A Magic Last Leopard, After Being Surrounded by Elephants!
We spent a total of 25 nights in Kruger National Park this time, including the one night just outside the Phalaborwa Gate. We had had a fabulous trip with Jerry and Nadxi two years ago, though this time we explored much more of the Park with shorter drives, returning most days to do our exercise walk inside the saftey of the camps.
Day after day we drove out of the camps, sometimes for only an hour at sunrise or dusk, up to a few times driving for most of the day from the time the camp gates opened at 6 am til they closed, which at this time of year was at 5:30.
The majority of these drives were filled with wonderful wildlife sightings and experiences, some quite dramatic and scary, but most just a celebration of the diversity of life on this special planet.
Our last day in the Park we left Skukuza after doing some shopping for gifts and taking care of emails.. We left after the Skukuza Half Marathon runners had made their way through the gate, we assume past the intersection where just yesterday we had been surpised by the appearance of four big lions at daybreak! What a place for a race. We had met a woman at dinner the night before who was going to run it, but was not entirely sure of the route.
Once again Laura, also known by her Kruger name Jackkalbessie, was our guidress. She did her best to position us for pictures, and it is not an easy job, especially if you are competing with others for visual real estate. I, Jock of the Bushveldt, did most of the photography with her fine driving to aid me!
We drove south toward Malelane gate, then turned on a primitive gravel road toward Lower Sabie. We had some great scenery and were delighted to see a large group of big male Kudu close to the road, giraffe, impala, zebra, dik dik, and a variety of birds.
Once we reached the tar road we decided to drive down the causeway a short distance. We will want to explore that pretty stretch much more if we are fortunate enough to return some day because it was so beautiful
We stopped off at Lower Sabie and fixed lunch in record time, then were back on the road toward Crocodile Bridge. This time we did not see rhino like we had before, though the road is quite lined with their middens. We turned right on the Crocodile River Road and enjoyed nice scenery, giraffe, birds, a big herd of buffalo, with views accross the river to the farmland and housing outside the park.
We took a gravel road toward a hide and as we rounded a corner we came upon a small group of elephants. One in particular flapped its ears at us and put on quite a show while I videod. We very slowly and carefully drove through the group, and it was not much further along when all of a suddent we were surrounded by elephants again. Laura said her mantra " I am not afraid, I am not afraid, i am not afraid," and we made it away unscathed. the hide was on a pond and there was nothing there at the moment, and we needed to get on toward Berg En Dal Rest Camp where we had a reservation for camping that night.
As we came down the last stretch of tar road before the camp we were a little disappointed we had not seen cheetah or wild dog in the Park. Up ahead a pickup was stopped and a young woman was out the window on one side, her boyfriend or brother out the window on the other. She shouted toward us, Have you seen the Leopard? We said no, and she pointed toward a big tree some distance off the road.
Sure enough, you could see with the naked eye a leopard in tree, or LIT as it is apparently called on the SanParks Public Forum.! Wow.. The man who told me about LIT once we were at the camp said he had been coming to Kruger since he was an infant, sometimes twice a year, and this was the first one he had ever seen in a tree.
We sat and watched for over an hour, as the big cat moved its head and scanned the horizon, occasionally looking over its shoulder at us! As the time for camp gate closure neared numerous vehicles came and went. Some would stop and ask us what we were seeing. One woman told us we had made her whole holiday. The camp sunset game drive vehicle began coming toward us and we waived them down, making it possible for the large groups to see a leopard. The black safari guide driver said that was indeed a very large leopard.
What a great ending to a wonderful trip. We had experienced Kruger like few others ever get to, with not one but three leopards in trees, videod lion cubs, lions male attacking younger lion, lions mating, elephants up close and persona,, and on and on.
We kept saying to each other every day what we truly felt: Kruger does not disappoint!
Poaching apparently still threatens this hundred year old plus jewel, as does pressure to mine and otherwise develop it. We truly hope the Republic of South Africa and its people do everthing possible to preserve this place for the wonderful wildlife we observed there.
That night after we got the tent set up we sat in that fine double chair that friends of John and Wanda's had given us and had a toast to him: he had passed away several months ago before we had ever been able to meet him and thank him in person. As we sat there enjoying the stars, we noticed movement accross the street: it was a very nice surprise. was an African Genet, with its long tail straight out behind it slinking along the campsite perimeters apparently unobserved by anyone but us.
Even this wonderful experience was not to be the last surprise Kruger had in store for us. Around midnight I awoke, and even through my earplugs I could hear it raining on the tent. Time after time we were told to ignore any clouds, this was the dry season. Well, it rained most of that night, probably 3 or 4 inches. We were mostly dry in our tent thanks to the thermarest sleeping pads which made it possible for us to sleep on the ground for most of three months. Once more Kruger had surprised us....
We had never driven the N4 from the south end of KNP to Joburg, and we were enchanted by the early morning vistas along the way that reminded us of mountains in Utah and Idaho. The N4 is a toll road so that was added expense, but it was well worth it to us to have less stops and distractions on our 5 to 6 hour drive back to Shoestrings Airport Lodge and Backpackers to make our final packing and prep for the return to the US. I would say for our return home, but more and more Africa also feels like home, so until we return I surely will miss it..
-------------------- August 2, 2009, hurtling down the N4 with Laura at the Wheel
For more pictures and stories about our experiences in the Kruger National Park and elsewhere, see www.traveljournals.net/rmalone.
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