Kruger Self-Drive Safari
by Ryan Davis
(South Africa)
First leopard of the day
Cheetah on the road
Lion on buffalo kill
Elephant near the road
Our sightings were so amazing that a lot of people still do not believe us when we say that we saw 2 sightings of lion, cheetah, wild dog, 4 sightings of leopard (just missing a 5th), 2 sightings of rhino, buffalo, a lot of elephant and a lot of common game. I often still cannot believe it. Funny enough, it was the only day of our trip that we did not see spotted hyena.
Logistics
We travelled on our own in a Toyota Yaris. There were 5 of us.
We stayed at Burchell's Bush Lodge at Protea Hotel Kruger Gate (timeshare).
We always get amazing service there.
Food
We self-catered all our meals.
Typically we had cereal for breakfast, then an early lunch at the Kruger's picnic spots (mainly Nkuhlu, Skukuza Day Visitor's and Mlondozi).
Meeting fellow South Africans and tourists while cooking our mid-morning meat brunch at one of the many picnic spots at Kruger was a highlight.Wildlife
We visit Kruger at least once a year and have been very lucky in the past, but this was a particularly great trip for sighting the big game. It was not until our last day however that I had the best sighting day of my life rather unbelievable.
We left Burchell's at about 7am to drive in at Kruger Gate and would be exiting at Malelane later in the morning en route back to Jo'burg. A friend who was staying with us had gone in at 6am and saw wild dog and leopard on the Paul Kruger Road, which we were very jealous about, however we were positive for the morning ahead, but no amount of positivity could have been enough for what we were about to see.
We turned onto the Doispane Road and several kilometres down the road, what seemed to be a massive baboon in the middle of the road got up and walked, showing itself to be a beautiful male leopard, which moved down into the thicket on the side of the road before we got there.
We stopped as close to the side of the road as possible and looked out of the open windows, when we got the fright of our lives as the leopard ran towards us and growled at us (photo above). We could not close the windows fast enough, as the leopard looked at us and then disappeared back to where it came from the best leopard sighting I've ever seen.
We continued on our way and turned off onto a sand road connecting us to the Skukuza-Malelane road. Just before the waterhole, which was teaming with game including some of the many elephants we saw that day as well as one of the two sightings of rhino, a cheetah was being watched by two cars as it stood on the side of the road. We watched it walk a few kilometres down the road before it moved off. We could not believe our luck.
As we rejoined the tar road, we realised that although we were running later than we thought we would, we needed to fill up with petrol and backtracked to Skukuza to fill up. That backtracking was a real blessing because the sightings kept coming.
A few kilometres outside of Skukuza lay a male lion under a tree. We continued and decided to take all the little side roads.
We turned right after a bridge to a little water hole where to our surprise a leopard was drinking. We got such a fright that he/she got up and went down into the river bed. We raced to where it was and watched it walk around and climb back up to cross the road in front of us and then walk into the thicket.
After breakfast at Afsaal, we were disappointed to miss another leopard which had an impala carcass in tree not far from the road. Even though it probably would have returned, we needed to continue on our way.
Several more kilometres down the road was where we saw leopard number 3 lying in a tree and in no rush to leave. After watching him for about 10 minutes, we made our way to the gate, passing buffalo, more elephant and our second sighting of rhino.
A car that we had stopped told us that there were lions on a buffalo kill not too far away. We were hoping for one last good lion sighting. So many cars surrounded what we thought would be a disappointment. When our turn came to get close, three huge male lions lay eating this buffalo not even five metres from the road. We could hear the crunching as they ate incredible.
We travelled the last two or so kilometres to the gate, where an old friend of mine, also exiting, recommended we go back in as they had just seen a pack of wild dogs not far down the first sand road. We were running late but thought that this would be a real treat so went back in and drove to where the dogs were sighted.
Another car showed us some ears flicking in the grass. Before our disappointment took over, the five wild dogs got up looked around and trotted off into the bush incredible end to a remarkable day.
Who would've thought we could have been even luckier. As we exited the park, we got out of our car to stretch our legs on the bridge over the Crocodile River.
Lo-and-behold, walking in the river bed in front of us was yet another leopard, which was in no hurry to get away and we landed up leaving while it was still in clear view.
I do indeed hope to have sighting days like this again in the future, but one can't be too spoilt. It was proof of the absolute unpredictability of game viewing (and in this particular case, at Kruger) but also how privileged we are as South Africans to have this gem in our "backyard" and that we need to appreciate how lucky we are!
Typical Day
Wake up before first light, be waiting at Kruger Gate before the gates open, drive around the whole day in the park because we just can't get enough of it.
For food: Breakfast at a waterhole, skottel-braaied breakfast at a picnic spot, snack/ice cream/coffee at one of the rest camps with a trip to the Park's Shop and the toilet, a stop at the Lake Panic bird hide until just before the gate to the park closed when we returned to Burchell's Bush Lodge.
In the evening, we would have a braai at our chalet, reminisce about the day and get an early night in anticipation for the early start the next day.
One of the nights we joined a guided night drive from Kruger Gate.
Tips and Advice
Remember to pack mosquito repellent, flashlight, braai tongs.
Whenever staying outside the park, we always wish we could stay inside the park at one of the camps to get the true, authentic game reserve experience.
My advice to others is: Don't put it off
just go and experience Kruger. There is honestly nothing in the world that compares.
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