I’m on an assignment of a lifetime. I’m spending six weeks in Kruger National Park, working on an online guide for Getaway. You might not believe this, but I’ve never been to what might be South Africa’s single most iconic park before. So not only am I getting the chance to explore the Kruger properly on my first trip, I’m also doing it completely on my own.
Week one of my journey has introduced me to only the southernmost section of this magnificent corner of our country. And no matter how many pictures and videos I’ve seen, none of them prepared me for the beauty I’d encounter.
This week I stayed Crocodile Bridge, Biyamiti Bushveld Camp and Berg-en-Dal. Follow me on my trip with these weekly photo blogs or find the hashtag #CrossingKruger on Twitter.
As cute as they may seem, one of these adorable vervet monkeys stole my sugar from underneath my nose at Crocodile Bridge rest camp. They’re known for scavenging here. At least the river view made up for the bitter tea.
Zebras showing a little love and blocking the road as they do.
I’m not sure if it’s like this all over the park, but the south sure has a lot of impalas. I love how you can see in their faces when they’re nervous.
Giraffe – one of my favourite animals. So you can imagine how happy I was when this guy walked across the road in front of me, off to eat that twig somewhere else.
This old elephant wasn’t too happy with the way in which I drove past him. Or perhaps he just didn’t want his picture taken.
This one, on the other hand, wanted its picture taken so badly that it stood like this for about 30 seconds. I had to oblige.
I was so surprised to see a buffalo that I drove off, almost without taking a snap. This is all I could muster.
At the end of a long drive, I came across a herd of elephant, many babies among them, strolling down, right beside the road.
The family photo taken just before everyone looks up at the camera
I could swear someone told a really funny joke and these two are just cracking themselves up.
A look at life from behind the steering wheel.
When there aren’t any animals to photograph, why not get the reflection of some trees?
My favourite road so far: the private road heading to Biyamiti Bushveld Camp. It’s rich in wildlife and beautiful, especially in the late afternoon.
Lovely viewpoint on the private road outside Biyamiti Bushveld Camp. That bench just begs you to come and sit for a while.
What it looks like through the other window whilst crossing a river.
In the early morning, dodging spider webs in the camps sometime prove to be a bit of a challenge.
Bird hides just have a sense of peace and quiet to them.
Having never been in Kruger, I was surprised at the amount of broken trees that I saw. I like the look of this one, lying there defeated.
The Tree Restaurant at Berg-en-Dal rest camp has beautiful dam views and a very peaceful feel. Coffee also goes down well after a long morning drive.
Many people have told me that the food in Kruger is horrible. Well, after three days of living on instant noodles, crackers and oranges, this greasy burger was exactly what I wanted.
Not entirely sure if the ‘suger’ is free or if the coffee is free of it.
What I loved most about Biyamiti Bushveld Camp was an early morning coffee, a walk down to the fence and the sun rising over the Biyamiti River.
