Animals in Kruger

On holiday for a couple of days, Ron and I drove 6 hours east to Kruger National Park with another senior missionary couple. We stayed in Marloth Park Conservancy at Bushwise Safari Lodge located just outside Kruger's electric perimeter fence along the meandering Crocodile River. In the evening from the roadway adjacent to the fenceline we observed elephants with their babies, hippos in the water, Cape Buffalo, White rhino, herds of Kudu and Impala, warthogs, and a variety of birds. In our room we listened to the deep, throaty night sounds of hippos and a lion roaring in the calm, warm air.

Our visit in mid September was early springtime in Kruger so much of the landscape was still very dry before the rains begin. It is a vast area of open grasslands and meandering river beds. Many varieties of trees and bushes were new to us.

We explored Kruger in game drives with driver/guides who were a wealth of information. In addition to the above, we viewed lions, zebra, Blue Wildebeest, giraffe, herds of different kinds of antelopes, ostriches, Vervet monkeys, Banded mongoose, Monitor lizards, Nile crocodiles, hyenas, a Civet and Scrub hare.

Still our favorite animal to view in nature is the African elephant, singly or in herds.





Our midmorning breakfast was prepared in a thatched hide (similar to a picnic shelter/observation point) on a hillside above the Mlondozi Dam. Around this waterhole we added to our list of sightings a herd of Waterbuck, Chacma baboons which trailed across the top of the dam, and Secretary birds (in addition to seven other animal and bird species previously named).



At one point we saw two young hippos in a standoff on the river bank. Our most amazing sighting was a leopard dragging a fresh impala kill to bushes along the road just down the dirt bank from us. It was sobering seeing the rawness of nature. I had not previously appreciated the fact that many animals in nature graze and keep on the move at night to keep from becoming attacked/eaten.