Once we left Injasuthi in the Drackensburg, we were on a bit
of a whirlwind making our way north and east towards Kruger National Park. We
passed through the Kingdom of Swaziland as it was the most direct route to
Kruger. Our camp location was Hlane Royal
National Park. Joanie and I had been to Swaziland previously, but not to Hlane
Royal.
We were treated to some excellent rhino sightings, as well
as elephant, hippo, and crocodile. The
morning of our departure began what ended up being an African game viewing day
for the ages. Definitely our top 1 or 2
days lifetime for Joanie and I; and we visited 16 game parks over 4 months in
1998, so it does not come from a lack of good days for comparison or from
hyperbole. This was an amazing day…
It began down at the watering hole near camp at first
light. There were four rhinos hanging
around. A theoretically electrical fence
encircles the camp, but it seemed pretty minimal and I could not hear the buzz
of electricity as I stood near the fence.
The rhino were joined in short order by two separate families of
elephant- 11 in total. Add the hippo and crocodile into the mix and it was a
first class experience. One of the rhino
approached within around 6m of the fence. Very close.
That was an amazing morning and little did we know, but it
was just the start. Around four hours later we had passed through Swaziland and
checked back into South Africa, making our way into Kruger National Park.
Kruger is world famous and certainly qualifies as one of the world’s great game
parks. By square miles it is larger than the country of Israel.
No more that 2km into the park we happened upon a pack of
African Wild Dog. They are very scarce
and on the endangered list. We missed
seeing wild dog in 1998 and were absolutely thrilled to see this pack! After leaving the wild dog we drive another
2-3 km and we come across a cheetah with a fresh antelope kill. We missed the takedown of the antelope, but
were there to witness it try to escape its fate only to have the cheetah execute
takedown #2. Right like we were on the set of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.
Incredible! What luck.
We continued on our way and later saw four lionesses (yawn…),
multiple elephant sightings, rhino, cape buffalo, giraffe, and many other
antelopes. We basically saw it all save
for a leopard sighting (one of the rarest of them all) in one day. A remarkable day of game driving in Africa
across two game parks in separate countries. An unforgettable experience.
So what do we do for an encore? After all, we were still missing the leopard.
A nocturnal animal and an elusive sighting to say the least. On our very next
morning game drive, we turn a corner and find a leopard walking down the middle
of the road. Are you kidding me? I
later run into a South African man in a viewing blind. He asks me
whether we have seen any lion. I say not for a couple of days, but that we had
seen leopard. He gives me a long blank stare and pregnant pause…I am unsure as
to whether he thinks I am some ignorant tourist who saw a cheetah mistaking it
for a leopard or a liar or something else. I whip out my camera to show him the
pics and he is slack-jawed. With no resentment at all in his voice he says,
“Congratulations. I am South African and I have never seen a leopard.”
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