Lions, Leopards and Wild Dogs, Oh My!

The ride from JoBurg to Kruger Park took us through beautiful open country - the Africa of diamond, gold and coal mines.  Sadly there was no evidence of the diamonds or gold, but the cooling towers of the coal fired electrical generating plants were plentiful on the horizon.  A turn off the main highway and we were on the Panoramic Route which took us along the Klein Drakenburg escarpment with wooded canyons, sheer sandstone cliffs, beautiful rivers and stunning views. This beautiful countryside is a stark contrast to the crowded city. We arrived outside the gates of Kruger National Park after dark.

Five AM seemed early but the game was waiting.  We'd no sooner driven through the park gates when we were greated by cape buffalo, impala, elephants, giraffes and zebra.  The rains started a couple weeks ago so the grasses, shrubs and trees are green limiting game viewing, but not enough to keep our guides from pointing out 4 of the big five (elephant, lion, cape buffalo, rhinosauros and leopard) within a couple hours of entering the park.  I was astonished at the number of rhinos we saw - probably 10 -12 the first day alone.  Apparently efforts to curtail poaching have been successful.  The leopard eluded us until the last half hour of the second day when we spotted one in a tree.  She slowly made her way down from the tree and walked across the road just in front of our vehicle.  It was a magic moment.
Perhaps the rarest sighting we had was the female wild dog feeding her pups just beside the road.  There are only 5 packs of these rare animals in all of Kruger Park and we saw them - truely amazing.

Kruger Park is the largest and second oldest game park in South Africa.  Like most southern African parks the shrubbery and trees make game viewing a challenge.  It is set up much like our national parks - good roads, plenty of reasonably priced accommodations and camping areas within it's borders making it very accessible to the people.  While South Africans drive around the park in their own vehicles, tourists like us stay in beautiful accommodations outside the park and enter in safari vehicles - 4 wheel drive, open air vehicles with high seats for viewing.  We loved our time here but look forward to our next adventure, Swaziland, as we continue our "Highlights of South Africa" tour this morning.