South Africa Day Ten: Hazyview to Kruger Park

I woke up as usual before J2, and used the time before he woke to start a fire in our room’s little fireplace, which he appreciated very much when he awoke. We left our lodge well before light in order to get to the Kruger park as soon after the gates opened at 6am as possible. On the strength of the recommendation of the South African couple at dinner last night we decided to enter the park through the Numbi Gate rather than the Kruger Gate, since it would likely be less crowded and we’d have more time to drive inside the park itself. This was a good move, since even this relatively out of the way gate was pretty crowded, and the process for getting your entry pass is a bit less than efficient.

From our entrance gate we proceeded along the main road toward the Skukuza Camp, which is also the park’s headquarters, and from there we headed south toward the Lower Sabie camp before heading back north toward Tshokwane Picnic Area where we had lunch before finally heading toward the Satara Camp and our lodge for the night, Talamati.

Along this road we caught sight of loads of animals, chiefly giraffes, elephants, warthogs, loads of impalas, zebras, jackals, hippos, a rhino or two, and even a solitary lioness. As you drive along, the first sign you have of a notable find is the presence of other cars stopped along the road. Often we saw cars stopped and tried to figure out what they were looking at, only to realize that they were birders and watching something that really did not grab us all that much. In the case of the lioness, though, it was we who first spotted her, but since at that point we were on a small road, not that many other cars ended up joining us.

We got to our lodge around an hour before the lodges close their gates, at 30 minutes before dusk (5:30 at this time of year). There we paid for our day passes for our four days in the park, and then booked ourselves onto two game drives tomorrow (thus giving me a reprieve from the driving), and got squared away into our lodge for the next two nights. The lodges here are pretty comfortable units, with two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a barbecue unit outside. We got right down to business starting a fire in the barbecue, only to find that the wood we had bought was wet so I replaced it at the lodge’s reception area. We had a great light dinner of steaks that I bought at the Spar yesterday and some of the wine we bought in Franschhoek and spent the rest of the evening going through the day’s photos. Since we have a 4:30am departure call tomorrow, this was an even earlier night than last night, and we were in bed by 8:30.