After enjoying the hotel’s generous buffet breakfast this morning, we finished re-packing and picked up our rental van right at the airport terminal. It’s a full-sized van, surprisingly spacious, and rented through Europcar—our go-to agency when traveling in Europe.
And then we were off to Kruger, an estimated 4.5-hour drive. We arrived by 4 pm, and within just an hour of entering the park we had already spotted two of the legendary “Big Five.”
In fact, we saw this big guy—and a few others—within five minutes of passing through the gates! He’s one of the “Big Five.” The others were just a little too far away for good photos. Not long after, we came across nine of Debbie’s favorite animals. They are so majestic and calm—it was a treat to see them in such a large group. The wildlife sightings didn’t stop there. During the slow drive (speed limit: 25 km per hour) to Skukuza Camp, we spotted a whole parade of animals: lots of impalas, two baby hyenas with their mom resting nearby, you can see her laying just to the left of the babies. It is challenging to get a good photo from the window of the van. You find yourself jockying for a good spot with other vehicles that are doing the same thing. and then—the highlight of the day—a male leopard! Another of the "Big 5."
Douw’s parents, who have visited Kruger almost every year for nearly 50 years, had never seen one before in Kruger. They were thrilled, and so were we! After watching him for about 20 minutes, the leopard climbed down from his perch and walked right past our van. I even caught it on video, which I’ll share in a future post. It's 11 pm and I’m absolutely exhausted tonight, so I’ll save details about our accommodations and more adventures for tomorrow. What an incredible first afternoon in Kruger!!!
