South African bush adjacent to Kruger National park
“I can’t believe that today is the day!” is what I said to myself as I woke the morning I was to leave for South Africa. Looking back it doesn’t seem as though that was only about a week ago, so much has happened since then! It’s not even over yet and it’s been more than I could have ever imagined!
Us (with a couple of the other people in our tour) in our land rover with our guide at the front
As you might have noticed I decided tostart making my blog slightly more personal. Previously I have taken a more factual approach but I found that to be kind dry so ill be adding more pictures as well as telling you guys (my readers) about all the awesome feelings and experiences that that traveling to Africa has given me. Maybe it will help convince you guys too that Africa is an incredible place that you want to visit too!!
It’s getting a little further into our trip now and we have reached the exciting time of going on safari near Kruger National Park in the South of Africa. Today we set out in an open toped land rover to drive around the South African bush in search of many of the animals that I had only imagined I’d ever see in my dreams!
Lions and tigers and bears oh my! Ok so there were no tigers and no bears, but we most definitely saw lions, a whole pride of lions with cubs and males and females, it was incredible!! We hadn’t been out for more than an hour when our awesome guide pointed out the lions that were making their way to the shade of a tree for the day.
Driving though the bush adjacent to Kruger National Park is where most people go when they go on a bush expedition. This is the area that pioneered the tours and seeking out wildlife for tourists to see.
Felt pretty neat having a picnic lunch and watching some elephants have theirs at the same time!
As we were stopped for lunch just before midday (at this point is was getting pretty hot so we stopped in the shade for some lunch) our guide explained to us that the land that we were driving on was farmland used for cattle grazing about 80 years previous. It was the local community who decided that the land would be transitioned from farmland to a wildlife reserve because the land was no good for cattle grazing anyway. It blew my mind that the size of Kruger National Park is comparable to the size of the country of Israel (4.5 million acres)!
After lunch was finished, we were on our way again. Before the day was over we had seen soo many animals, we saw leopards keeping cool by hanging out in trees, saw elephants and giraffes reaching for the last of the leaves on some of the trees and even saw another bunch of lions! We had just crossed the river and were waiting for the land rover behind us to cross when these lions came out of a thicket of bushes and stood right beside the other land rover, it was unreal!
They separated the tents into small groups so that each person could enjoy the amazing sounds of the night (the other tents weren’t too away though)
After such an eventful day we had the choice to go back to the camp we came from or go to another site for the night and sleep under the stars. There was no doubt in my mind that I would be taking advantage of the incredible landscape here in South Africa and soaking it in every waking moment – as well as sleeping moment. We pulled up to our “camp” for the night, which was no more than cots surrounded by mosquito netting to keep out any creepy crawlies and bugs.
You cannot get much closer to experiencing the true Africa that that! The sounds, the fresh air and the animal calls that happened at dusk were beyond any experience I’ve ever had and probably will have again. The experience that going on safari today has brought to me is 100% due to the opportunities that only the land in in the South of Africa can provide. The flat lands of high grasses and desert like areas let us see so many animals because when looking off towards the horizon you’d think that the grasslands continued forever and that the world was flat. The pictures that I was able to get will stay with me forever and I’m sure that one day they will convince me to go back (not that it will take much) and see it all again! Tomorrow were setting out on a bush plane and then a bus to reach our next destination, the Okavango delta. Can’t wait to see what adventure awaits me next!
We wanted to take a classic tourist safari picture, so our guide took it for us. We had no idea there were so many giraffes behind us when we asked him to take the picture though!! It wasn’t until we were going through the pictures that wed taken that day that we realized it turned out to be such an awesome picture.
References
http://www.wilderness-safaris.com/countries/southafrica
Brian Troy- Owner of Leopard Adventures
get out and see it 