Go Kruger.. Go Wild..!!

Hey Good people..

This time, I would like to share my wild life experience with you. We had been to Kruger National Park during the last weekend, for a period of 3N 4D. It was a wild 4 days..! In a way, this is a sequel to my earlier blog on KNP. In case you have not read it, you can click here. And to know more about Kruger, pls. click here.

My fellow South African team mates always use to tell me that the best time to visit Kruger is September / October, when spring arrives.  So, I started planning the trip in July. After much research work on the places to stay, dates to visit, weather forecast and availability of accommodation, we narrowed down on 3 places – Pretoriouskop, Satara and Crocodile Bridge. The plan was to stay one night at each of these camps and travel around them during the day, such that the entire south part of Kruger is covered.

We left at around 7 am on a Saturday and reached Kruger (Malelane gate) by 12 pm, after a smooth road experience, only to listen to shocking news from the gate keeper - It had rained in Kruger throughout last night, and so all the gravel roads were closed for public that day. That was disappointing, because, there are more chances of spotting wild life when driving on gravel roads as these roads cut into the forest and animals are not scared to walk across the roads.

But, as I started driving inside, within 2 minutes, two huge Black Rhino’s were standing by the road side.. yes.. alongside the Tar road. That was a good enough motivation and what followed was 4 extra-ordinary days of wild life adventure. Here are some pictures..

The climate was very dull and cloudy all day, and drizzling most of the times. Hence photography was challenge , with the lack of sunlight.

First of all, the famous African BIG 5. The first question asked by anyone is.. “you went to Kruger ? Did you see BIG 5 ?  The answer is “ YES”.

Below are the famous BIG 5 of Africa… (Elephant, Leopard, Lion, Wild Buffalo & Rhino)

This time, we spotted the Big 5 quite easily.  On Monday, when I was driving from Satara to Crocodile camp, we saw more than 50 different elephants on the way in small and big herds.

 Lion – We spotted a lion / Lioness , each day of our stay. Totally 6 times, one of them being a remarkably scary experience.  On Sunday evening, as we were reaching our camp, we noticed that we had 1 hour time before the camp gates close. So, we decided to take an infamous gravel road (Gravel roads were open on Sunday) that takes us directly to the camp. After 20 minutes of boring driving seeing Deers and Giraffe’s, I decided to speed up and reach home faster. In one of the turning (remember, this is inside the forest – so you won’t have visibility of other side while turning), as I turned into the next road at 40 km/hr, there was a lioness on the road, walking towards us. I hit a sudden break, without even minding our sleeping daughter in the backseat, and immediately raised the window glass. The Lioness stopped in front of our car, starred at us , and slowly walked past our car into the thick forest. That starring must have meant “I’m not interested in fighting with you people, my shift time is over, I’m going home.. get lost, chi po..!!”

This was that one..!!

And next, all I knew , before visiting South Africa, was that, there is one animal called “Deer / Antelope”, as most of us have read in Ramayanam. But, here, there are atleast 9 different variety of Deers. We were able to spot 8 of them and pictured 7 of them. 

This one is a "Bushbuck" (female) - can be recognised by the white spots on their flanks.

Below is a "Waterbuck" (male) - Lyre shaped, forward-pointing horns, and a white ring around the rump.

This one is called a "Kudu" (male). They are easily identified by their unique horns and white lines. 

This one is called "Duiker" (male), and again, their horns , short and straight,  help in their identity.

The below is a "Steenbok" (female).  Have a look at their ears..!

This one is an "Impala" (male)

And lastly, this one is a Nyala (female)

 As said earlier, Sep / Oct is the best time to be in Kruger. Mainly because, the climate is pleasant, and with spring season, there is lot of grass throughout the forest, where the herbivorous animals like Zebra, Wildebeest (Neelgai), Giraffe, Deers are all seen in plenty. So, obviously the predators will also be following them and can be spotted easily.

Here are some of the animals that were frequently seen:

The above one is Wildebeest , what we call in India as Neelgai.

