Kruger Park

Over the past three days we've traversed Kruger Park in our coach, at least once each day. This morning I went out with the group again, and spotted this marvelous scene. Just had to share it with you.



There were 45 elephants in this group, marching single file. Why am I thinking of a Disney movie?

What animals you get to see depends on sheer luck. There are a lot of animals in the park, though, and it almost seems like they congregate near the roads. The "big five" animals people come to Kruger to see are elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard—and we saw them all! I thought I'd miss seeing a leopard, but about a quarter mile from the park exit, we suddenly saw one right beside the road. It crossed behind the bus at a slow walk, and sat down in a thicket on the other side of the road. That is one enormous pussycat!

Neither of the lion groups we saw were very clear. One group was distant, and could only be seen through binoculars. Then today we saw another lion family not far from the road, in the shade of a small tree, just rolling around, hanging out and playing, like kittiens. There was rather a lot of brush and grass, though, so we didn't see them well.

Our list (excluding some amazing birds): mongoose, baboon, crocodile, lion, leopard, buffalo, hippo, rhino, zebra, impala, wildebeest, waterbuck, giraffe, kudu, nyala, elephant, hyena, warthog, bushbuck, steenbok.

The vegetation of the park, at this time of year, is just plain ugly. I can't think of a better word. This is the end of winter, the dry season, and the landscape looks blasted. In fact, in some part of the park, they burn the veldt so the grass comes back better and stronger. Ironically, the dryness is what makes it a good animal-sighting season. In a month or two after the rains, there will be so much foliage that the animals won't be visible.

Tomorrow we are going to Suweto, to the Nelson Mandela museum; then on down to the Adventist Hospital in Lesotho. I don't know if I'll be able to update this until I get home, because there is no internet connection available to us in Lesotho.