Kruger National Park Safari with Brooke and Jerrod from the 7th - 10th April 2011

We picked up Brooke and Jerrod from the Metcourt Laurel hotel near the airport and started our journey north east to the city of Nelspruit, after a short stop on route, we arrived midday and after changing from our closed vehicle to our open safari vehicle that would be used for the safari, it was off on the last part of the journey before arriving at the Kruger National Park.



We arrived at the Kruger National Park at approximately 13h00, and after check inn procedures we made our way to the camp of Pretoriuskop. After checking in to the accommodation, a break was enjoyed by all and chance was given to have some lunch before leaving on the first game drive.


We left the camp just after 15h30 once the safari briefing had been done and made our way down the “Napi Road” in the direction of Transport dam where the “Battle In Kruger” was filmed. While on route we received a radio message that lions had been spotted down on the “Watergat Road”, so we decided to make our way in that direction. On route down the “Napi Road”, we came across our first sightings of elephant and rhino, and then it was on to the lions. We found them just 300 meters down the road lying in some long grass, and with it being the time of the year when the grass is still long, it was a very difficult sighting. We stayed at the sighting for almost one hour, but the lions were not interested in lifting there heads and looking around for anybody. After looking at the time, I decided to make a move back in the direction of the camp, as we still had a long way to go to get back before the gate closing time of 18h00.


After leaving the lion sighting quite dejected as I could see them, but the guests could not, we began making our way back in the direction of the camp. As we turned back onto the tar road, we received another call on the radio about a leopard that was lying close to the road on a termite mound, so we made our way in that direction, determined to find one of the cat species before the end of the day that the guests could get some photos off. After a tense 10 minutes, we got to the sighting and were able to get good visuals and photos of this wonderful cat as he lay on the termite mound totally at ease with us being there. We stayed with this sighting and with only half an hour to go before gate closing times, we decided to take our leave and get back to the camp.


After a good dinner in the restaurant, it was off to bed for a good nights rest, before getting up early in the morning to leave on the next game drive.


Next morning it was up early and after enjoying tea and coffee, we left camp looking forward to a good days game viewing. We traveled down “Napi Road”, this morning seemed a bit quite but as we came around the corner a “Klipspringer Kopies”, we saw a leopard walking in the long grass. We followed the leopard until we lost it near the kopies in the long grass. The rest of the day was spent driving around looking for the lions that were proving to be very illusive. We managed to get good photos of kudu, elephant, rhino, impala, zebra, wildebeest and bushbuck. It was then back to the camp in order to have a good dinner and get some welcome rest.


The next morning, it was up early and after again enjoying tea and coffee, we were back on the road to find those lions. While driving down the “Napi Road” about 3km’s from the boulders junction, I caught a glimpse of something standing on the rock, and after applying some heavy brake, we found our big male lion standing on the top of the rock. This was most welcome sight as it gave the guests good photo opportunities, but also completed there BIG 5 sightings. More animals were got throughout the day. We made our way back to camp in the late afternoon, as the guests would have to eat early due to them going out on there night safari.


The following morning, we got up early and left the camp to go down to one of the water holes to look for more lions, but the dam was quite, but as we left the area of the dame, I got a call of a cheetah that had been spotted close by, we made our way in the direction, and were very lucky to see it walking in the long grass. After a while it went a lay down, we waited in the area for another hour, hoping it would stand up and come towards the road, but alas no luck. We decided to make our way back to camp in order to enjoy breakfast as the time was going and we needed to leave the park and make our way to Nelspruit to change our vehicle before continuing back to Johannesburg. The trip back was very quite, as guests enjoyed a bit of a sleep before having to climb onto the Delta Airlines flight back to the United States.

Feedback from the guests was that they had a wonderful time, really enjoyed themselves and have got some wonderful photos and video clips of there safari.