Thursday, September 25, 2025

Kruger - Day #6

We left Satara at 9 a.m. for our four-hour drive south to the Lower Sabie Camp. About an hour into the drive, we came across a pride of lions resting under a large tree. There was a male, two females, and two small cubs. They were a distance from the road, so I zoomed in as much as possible with my phone’s camera. The arrow in the photo points to one of the cubs, with its dad and one of the moms just to its left. We stayed for quite a while, watching the cubs playfully run around.

As we continued, we saw plenty of giraffes, elephants, zebras, ostriches, kudus, wildebeests, and waterbucks. After a while, you almost become a bit desensitized to the constant animal sightings—though each one is still amazing in its own way.

A little over halfway to camp, we spotted two young giraffes keeping a close eye on a sleeping lioness. They stood surprisingly close and remained there for nearly 30 minutes before slowly moving on, while the lioness barely stirred from her nap.

We made a stop at the Miondozi Dam overlook. Here, you’re allowed to get out of your vehicle—as long as you keep a sharp eye out for predators. 

We met a couple who had stopped here yesterday and were lucky enough to spot two cheetahs drinking at the water’s edge. When Douw was here two years ago, the dam was overflowing, but this time the water level was much lower. Still, it was full of life—about 30 hippos were clustered in the water, with a large herd of elephants grazing farther back. 



Along the shoreline, Marabou storks and African spoonbills worked the edges, though they were too far away to capture in a photo.

The park extends as far as you can see!  Mozambique is just over the far ridge. 




Closer to camp, we spotted more hippos hidden among the tall grasses. 


We finally reached Lower Sabie and had lunch at the camp’s restaurant, which overlooks the Sabie River—a spot with a steady stream of elephants and giraffes passing through.

Here’s our bungalow for the night, complete with a beautiful view of the Sabie River. 





This afternoon, several elephants were right up to our fence. AMAZING! 🐘

Before preparing our braai for the evening, Douw and I stopped at the camp store to pick up firewood. To our surprise, we were told that only moments earlier a leopard had been drinking at the nearby riverbank. We were so close—timing truly is everything when it comes to spotting wildlife!

Tomorrow, we plan to leave camp by 8 a.m. for the long eight-hour drive southwest to Winburg. In Winburg, we’ll be staying at Douw’s brother’s lodge on his 15,000-acre wildlife reserve, an incredible setting to soak in the beauty and wildlife of the South African bush.

Here are a few Kruger facts as we leave the park: Kruger is actually larger in land area than either Rhode Island or Connecticut, and almost as large as New Jersey! It’s a favorite vacation destination for many South Africans, and the government-run camps are usually full year-round, dipping only slightly during the hottest part of summer.

All of the camps where we stayed were managed by the park, though there are a number of privately run lodges as well—most of which are considerably more expensive. The government-managed camps do not offer Wi-Fi, and cell service is only available within about a half-mile of each camp, and then service is very spotty. Once you’re out in the bush, there’s absolutely no signal.

Kruger continues to face a serious problem with rhino poaching, driven by demand for their horns. Organized syndicates based in neighboring countries employ poachers to carry out the work. Many poachers are either arrested by park rangers or fall victim to the very predators that roam the park. We were stopped twice at roving road blocks checking for our park permits and visual inspection of our van. 

As a guest, if you do spot a rhino, you are instructed not to share its location to help protect them. We didn’t see any during our time in Kruger, but we will have the opportunity to at our friends’ wildlife reserve in Winburg. 

I know without a doubt that we could not have done this trip, the way we did it, on our own. We are so grateful to Douw and his parents for making this incredible experience possible!



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