May 19: Kruger City

Don’t worry, at some point I will have nothing new to share each day and I won’t be posting every day, but for now…

Let’s get the ugly out of the way first. The National Park campground I am in right now is more of a city than a campground. There are hundreds of rondavels, chalets, and luxury accommodations at all price levels, restaurants, fuel stations, shopping center, fitness spa, and more. And all within an electric fence so that the kids running around here don’t get snatched up by the lions and hyenas, both of which I heard last night just outside the compound. This compound must be a hundre acres or more and the “camper’s” section is an area within the compound that accommodates perhaps 100 campers, almost all in camper RVs of some sort, packed together so that you hear and mostly see everything going on with your neighbors. There is nothing like this in the States. Even the most upscale KOA campground pales in comparison to this. As you might have guessed by now – this is not my cup of tea, but I don’t have a choice if I want to camp inside the Park. Despite this, I was able to nestle the Green Dragon in a little cubby surrounded by bushes on 2 sides:

On the positive side, my immediate neighbors (to the left of me in the picture above) are a nice, older South African couple from Cape Town – and they’re quiet too!

OK, I am going to share with you another meal I prepared, just to make you a little envious. Tonight, well, actually this afternoon between my morning drive and evening drive, I cooked up another stir fry. This time, I started with the usual chopped potatoe and onion in olive oil base, added some kale (got to get in those “greens” at every opportunity) and tomatoes, and smothered it with a garlic parmesan sauce – yum, yum! By the way, I probably won’t show you many more camp meals in the blog because they are all pretty much variations on the same theme: stir fry various vegetables and add a sauce of some sort. Sometimes the base is a pasta or rice instead of the usual potatoe/onion, but in the end it all comes out about the same – delicious!

Now for some fun anecdotal wildlife observations from today.

“Hey Joe, if we can’t see them, they can’t see us, right?”

Do you see the lions up on that hill?

Neither do I, but it would be a good place to hang out and scan for prey.

“Has anyone seen my harem, I thought I left them over there”

“Nope, there not over there either!”

“Or over there! Where the hell are they?”

“Dang, and I spent all that time and energy rounding them up.”

“Oh, wait, there they are! Thank goodness!”

“I don’t know why all those safari guides keep throwing sticks at me, I just want a little food”

Hide-and-seek is really hard when your this big!

OK, enough of that silly business. Here is today’s wildlife observation challenge for you. Who is living in this termite mound?

Right, this is a colony of mongooses – the common dwarf mongoose to be specific. These guys live in colonies of 10-20 individuals and occupy old termite mounds for their home. In the mornings they like to come out of the tunnels and bask in the sun – which we are seeing here.

Here is a mystery sound for you. However, you folks that have been to Africa before should get this one:

If you guessed some kind of gull I wouldn’t be suprised because that is what I thought when I first heard the African fish eagle.

And now for the species of the day. There are lots to choose from as I saw lots of new species today, but I am going to go with the African Hoopoe. This is one cool looking bird with his orange and black mohawk. When you see a bird like this you understand why birding is such fun and why so many people take up the hobby. This guy is dressed to kill but nevertheless loves to forage around on the ground for insects. Also, they nest in tree cavities made by other species.

See you next time.