Kruger National Park, South Africa

**This blog is a delayed post due to internet access in Africa**

We arrived in Johannesburg three days earlier than planned in the morning on Sunday, August 3rd. Jacques’ parents, Ma and Pa, were waiting for us at the airport with open arms as it has been many years since they last saw Jacques and had never met this new daughter-in-law of theirs. We left the airport for a breakfast and shopping trip (one of many in the days to come) to prep for our upcoming journeys around Africa. On the way to their home in Three Rivers, 50 miles outside of Johannesburg, we drove past areas of Jacques’ youth. We spent the next three days catching up, cooking, resting, shopping, EATING and packing for our first trip to Kruger National Park (KNP).



We departed for KNP before the sunrise on Wednesday, August 6th (our original arrival day to Africa). The five hour drive took us into the African bush and along scenic roads to truly get the first taste of Africa’s beauty. We are visiting in the winter months which are also the drier months so everything is brown and dead. The Africans choose to burn the grass during this time for seemingly no reason at all so the haze in the air can be seen for miles over the African plains. Our first night was spent right outside the main Kruger gate in a cute chalet. Monkeys playing in the trees outside the chalet and bush buck (deer) were there to welcome us into the African wild. We enjoyed a sunset cocktail overlooking the park in hope of spotting our first game, but as the sun set it seemed we would have to wait for our game drive the next day and settle for the company of monkeys. We enjoyed a huge meal by the fire outside as we listened to the wildlife in the distance. The next morning, we woke early again for a full day of game viewing in the park. We had our own SUV to tour the park at our leisure and route. Once through the gates it seemed we were having the same bad luck as the previous night as we weren’t seeing much of anything for the first 30 minutes or so. As we drove deeper into the park, the animals came out to play – FINALLY! It is so exciting to game drive as your eyes are always peeled on the surrounding landscape looking for movement of any kind and then identifying what it is. Sometimes, a car (or few) may be stopped ahead and we got the benefit of seeing what they already discovered, which happened with our first major game sight – a male lion in the distance under a tree. That started the good luck for the day and after that we saw four of the “Big Five” – lion, elephant, rhinoceros, water buffalo and the only one we didn’t see was the rare leopard. In addition to the four “biggies”, we also spotted baboons, giraffe, hippos, crocodiles, a klipspringer, a few kudu and nyala, wart hogs, zebras, guinea fowl, and hoards of impala. We stopped for a brunch braai in the park along a flowing river. We drove until sunset and our destination for the night, Crocodile Bridge, a fenced in retreat on the opposite side of the park from our entry. Ma and Pa had a chalet next door to our own chalet overlooking the game reserve and hippo pools. We settled in and went to their place for another evening braai in the African bush. As we sat outside enjoying the evening, a pack of hyena smelling our dinner eyed us out from their side of the fence. We called it another great night and went to bed to rise again for more game driving the next day. Immediately upon exiting the camp, two giraffe welcomed us back into the park and to another great day of game viewing. We spent the day on then lookout for more lions and a leopard but unfortunately we never found them. We did see more amazing African scenes of the wildlife living in this area. We stopped again for another brunch braai accompanied by scrumpies (mid-day drinks) and elephants marching through the parking lot. It was amazing to be out of the car and see these mammoth creatures in the wild. We had to keep our distance as elephants are known to charge if threatened. We drove into another African sunset and to our home for the next few days, the Kruger Park Lodge, a time-share golf resort situated outside of the park in an area called Hazyview. We shared another scrumptious meal by an amazing cook, Ma, and hit the sheets for a good night’s sleep.



























Our first day at Kruger Park Lodge was spent relaxing - eating, drinking and shopping. We drove around Hazyview and up into the hills to take in the town from above as well as seeing all the many fruit orchards the area boasts. Jacques and I decided to take daily walks in the enclosed lodge and take advantage of the many nature trails (in addition to attempt to keep in some sort of fitness routine to offset all the delicious food we have been enjoying). Our second day, Sunday, was spent relaxing as well. Jacques and Pa played 9 holes of golf, while Ma and I read the afternoon away. I spent some time at the pool enjoying the hot African sun. Jacques and I took an evening stroll to the hippo pools located along side the second hole of the golf course and spent the sunset hours observing the hippos in their natural environment. As the sun sets, the hippos start moving and grunting in preparation for their evening of eating. As they made their way on to land for their meal, we walked back to the house for another big home-cooked meal. On Monday, we left the lodge early for a day exploring the local sites. We first visited Bourke’s Luck Pot Holes, two rivers coming together creating swirling pools in the rock formations. Next stop was God’s Window – a stunning look out of the Eastern Transvaal valleys in the distance. After working up an appetite hiking around, we stopped for Harrie’s world famous pancakes and then visited an old gold mining town of Pilgrim’s Rest. We stopped in an old Catholic church turned into bar for a must have drink of Mampoer – a local African clear liquor, then toured an old cemetery. We finished the day hiking to Mac Mac Falls to view the massive waterfall cascade into the river below. It was a great site seeing day and we worked up another monster appetite for bobotie for dinner back at the pad – a native mince baked dish.















We slept in on Tuesday, August 12th (my 31st birthday) and upon waking, my sweet husband brought me coffee in bed and sang Happy Birthday to me in English and Afrikaans. It was a great way to start the day and was followed by my favorite breakfast of French toast and bacon made with love from my dear mother-in-law. We enjoyed the brunch outside and I was again regaled with another round of “Happy Birthday” as well as beautiful birthday gifts. Since it was my special day, we wanted to relax but also do fun activities. We played a game of mini-golf, which was so much fun (even though I came in last place) and then went to the hippo pools for sunset drinks and snacks. We spent nearly three hours in the hippo overlook hut enjoying cheese and crackers and wine. It was such a lovely way to spend my birthday evening in the African bush. Of course, no African birthday would be complete without a braai to accompany it. Jacques surprised me with another gift of wooden carved giraffe from the local market. We all stayed up late into the early hours talking and enjoying our final night in Kruger. Today, we packed early and departed for the long drive back to Three Rivers for a brief overnight pit stop to repack before flying out first thing tomorrow morning for Botswana and Zambia. We are so excited for the week to come and on the hunt for more game!