playing Ireland in preseason international play and there was a tv in the golf club so after dinner the men wandered down the path to watch the game. The women went to bed early again but it wasn't long until the thunder and lightening started. The wind was blowing and it was just pouring out there and the men were at the golf course... Now mind you, it was strange to think that even though the camp grounds are somewhat enclosed, that we slept there to begin with, but could you imagine playing golf inside the game park? I can't but then I live in a world where a deer crossing the road is a big deal!

Anyway, the men had to stay at the golf club until the rain subsided enough for them to come back. While they were there, the power was coming and going as well. It took them a while to get back to the camp and it was late when they did. Needless to say by morning they were all exhausted from the weekend and we still had one more day plus the drive home to deal with!

On Sunday there were no animals to see really so we packed it in early and started to head for home. We dropped Liese, Dylan and Declan off where they had parked their car and they headed out first. It wasn't long before Santi, Peter, Stefan and I also started the drive out of the park. Very near the gate we saw a croc out of the water sunning himself on a river bank. Can you image that? Our first animal for the day! LOL It wasn't long after that when Liese called to let us know there was a leopard on the side of the road in a tree. So we headed towards the gate. The speed limit in the park is about 30 miles an hour so you really can't zip through the park at break neck speed. We all wanted to get there and see the leopard before he decided that nap time was over. The park has speeding cameras through out and the tickets for speeding are quite steep I'm told.

You really don't have to worry about finding out exactly where the animals are, there are usually cars lined up to see. When you drive through the park and someone is pulled over on the road you also stop and see what they are looking at! Sometimes the road gets pretty congested when there is something to see and in this case we had no trouble finding where the leopard is. He was sitting in a tree not far off the road. How someone spotted him in the first place is amazing to me. We took our turn to get a better view of him and of course the cameras came out. I was trying to shoot through the windshield but I was afraid of all of the glare. Stefan was in the center set of seats and on the right side of the car so once he had finished with his camera I handed him mine to get some shots with. Stefans shots turned out a lot better than mine once we looked at them.