Kruger

On the bus at 7:30 a.m. to get through the Swaziland boarder, back into South Africa. The boarder crossing was uneventful and went very quickly. The soil in Swaziland is very red, just like PEI. We saw large number of ‘palm bananas’ – bananas grown on what looks like palm trees. Today we traveled to the world-renowned Kruger National Park with nearly 2 million hectares of life forms which fuses with historical and archaeological sights – this is real Africa. The world-renowned Kruger National Park offers a wildlife experience that ranks with the best in Africa. For over 200 years it has been home to an impressive number of species: 336 trees, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals. The park is unrivalled in the diversity of its life forms and a world leader in advanced environmental management techniques and policies. Man’s interaction with the Lowveld environment over many centuries – from bushman rock paintings to majestic archaeological sites like Masorini and Thulamela – is very evident in the Park. These treasures represent the cultures, personas and events that played a role in the history of the Kruger National Park and are conserved along with the park’s natural assets. We arrived at Kruger National Park at 9:30 a.m. and traveled north through the park spotting several species of park residents, including many impala (tons of impala), elephants, blue wildebeest, secretary bird, baboons, and a dung beetle. We left the park at noon at the Paul Kruger gate and drove the short distance to our hotel, the Protea Hotel Kruger Gate, where we stay two nights. Nice hotel with open concept. Bruce had to kill two extremely large beetles in our room. There are verbet monkeys everywhere! After getting our luggage, and changing, we caught a quick lunch then headed out in 3 open vehicles to tour the park. It was 38 C at Kruger – very hot. We saw more impala, elephants, giraffe, kudus and two hyenas who were nursing their young (very close to the road). We were back at the hotel in time for some to have a quick swim and then a wonderful supper then early to bed as we have to be going by 5:30 a.m. tomorrow!!!