Rhode Trip - Van on the Road

Kruger National Park - Head Shots

January 01-08, 2019

I am amazed how close the animals are to the roads in Kruger NP. All I have is a Sony HV90V Cyber-shot, basically a small point and shoot camera with good telephoto capabilities. As you can see in this group of photos I can get good close ups of all the animals. It is really nice to not deal with a big, heavy camera.

Impala

Nyala

Chacma Baboon

Plains Zebra

Young Plains Zebra

South African Giraffe

Hippopotamus

Crocodile

Elephant

African Buffalo

African Buffalo

White Rhino

Lions

Lion

Leopard

Kruger National Park - The Big Five

January 01-08, 2019

The Big Five are elephants, African buffalo, rhinoceros, lions, and leopards. Originally the term came from big game hunters because they were the most difficult to hunt. Now hunting is out but finding and watching them in the wild is in.

Elephants

We saw lots of elephants every day. They are easy to spot because of their size. They also have no fear of vehicles. If they want the cross the road, stand in the road, eat the shrubs next to the road, they do and no one stops them. Who wants to argue with an elephant.

African Buffalo

You also see a lot of these guys. They are not the most photogenic.

Rhinoceros

These are white rhinos. They are big and fast. I would not want to be in their path if something irritated them. These look quite content, but we did see a safari vehicle that must have had a rhino encounter. It certainly needed some body work.

Lions

Lions are hard to spot if your the first one on the scene, but otherwise if a lot of cars are parked on the side of the road, lions could be near. The second day in the park we saw 6 females very close to the road. The third day we were having lunch and a lion came very near the van. The fourth day we saw a male and female lion near the road.

Leopards

Leopards are also hard to spot, but on our last four days in the park we saw one each day. One was just outside the gate of our camp site. When someone sees a leopard, the largest traffic jam occurs. The road is completely blocked and everyone is asking where is he? It is crazy. Three times we arrived just when one was spotted close to the road so we got front row seats.

Leopard watching an elephant passing through.

Kruger National Park

January 01-08, 2019

Kruger National Park is a must see if you are in South Africa. The camp sites are good. The restaurants are good with great wild life viewing while dinning. Both the paved and dirt roads are good and there are lots of them. All you have to do is drive around and you will see an amazing amount of animals. I don't know if we were exceptionally lucky or if everyone has the same experience.

I am going to do 4 posts just so I can show a small glimpse of what we saw.

View of the Letaba River.

African Fish-Eagle

Hippopotamus looking at a crocodile. You can just see it in the lower right corner.

African Black Crake

Mahonie Loop near Punda Maria Rest Camp. We spent our first 3 nights at Punda Maria. Most of our first sightings were in the northern part of the park.