8. Even more Kruger Park
After our initial days at Letaba, we moved to the main camp in Kruger Park. This camp, Skukuza, is several times the size of all of the other camps in the Park (There are 12 main camps, 5 bushveld camps, 2 bush lodges and 4 satellite camps). It is set on the banks of a river and has many amenities. There are multiple restaurants, a swimming pool, and an enormous shop with everything from groceries to curios. There are also facilities for educating children and visiting groups and of course many huts and bungalows. In fact, there are 178 bungalows, 20 luxury bungalows, a family cottage, 15 guest cottages, and 4 large guest houses. You never feel like you are crowded, however. It is very peaceful and quite relaxing. We stayed in 2 guest cottages and had a glorious time there.
This is one of the several restaurants at Skukuza
Skukuza is strategically located in the central part of KNP, so the viewing does not require long drives. We drove several hours north and south as well as drives to the east. I tried to pick areas of the park that would have the best opportunities to find animals. One day we had lunch at a camp called Olifants (means Elephant) and enjoyed the pictures I posted of elephants in the water both drinking and playing. It was really a great and very unusual experience.
Because KNP is such an enormous game reserve, it is possible to visit and never see certain species of animals. Many people visit for decades and never see leopards or cheetahs. Many do not see lions. Other animals, like hippos, are often only seen in the water with their ears sticking up. Elephants are sometimes only seen at a distance or not at all. A great deal depends on when you go out looking, how you look and what roads you take, since animals are all over and not just located in certain places.
In the 6 days we were there, we saw lions, elephants (including many playing in the water below our restaurant), hippos walking in the road at night, wild dogs, rhino at a distance, and a leopard with a kill in a tree. We also saw hyenas and many antelope like kudu, steenbok, waterbuck, reedbuck and more. Giraffes and herds of elephants with little ones were some of the group favorites. Here are just a few of my pictures.
Needless to say, we took hundreds of pictures and cannot begin to share everything we saw and experienced in this wonderful game reserve. I do just want to say that I saw things that I have never seen in hundreds of visits to Kruger National Park. We were truly blessed on this trip. Most of those who went really had no idea how blessed we were to see many of the very rare things we enjoyed.