For those who did not know, the above one is not a wild boar.. it is "Warthog".  that is - wild pig.

And now, here are some of the rarely seen creatures:

The first one on the list is the Albino Impala.  This one is a very very rare one to spot. For those who are not aware : Albino means the whiter version.  It can be a Lion, Allegator, Antelope etc.,

In the below picture, you can see a white deer. , rather - Albino Impala..

And this one was standing on the road..

This one is called a "Flap necked Chameleon". Not rare as such. But to spot it in a forest is quite a thing.

Below one is called a "Leopard Tortoise". 

Unable to believe ? Ok, look at this picture of a normal tortoise.:

Now, you would have understood better.

Lastly, here is a  "Water Monitor". This comes from the dragon family..! that is, the lizzard family.

It's a well-known fact that Kruger is known for it’s wilderness. Here are some pictures to show you why :

It seems, somebody had a "Wild-Buffalo" biriyani..!!

And here is a brutally butchered "Imapala"

When I spotted it, there were a bunch of bees and ants on it, and the blood was also quite raw, which could mean that the impala was killed in less than 1 hour ago..!! Oops.. I got goosebumps when I thought about it, at that time..!

Actually, Kruger is not only known for the big animals. There are lot other small animals which are equally cute and interesting to observer. But the pity is that most people drive in to the forest mainly to see Lion and Leopard. That was irritating, same like how people see cricket matches only for Sachin, and then turn off the TV once he gets out. Ok ok … no offense.. But I strictly believe that no individual is bigger than the game.

Here are some smaller animals that attracted us:

This one is called "Spotted Genet" - obviously, from the cat family.. It was spotted during our night safari.

You said it right.. A crocodile in action..

A Chachma Baboon with its baby.

And this one is the funny "vervet monkey" ..!

And lastly, there are not only land-attractions in Kruger. You also need to keep an eye on the trees to spot some nice birds. Here are some of the birds that we spotted:

The below bird is called "Bateleur".

This one is an "African Fish Eagle"

This one is a "Lappet faced Vulture"

And this one is a "Giant Kingfisher".

 A "white crane", in take-off and landing modes, respectively.

We spotted a lot of other birds too, such as the Grey Lourie, Wahlberg's Eagle, White backed Vulture, Hornbill, Hamerkop, Goliath Heron etc., etc.,  But It's hard to put all the pictures in the blog. Please visit my Picasa web album to see all the pictures.

And for the animals that we spotted, but couldn't take pictures - here are few:

1) Jackal : We spotted it on the road while taking a turn. And because of the vehicle sound, it ran inside a thick bush, and was hiding.
2) Cerval & Hares: We spotted it during our night safari, but couldn't capture them in the dark.
3) Mongoose : Spotted it at the end of the day when the camera battery was empty.
4) Wild Dog / Hyaena : We saw it in our rear mirror as it crossed the road after we moved. And there was no use in turning back.

Here are some key highlights of the trip:

The “WOW” moment:  When the Lioness walked in front of our car, unexpectedly.

The heart-stopping moment:  When the driver of the night-safari open-jeep, turned the Jeep from the gravel road into the tar road, the jeep suddenly stopped with a jerk. This was at around 10 PM, and there was sudden darkness everywhere, and remember - it's a forest.  The driver quietly said “Sorry guys, the diesel got over”!!

The “OH-NO” moment: This was when we missed a Cheetah by 5 minutes.  While I was driving in one of the gravel roads, the guy in the car coming from opposite direction, was kind enough to ask me to stop, and informed that there is a Cheetah lying by the same road, within 3-4 kilo meters. I immediately thanked him, and rushed to the spot. I din’t even mind to break the speed limit and drove at 70km/hr and reached the spot in less than 2 minutes. But by then the Cheetah had already crossed the road, and disappeared into the bush. If we had been there 10 minutes back….

But , overall, I’m really happy that our planning and scheduling turned out successful. And I hope you also enjoyed reading our experience.

To sum up, as Vadivelu says in Pokkiri movie,

"எதையுமே பிளான் பண்ணி பண்ணனும். !!"