May 24: Kruger Afterthoughts

As I indicated in my last post, I left Kruger National Park with a sad face because I had so many exciting wildlife observations. However, the journey must go on! Before reflecting on Kruger a bit, let me first describe the landscape today.

The landscape between Kruger and Blouberg Nature Reserve is varied both in topography and land use. The land varies from plains with rolling hills to rugged mountains so it kept my attention all day. Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of the mountains I was passing through as I was trying to get to my destination in time to facetime with Nancy – which I failed to do, not because I was late (although I was a little late) but because, once again, the cell service doesn’t exist here. I would guess that in terms of land use the land is 50% huge game farms (which we talked about before), which I didn’t take any pictures of because they look just like the Park except that they have big 8-foot tall fences around them and imposing entrance gates. I am guessing another 20% is cattle ranches (but of the woodland scrub, not grassland type), which I also didn’t take any pictures of because so far as I could tell they look just like the game farms but without the huge 8-foot tall fence. However, it is difficult to discern whether these are all in fact cattle farms because the vegetation is so thick that I rarely seew any cattle. I did see some though which makes me conclude they are probably cattle ranches.

Another 20% or so is extensive citrus orchards (mostly oranges, but also some other delicous fruits). I stopped at one of the roadside stands to purchase some fruit and got talked into a box of avacados and a box of a fruit the vendor described as “shadow”. Each box had about 6-8 pieces and the total was roughly $4 USD – not bad! Here’s a picture of the fruit stand (the “shadow” fruit are the large yellow fruit in the second bin) and the nice young man who sold me the fruit, and whose mother drove up in a flash once I was purchasing some fruit and then intervened with some interesting facts about the growing of the “shadow” fruit. I think the young man was a little embarassed that his mother intervened in the sale.

Another 10% or so of the land was monoculture timberland that was actively being logged for what I don’t know – pulp, dimensional lumber, biofuel? Here’s a shot of what some of that landscape looked like.

Another 10% or so was either residential development or town centers and the final 10% was, I believe, protected land in regional Parks and Reserves, all of which was in the rugged mountainous country.

Oh ya, did I mention that the roads in this Province are generally in good shape – almost no potholes! And I was astonished to see road crews resurfacing sections of roads with bad potholes – a more effective long-term strategy campared to the signage strategy that we saw in the Cape and Freestate Provinces. However, although I aplaud the commitment to maintaining and improving the road infrastructure in this Province, I must stay I was disappointed to see that they were only putting a single 1-inch layer of pavement down and calling it good – a cost-effective short-term strategy that will cost them more in the long term, but hey, that will be the problem of the next administration. Here’s proof of the actual road work:

After a long days drive I came to my destination, the Blouberg Nature Reserve. What a gem of place! There are game drive roads throughout the reserve and an absolutely stellar campground, which I am in right now and that I have to myself. I literally have this Reserve to myself – amazing! There are only a half dozen or so sites in the campground and they are all huge and private and nestled under some beautiful shade trees, most of which are called Nyala trees (which is the big tree shading the Green Dragon in the photo below). There are all kinds of animals around my site making all kinds of noises – I love it! The baboons and vervet monkeys are making their presence well known, which puts me in total alert mode for fear of my campsite being raided. I have to remember to not leave anything out unattended and keep the vehicle doors closed – or else!

OK, now for some afterthoughts on Kruger National Park for those wanna be southern Africa safari adventurers. If someone were to ask me to describe what I think of Kruger, here is what I would say. If you want an exceptionally accessible Park in sub-Saharan Africa that has all the classic megafauna (well, most), Kruger is a great option. You can fly into Jo-Berg (the easiest place to fly to from the States) and drive to the Park in several hours. If you want to see the classic African wildlife and yet sleep in comfort in a soft bed, with a hot shower, and possibly have a hot meal at a restaurant, and NOT get tossed around and have your bones rattled in the back of a safari vehicle on rough, corregated roads, THEN Kruger is the Park for you. The campgrounds in the Park are like nothing you have experienced in the States – all amenities, and I mean ALL, are available. And while you do have to drive let’s say, on average, an hour for every 5-10 minutes of actual wildlife observation, the wildlife you do see will be spectacular, as hopefully some of my photos and videos demonstrated. In addition, the landscape is quite varied and asthetically pleasing, and by that I mean there are some pretty interesting and varied landforms (e.g., plains, “koppies”, mountains, large rivers, etc.) and some different vegetation types (e.g., grasslands, marula woodlands, mopane woodlands, etc.) that keep things interesting and entertaining between wildlife observations. Overall, however, Kruger is a rather “tame” Park, and by that I mean you never, ever, ever get the feel that you are truly in the wilds of Africa. It all seems like its just the nearby neighborhood Park in which you can go for a drive on the weekends to see some pretty cool wildlife. But hey, I wouldn’t mind having this Park in my neighborhood.

Since I have been remiss in my posting of mystery sounds, here is one for you experienced African safari-goers (you know who you are). Hint: this is an animal you here regularly in camp:

Any guesses? Took me quite a while to first identify this bird as I kept hearing it but couldn’t see it. Now, I am alert for it and see and hear it a lot, including in all my campsites so far. It is the grey go-away bird. They say its call sounds like they are saying “go away”, but I don’t hear that. Here is what this bird looks like (borrowed from the internet):

OK, I am off to my last Park in South Africa. See you there!