Kruger Safari Part 4: Top sightings with wildlife photographs from Belgian duo

Part 4 of our Kruger Safari series features the last trip report from independent travelling couple, Wendy and Peter. In this email about their recent Kruger safari, the Belgians shared their top wildlife sightings and photos of the animals with their friends and family.

Kruger Safari Report 7: top Kruger wildlife sightings

If you are a safari fan, all animal sightings are worth it, but a few always stand out and are considered the "top wildlife sightings". These deserve a separate mention in our Kruger safari reports:

LIONS

A pregnant lioness suddenly steps onto the road from the bushes, not far in front of our car. No other car around. She walked leisurely 100m along the road and gave us the opportunity to drive past her and take pictures before she disappeared into the bushes again on the way to the river.

We parked our car just after the place where she had disappeared and suddenly we saw 2 more lionesses on the road coming in our direction. Still no other car in sight, but when a car suddenly appeared around the bend behind them, the rear lioness was frightened and fled into the bushes. More cars came from the other side. The other lioness decided to walk in our direction and I made a video of it: 

At the end she came so close that I realized she could jump in through our open window so that was a bit exciting, but luckily she walked in front of our car and stayed on the other side of the car to watch us for a while, before she walked into the bushes. A fantastic lion sighting!! We were shaking with adrenaline.

CROCODILES

We watched a large crocodile hold a smaller crocodile underwater (probably to drown it) and thump it up and down a few times in the water (poor thing!) After a while the large crocodile slowly crawled out of the water with the smaller crocodile clamped between his sharp teeth (shame!) and the body of his victim beneath him. He dragged the crocodile over the rocks to the next waterhole to enjoy his kill. We had never seen that before. Not every sighting is "beautiful" and "nice" to see, but it is special. We didn't know they were attacking their own kind! The animals also live in a cruel world apparently. :O(

SOUTHERN GROUND HORNBILLS

We saw the rare southern hornbill (ground hornbill) a few times, usually with 2 or 4, on this Kruger safari. These are large black birds, with the adult bird having a red head and the young a beige/gray head). They usually just walk through the tall grass and then peck a grasshopper or other insect that they throw up with their long beak and then catch again to swallow. We saw it 4 times on this Kruger safari, which is quite exceptional. Once we saw them sitting in a tree and flying, which was also a new experience for us.

HYENAS

Seeing hyenas is also not obvious, but during this South Africa safari trip we saw them up close 3 times in Kruger National Park.

When we drove to the gate of the Skukuza rest camp at 5:55 am at the start of our 2nd day on safari in Kruger Park, our jaws dropped when we saw that there were already 30 cars in line for us to start the morning game drive (in May the gate opens at 6 am)! So many people, we had never experienced that before! Pure madness. It seemed like mass tourism!

But you would be surprised if you saw how quickly that mass "disintegrates" because at the first intersection a few drive to the left, a few to the right, a few straight ahead and the first ones usually drive at 50 km/h with the aim of encountering Africa's big cats on the road as quickly as possible. So they quickly disappear from view.

We drive at 30 km/h in the morning so that our eyes also have the opportunity to spot animals that may be standing between the bushes along the road. Peter was the first to see 4 young hyenas running behind each other in the grassland along the road. They came romping close to our stationary car. Most people think hyenas are ugly animals, but when you see them playing like that, there is something really cute about them.

Our fast cars in front had missed that spectacle. We, and many cars behind us, were able to enjoy the beautiful hyena show.

On one of the following days of our Kruger safari we arrived at Satara rest camp half an hour before the gate closed. We always want to game drive until the last minute, so we decided to drive a little further. There Peter saw a hyena lying in the grass with its head on the road. He just stayed there and looked up every now and then, even when we parked the car 2m away. He was not bothered by anything or anyone. We heard from another safari driver that he had been there for hours watching a female hyena that was suckling her newborn pups in the grass behind him/her.

After that hyena sighting we had to drive the maximum allowed speed (50 km/h) to enter Satara rest camp before the gate closed (at 5:30 PM). It was minutes work. :O)

The next morning we saw a hyena family: a large hyena was resting in the grass and kept an eye on its young offspring, one of which was very small. Very cute! They came curiously to our car and even so close that we just opened the car windows a little, haha. They also continued to walk around and play leisurely around their resting place.

CHEETAHS

On the penultimate day of our Kruger safari we had to cover 130km from Mopani to Punda Maria rest camp. That doesn't sound like much, but if you drive 25 km/hour to spot animals and often stop to look at the animals that cross your path, time flies and if you haven't covered half that distance by noon you realize that it is best to drive a little faster on the paved main road to ensure that you enter the rest camp where you have booked accommodation before the gate closes (which is at 5:30 PM in the month of May).

That was a stretch with very dense bushes along the road and if you drive there at 50 km/h, it is almost impossible to spot animals. You may even pass an elephant or a giraffe without seeing them.

After a while we suddenly drove past a more open grassland where I automatically slowed down a bit while saying: "Ideal cheetah area here!"; which made Peter look in my direction and suddenly shout STOP!!" because he thought he had seen a feline. I stopped and drove backwards and sure enough... in the distance, but still clearly visible, was a cheetah between the bushes.

And suddenly a 2nd cheetah walked up, ... and a 3rd .... and a 4th .... and a 5th they disappeared behind the bushes !!! It is already special if we see 1 cheetah during a safari trip: 5 is really a kick!

We tried to estimate which direction the cheetahs had walked in and continued driving forwards and backwards for a while in the hope that they would emerge again, but our luck had run out for that day.

It was really unbelievable that Peter had seen that cheetah. If you ever want to go on safari you have to take Peter because he is the best at spotting wildlife! (and me as a driver, hey. LOL ;o)) 

Greetings

Wendy and Peter

Catch up on Peter and Wendy's Kruger safari reports:

• Kruger Safari Part 1: Pre-Trip and Big 5 or No Big 5?
• Kruger Safari Part 2: Now VS Before
• Kruger Safari Part 3: Wildlife Photos from Kruger Park 
• Kruger National Park Safari for Birders: The Birdwatchers Trip Report

Check out our affordable Kruger safaris or for help planning your African safari, chat with a travel expert at African Budget Safaris.

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