Thursday - Saturday, 1-3 May 1986: Shooting Kruger Critters
May 1
Louise from SATOUR drove me up to Kruger National Park this morning. Along the way, the impressive landscape featured forest-covered mountains spotted with kopjes (isolated granite domes).
SATOUR is paying park admission fees and petrol. I’m covering my meals and lodging. I’ve found Louise very helpful although she is a bit self-conscious about her halting English. Her first language in Afrikaans.
Once we were in the park, Louise crept along the park roads while I sat
in the back seat of the station wagon with the windows rolled down on both
sides. We’d spot some game in the road
or at the edge of the bush, she’d find a good photo spot, and I’d fire
away. Actually, it often wasn’t as easy
as that. Usually, the animals would run
away before I could shoot or they’d have their heads behind a bush. Had to wait about ten minutes with camera
supported against a tree to stabilize my 200mm telephoto lens for an elephant
to give me a good pose. In addition to
the elephant, I “bagged” zebra, kudu, vultures, and a bunch of impala. I’m not used to shooting moving game with a
telephoto lens but, hopefully, I got a few good ones.
Vervet monkey family, Kruger National Park
May 2
I am sitting on a veranda next to the Sabie River at the Skukuza visitor’s center at the park. For breakfast, I’ve been nibbling at a plate of cold fish pickles with curry and drinking a bottle of Appletiser Sparkling Grape Juice. The bill came to all of R3.16 (about US$1.60). My table is covered by a thatch umbrella. I can’t see any wildlife out on the river banks which are covered by tall grass.
The rondoval (round hut) in which I stayed last night was quite comfortable (actually larger than I needed) and cost R36.00 (about US$18). Last night’s seven course dinner (or should I say, feast) cost R13.00 (+/- US$6.50). I did talk to some Scots currently living in South Africa before dinner but am finding that the park is not very conducive to meeting people. Most are family groups who have a braai (barbecue) at their own cabin. There is no pub and people turn in early.
In two hours, Louise will pick me up to go hunting for game with my
cameras. They’re easiest to find around
water holes.
The rondoval where I
stayed at Skukuza, Kruger National Park
May 3
For last night, SATOUR booked me a modern cottage at the Berg-en-Dal Center in Kruger (R44.00 or about US$22.00). I was wishing some American friends could have been there as I was lonely for friendly faces and there were three single bunks in the room.
I made dinner for myself in the spacious modern cabin, did my laundry, and then headed down to the visitors’ center to see a terrific 50-minute movie titled “The Year of the Wildebeest”. The film traced the migration of a herd of one million of these big beasties around the Serengeti Plains of Tanzania.
Kruger National Park is nice but you don’t see enormous herds of animals like you’d find on the open expanse of the Serengeti. Kruger is in bushveld country, which often provides too much cover for a photographer to overcome. I did see some large groups of 100+ impala around several ponds and small lakes. There are nearly 140,000 of these beautiful little guys in the 380 by 60 km park. They are smaller than mule deer, weighing about 150 pounds, and standing three feet tall at the shoulder. Impala are reddish brown in color, and the males have sculpted, curved antlers. Their rumps are white with black strips. They are great (very graceful) jumpers.
After two days at Kruger, I was disappointed that I didn’t see any lions, leopards, or rhinos. I did get some good shots of elephants, giraffes, zebras, impalas, warthogs, and monkeys (with blue balls).
I didn’t like the fact that you aren’t given a key to your cottage or
rondoval. They have black cleaning
people who keep an eye on the accommodations – actually a little too much to
suit me. This morning, the cleaning guy
just opened the sliding glass door and walked into my cottage without
knocking. Pissed me off - It was around
8:00 and I was getting dressed. You have
to be out of the rooms at 9:00 AM (too early to suit me, especially since I had
to wait for Louise to arrive later).
Most of the family-types are up at the crack of dawn. To do what, I’m not sure. Maybe they drive off to look for critters,
but I didn’t see many of them when I watched the sunrise this morning from the
pretty tree-lined lake next to the visitors’ center. As for the campsites, they look fine but I
left my tent back in Johannesburg.
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