Safari in Kruger National Park 12/25/09

Kruger National Park, South Africa 12/25/09

For the first time in 36 years I didn’t wake up on Christmas morning in a house with a Christmas tree and sit down to open presents. The streak ended today when I woke up under mosquito netting in a thatch roof cabin in Africa. Instead of presents I found my dirty hiking pants & shirt, jumped back into an open air safari truck and headed into the bush. I may not have found gifts in fancy wrapping paper but the animal sightings have been of greater value than anything I might have asked Santa for.

Obviously I’m happy with the new events this Christmas has bestowed on me. While I do miss this time with family I know there will be more of the “usual” Christmas mornings with them in the years to come. Spending this special day on safari in Africa with my new wife will be a nice memory for all those years.

This is our 3rd day out spotting animals and, so far, today’s big highlight has been a very close up run in with a pack of the almost extinct Wild Dogs. They were just marching down the road. I was told that they are almost always on the move somewhere so it was fantastic luck that we happened to be on the same stretch of road when they decided to use it for a quarter of a mile or so before heading off into the bush.

Today we also officially completed the tourism standard “Big Five” sightings. Yesterday we saw 4 of the 5 with great close up encounters with a whole pride of lions and a once in a lifetime actual interaction with the elusive leopard. The photos of which from even our simple pocket sized point and shoot digital cameras could be good enough for publication I think.

Today we just needed to spot a Rhino to complete the list. We spotted one a few hours into the day but it was very far off and sleeping under the shadow of a big tree. It was fun to stare at it through my binoculars and I’m sure the photos will turn out ok but, not to be greedy, I’m hoping after lunch we’ll get a better look at one. I really want to see one standing up because I know I can’t grasp just how big they are. Much like my new found appreciation for the size of Great White Sharks I know the Rhino is bigger than the mental proportion I have associated with it. The one we saw today from probably 50 yards away looked like a parked Range Rover!





















The Big Five (elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion, & leopard) started out as a hunting list but now it’s also the standard for what many photographers have to shoot to feel complete. I was quite happy with our safari experience even before seeing the rhino and getting our thumb ring.

Our close up viewings of zebras, wildebeests, thousands of impalas, water bucks, storks, and dozens of other animals always gave me an amazing feeling. Even the large gaps of time when we wouldn’t see anything I would just stare at the passing scenery, the miles and miles of authentic African bush country, spreading out as far as I could see. No buildings, cell towers, or radio antennas on the horizon. Not even a power line. Well not when we were in Kruger at least.

I had a familiar feeling that I have had a few times in the past couple years. It was on day two of our truck back safaris, when we came upon a small herd of giraffe. The setting was perfect. We were up on a slight hill looking down. There were some scattered trees and green bushes. You could see miles of scenery slopping away from us before finally hitting the horizon. There were a few giraffe of various heights and shades staring at us or eating the leaves from the trees. It was a scene laid out before my naked eyes that sent a reality slap to my brain. I am in Africa!

Much like I felt when I found myself alone on the Great Wall of China, the world seemed to get smaller again for me. This scene before me was real but it’s the same scene I had read about, or looked at, in the school encyclopedias at my small town grade school in Philo, IL. It was the same scene that I have imagined for decades. It was no longer a far off place. It was right in front of me and now that I’m here it didn’t seem that hard to get here. It really is a small world and the only thing stopping you from going to any part of it is yourself. However, for such a small place, boy is it packed with a lot of amazing experiences!

It’s time now to call home and wake up my parents with a Merry Christmas phone call. After that, I’ll get back in the truck for a few more hot dusty hours looking for animals. Oh, and time to apply more sunblock! It was overcast this morning so that has helped keep the temp from rising as high as yesterday but the sun is up and kicking now. In the future when I hear, “It’s like Africa hot!” as a description for a hot day, now I will have an actual point of reference to either confirm or contradict the statement.

Yesterday was possibly the hottest day I have ever experienced. The only time and place that I can remember rivaling it was Memphis, TN last August.

South Africa or Memphis, Tennessee?! Like I said…it’s a small world.

MJF