South African Sojourn Kruger Park introduction

We have been out of contact with the rest of the world since last Sunday 15th January. That in itself has been refreshing, but it has also added to the sensation of other worldliness that you feel inside the Kruger Park. This is nature "red in tooth and claw". It is nothing like a zoo or a safari park as you know them in the UK. You are in a place the size of Wales which is completely the animals kingdom. There are a few tarred roads, speed strictly limited to 50 kms/hours and mainly unpaved tracks max speed 40 kms though in practice you travel at 20 or less. We had a bush braai (barbecue) one night which requires an armed guard. You don't get out of your car. The rest camps, of which there are about 8 are surrounded by a high fence, the top third of which is electrified and the entrance gates have electric cattle grids. So when you look at the pictures, remember they could only be taken with the help of people with special skills of reading the bush and many years of experience. Thanks to Cameron, our friend, who helped plan the whole venture, his brother Mike who is a game warden in South Africa and James, Cameron's life long friend and ex-game warden, we had such people. Above all was their enthusiasm to scour the bush from 4-30am until 10.30pm. Some people would call this obsession, they would probably agree. We amassed an incredible total of 34 different large mammals. This included some of the rarest animals in Africa, eg black rhino, cheetah and wild dog. The photos are almost all taken by Helen as I was driving. What a great job she made of them. Our number and variety of game spotted is exceptional and surpassed any previous total logged by our guides.

Night spot of female leopard 

Don't mess with the buffalo 

White Rhino 

Eli

Male Lion 

Hippo 

Two male cheetahs guarding their kill 

Herbivores will graze together for protection 

Hyena with pup suckling 

Wild dogs which are very rare 

So that's your big 5, Lion, buffalo, rhino, leopard and elephant. This refers to the danger to the hunter when hunting and not the size or scarcity of the animals. Add to this list the cheetah and wild dog and you have the magnificent seven.  Just a few more animals for you. 

The right end of a crocodile 



The warthog 

Not a great photo I'm afraid but this chap was moving pretty quickly. This is the very rare Black Rhino