Our visit to Kruger National Park

What I enjoy most about having friends from home come visit us in South Africa is that it gives us a nice excuse to explore other parts of the country which we may not otherwise be motivated to do. This time, my best friend and all around good time, Liz, came to stay and we planned our first safari trip ever to Kruger National Park.

Alistair with the Grinch

After a boozy first 24 hours in Joburg, putting the world to right, we were on the road to Mpumalanga, in our new pride and joy, a "kinetic yellow" Suzuki Jimny that could not be less subtle if it tried. We have lovingly named it the Grinch and are looking forward to more road trips in this ridiculously camp 4x4. The drive itself felt like part of the trip. Long, open roads, big skies, the landscape slowly shifting into rolling hills as Joburg disappeared behind us, all made slightly more theatrical by the fact we were cruising through it in what can only be described as a highlighter pen on wheels.

Kruger National Park

Kruger, for context, is not small. It covers nearly 20,000 square kilometres (roughly the size of Wales) stretching along South Africa’s northeastern border and spans two provinces (being Mpumalanga and Limpopo). It was first established in 1898 by Paul Kruger to protect wildlife from overhunting, which makes it one of Africa’s oldest national parks. The park forms part of a much bigger cross-border conservation area called the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, which links South Africa (Kruger), Mozambique (via Limpopo National Park) and Zimbabwe (via Gonarezhou National Park). There are no fences in parts of the greater park, which means animals can roam freely across borders. It’s part of what makes the whole ecosystem feel so vast and genuinely wild.

We stayed in an Airbnb just outside Kruger, in Marloth Park, which was significantly cheaper than the lodges inside the park itself (and I think nicer). The only down side being that you need to pay the entrance fee to Kruger each day you want to visit.

Liz and me cruising

On day one we decided to do things properly: a guided game drive that collected us from our accommodation at 5am. Sunrise tours are more popular as usually game, particularly the big cats, are more active in cooler hours. In the morning, our ranger was obsessed with finding us a leopard that had been recently sighted near our entrance gate. Apparently they’re notoriously elusive, which only made him more determined to track one down. But he's not the only one - there is a whole network of rangers tipping each other off when something exciting is spotted, so when we finally pulled up, there were already about 20 vehicles clustered around a single point of interest.

Alistair, Liz and Me on the bakkie

We got a brief glimpse of what was apparently the leopard’s arse before it vanished into the bush. And that was that. Lots of anticipation, a crowd of people, and a slightly underwhelming payoff. Kind of like when you see the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. I'm not going to list everything else we saw after that because it was a lot but overall it was really worthwhile having the guided tour so you could ask as many stupid questions about the wildlife as possible.

Day two, we took matters into our own hands and headed out in the Grinch. No ranger, no pressure, just us, and blind optimism. And (by sheer luck) this was the better day of sightings. Within the first hour, we’d pulled up near four lion cubs, properly close. I’d half convinced myself it wouldn’t feel that special (I mean I’ve seen lions before at London Zoo) but I surprised myself by how it hit me. I was on the verge of tears, which I hadn’t really budgeted for emotionally. Pathetic really.

Over the course of the trip, we somehow managed to tick off all of the Big Five, including rhinos (albeit from a respectful, slightly speck-like distance). But more than the checklist of animals to see, driving around the park is jaw-droppingly beautiful. I don't think visiting the Kruger is supposed to be about constant action. It’s slower than that. Quieter. You wait, you watch, and sometimes you get nothing and then sometimes you get lucky. A very good reminder that not everything needs to be chased, sometimes it just appears.

There’s something about being out in the bush, in that kind of stillness, that makes you realise how on edge city life can quietly make you. You don’t notice it in Joburg, the noise, the pace, the constant low-level alertness, until it’s gone. And while Joburg has to pull us back eventually, our trip to the Kruger made realise how lucky we are to call South Africa home.

Notes from 26° South.