Kruger National Park, South Africa. Journey through Africa 2017-2018
I chose South Africa specifically because of the Kruger Park. I read a lot of stories and reviews about him. It seemed to me that this park has more greenery than other parks in Africa. Of course, the Johannesburg Zoo and the Lions Park gave me my first impression of the world of African animals, but I wanted more. Since I settled near the southern part of the Kruger Park near the park gate Crocodile Bridge (Crocodile Bridge Gate), I began to consider the question of what transport to view the park? It is very fashionable to drive into the park on a rental car. Cars for every taste. From simple cars to the coolest ones with bells and whistles. Jeeps, such as Lands, are the most comfortable and passable. To rent a car, they offer heaps of supplements with documents and simplified options. The difference is in twists. I didn’t intend to drive around South Africa by car, I have other plans, and I’m cautious about car rental, especially in Africa.
I paid 980 ZAR for the park jeep ride. Departure from the hotel at 04:00, return at 20:00. Approximate time. We were 8 people. The place was convenient at the back corner. The highest seat in a car. It is very convenient to take pictures from a height with a circular view. Seen far. Shrubs and small trees do not interfere with a quick look or see animals. It is not convenient to take pictures from a passenger car if the animals are in the grass or in the bushes, since it is strictly forbidden to get out of the car, and even open the windows, since the animals are at the same height as the car. And further. We used our public jeep to drive on such dirt roads, especially after a rainstorm, where it is better not to meddle with a passenger car. These are purely my personal conclusions, and it is up to the tourists to decide what to use to move around the national parks of Africa. In a public jeep, hands are not riveted to the steering wheel, and attention behind the road, it is convenient to change lenses without being distracted from the road.
Another advantage we had was that the guides passed information about the animals to each other. On rental cars, tourists themselves look for animals, and the parks are huge. It was such an interesting picture. Rides a string of cars from a dozen cars. Then the first one stops, and the driver asks the second one following him, but have you seen the lions? No, but we followed you and thought you knew where the lions were.
In search of animals in Kruger Park
After marking the checkpoint at the Crocodile Gate, we drove to the north of the park. By the way, a good asphalt road runs through the entire park, and this is about 400 kilometers, 65 km wide. Good and dirt roads. There is no fence from the south of Kruger Park. Instead, the Crocodile River flows. The southern borders of the park are reliably protected by crocodiles, which are abundant in the river, and poachers with spies will not pass here. The crocodile is not a customs officer, he does not take bribes.
Guides smell where you can meet animals. Now the park has a lot of greenery and water. It often rains. There is plenty of food. The animals went deep into the park and into the lands of Mozambique. Crocodiles were left without freshness. True, I also managed to see animals, especially a rhinoceros, but far away. I watched how the animals celebrate the New Year. Not bad. Lions eat fresh and young meat. The living creatures themselves come up to them, thinking that on New Year's Eve the animals have a truce for one day, as in a fairy tale. Zebras, antelopes and other herbivores nibbled at the grass, while giraffes happily ate young shoots and leaves. Nobody was interested in them before us.
“According to the local “experts”, the lion was chased for a long time in the huge Kruger Park. They gave him an injection and brought him to this roadside so that he would not eat the tourists. It's good to be a specialist sitting at home on the stove. It's irony.
No one ever gives injections to lions so that brave tourists can come up to them and pet them. In Africa, I asked many specialists in the reserves these questions. They were surprised: “What kind of injections for lions”? There are tamed animals from birth, abandoned by their parents. They do not rush at a person, as they receive food from him. There would be someone to prove it. Most tourists are smart people, and they understand all this.
Kruger Park was founded in 1898 by former President Paul Kruger to protect endangered and rare animal species and preserve the environment. The park covers an area of approximately two million hectares of land. After that, the Great Limpopo Transnational Park was created. It has no state borders for tourists to visit the park on a single visa, as well as for the free migration of animals. When visiting Kruger Park, I repeatedly visited Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The earth is no different.
Everything is the same, the people, the sky, the sun, nature, animals.
Did I get satisfaction from a long visit to the Kruger Park
Yes, I did. I saw everything I wanted to. True, I was surprised by the most beautiful photographs of professional photographers. I envy them, but they get a lot of money for this, and they sit in one place for a long time, waiting for a happy occasion, and come to shoot at any right time of the year. I do not have such an opportunity, so I am happy that I saw such a miracle of wildlife at all. I don’t know why, but the cities and towns of Africa don’t interest me at all. I am interested to see the nature, animals and birds of Africa. Nature is everything to me, the stone jungle is nothing to me. In such a region, the poverty of food and the scarcity of fruits surprised me. The local natives do not have the vein of real entrepreneurs. They are lazy, because of the lack of knowledge they cannot come up with anything new. Their life goes by itself, like a river runs.
It is raining, a full-flowing river, there is no rain for a long time, the river dries up. If they let Chinese or Europeans into their cities, the standard of living would rise. It's nice to see that here in South Africa, eggplant is not smoked much, and there are no drunks at all.
Gateway to the national park.
The best car to get around national parks. She goes where a rental car can't go.
Checking the documents, and we drive into the Kruger National Park.
How interesting the giraffe drinks water. Look at the stream of water from the puddle.
Great cafe in Kruger Park. Delicious cooking.
