Day 4 - Into Kruger

I was up and about before the first hint of the coming day, as, for some reason, I just couldn’t get to sleep.  Whilst it was too dark to bird, I did manage to track down a couple of moths. As the sky gradually started to lighten, three Red-winged Francolins called just inside the scrub next to the road, but even with the help of a torch I was unable to track them down. 

As dawn approached I was joined by Kevin and, coffee in hand we made our way down toward the entrance, where the fruiting fig tree was located. The tree was virtually birdless, but we did manage great views of a Red-headed Robin-chat.

There was a great racket coming from a nearby culvert and a quick look produced several calling and mating Toads.

Thick fog was rolling in as we joined the rest of the group who were now up and about. This put paid to the original plan to go up to the upper view point to watch the Southern Bald Ibis leave their roost and watch the rock hyraxes soak up the morning sun. Instead we returned to the lower view point and followed the trails into the valley woodland. The fog seemed to dull the bird calls and activity, but after a short while an olive Woodpecker was found and it showed well until chased off by a Golden-tailed Woodpecker, a nice double pecker hit. We Followed the trail down to the stream, hopping for a Semi-collared Kingfisher. Alas, no such luck, but a Mountain Wagtail showed well.

We decided to cut our losses, as the fog wasn’t lifting, and start the journey to the Orpen Gate, and Kruger National Park itself.

The plan was to stop at able Erasmus Pass to try for the Taita Falcon, but given the fog, our hopes weren’t high.  However, as we approached the pass, it was clear the fog was burning off quickly and we pulled into the traditional layby to be greeted with the news for Michael, the Taita Falcon guardian, that he has seen one already that morning. Michael took us over the road to the main viewing spot and after giving direction to the nest/roost hole, we sat down to scan and wait for a fly past of one of the resident pair.  Red-winged Starlings and Speckled Pigeons  flying across the vast cliff face kept everyone on their toes whilst a couple of White-necked Ravens, flying over were additions to the list. After about half an hour, Michael picked up one of the birds coming in fast. I quickly got onto it and followed as it swung in and landed on a ledge above the nest/roost hole. We all then enjoyed prolonged scope views as it sat in it’s lofty perch. There may have been a bit of thigh rubbing at this stage. With the falcon in the bag, we were relaxed as we set off Kruger.

Eventually we left the high mountains behind as we entered the vast expanse of rolling hills covered in scrub. Soon there were signs for Kruger, with a number of lodges, etc, sprouting up along the road, all trying to earn a Rand or two from the huge number of people that visit the park every year.

From the villages with farm land and scattered bush, we passed along side Private Game Reserves. Most of these are now continuous with the Kruger National Park itself, allowing the animals freedom to range between these private estates and the National Park, extending the protected are greatly. The National park, by itself is massive – approx. 20,ooo square kilometres – slightly smaller in size than Wales. The private game reserves to the west and south add about half as much again into the protected area. To the north the park is linked with a major reserve in Zimbabwe and to the east links with a major reserve in Mozambique. These expanded area, known as the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park extends over some 35,000 km².  We were only going to be scratching the surface of the lower third of the park.

The bird life had changes as well, rather than the Jackal Buzzards and Black-winged Kites, Yellow-billed Kites became the default raptor along the road whilst Cape Starlings flew up from the roadside.  We had a couple of roadside stops, for a pair of Black cuckoo-shrikes and a single Marabou Stork.

Passing the private reserves, the mammals started to show, with numbers of Impala, Zebra and Blue Wildebeest, being glimpsed between the trees. Eventually the roadside fences disappeared and the mammals were found much closer to the road.  We stopped for our first Giraffe to take some photo’s and noticed that the traffic about 1 mile ahead had come to a stop to allow a heard of Elephant cross the road.

                                                              my first wild Girafffe

Soon we were just outside the Orpen gate and transferring into the safari trucks that were to be our mobile hide for the duration of our stay in the park. From there it was onto the gate itself. A nesting Southern Brubru was located next to the gate entrance and our first Murico Sunbird put in an appearance. A glimpsed flycatcher was tracked down but proved to be just a Spotted fly’, whilst two southern Red-billed Hornbills came down to look for scraps.

The gate provided first real evidence on the, almost smothering, fixation on the Big 5 - Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo, Lion and Leopard - with the “sighting” board restricted to just these animals.  The Big 5 are so named as a result of their ranking by trophy hunters, based on the relative danger of hunting these species. It’s somewhat ironic that most visitors to the park today do so to chase sighting of the Big 5 and I’m sure many, if not most would be appalled to even be considered as following more closely than they realised in the steps of those trophy hunters.  That said, in reality, it’s only really the big cats and Elephant that most come looking for. The Elephants are almost 10 a penny in the park area and are quickly ignored by most of the vehicles, as their occupants speed round the park chasing the next Lion or Leopard sighting.  These had been christened “Ferrari Safari’s” by Toby, with some justification, as Impala, Zebra and Giraffe got barely a sideways glance from most visitors we saw. Anything small, such as African Dwarf Mongoose, just didn’t exist.  These Ferrari Safari’s do, however, allow the general naturalist, or birder to have great fun. Just stop, poke your bins, or better still, a big lens camera at a small bird or even a moth hidden in the bush and you will soon attract a number of vehicles all straining to see the Lion or Leopard you are obviously looking at. You can then just drive off and leave the rest searching in vain or, if any pick up the courage to ask what you are looking at you can tell them and watch the dismay, or disgust , wash over their face. 

I shouldn’t be too hard on those searching for the next big cat sighting, they come in their droves and are the primary source of income for the park.  Without them the park may not exist and we would all be poorer off. And who know, maybe the odd one starts to take an interest in the other wildlife of the park.

Back to the trip. We were soon on our way into the park proper, on the road to our first rest camp at Satara. We didn’t get far, about 150m in fact, when we pulled over for three slumbering White Rhino’s next to a man made waterhole.  The 47.5km (approx. 29 miles) journey from the gate to the camp took us the over 6hrs, with frequent stops to admire the wildlife, making camp with 10 minutes to spare until the shut the gates for the evening (at 18:30). New birds for the trip included Lilac-breasted Roller, Magpie Shrike, Crested Francolin  and Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill, whilst Warthog, Spotted Hyena, Steenbok and Cape Buffalo were added to the mammal list.