Wow, wow, wow. I've explored lots of wildlife parks in the world and have seen some amazing creatures, from tigers and wild dogs in India to leopards and elephants in Sri Lanka, to grizzlies and caribou in Canada among others. All have been special. But for sheer impact, Kruger takes the cake. This is a vast park protecting an area larger than the country of Wales containing a variety of ecosystems. Established in 1898, Kruger now stretches some 350 kilometers in South Africa's northeastern corner, bordering Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Joined with many private game reserves, this is a tremendous amount of unfenced land for animals to migrate and roam. South Africa and Mozambique together have created a greater transfrontier park that crosses the border to preserve even larger tracks of land. Plans are afoot to join land in Zimbabwe and Botswana and link an enormous conservation area with existing parks beyond in South Africa. If this can happen, it will be truly incredible. As it is, Kruger is no less than a miracle.
Within 5 minutes of entering the first gate, we had spotted an elephant and rhino right off the road. One of the cool aspects of this park is the variety of ways to explore its terrain. You can drive yourself around on its vast network of paved and gravel roads with incredible wildlife viewing around every corner. This was great fun for us, sort of a journey of discovery and exploration. Enormous herds of impala, wildebeests, buffalo and zebra on the plains. Lions in the grass. Elephants and rhinos in the trees and thickets. An elephant who almost charged our(very little)car. Giraffes feeding on acacia trees. Hippos and crocs in the water. Cheetahs in the grass, on a rock, rolling in the dirt. And birds, birds, birds everywhere. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Everywhere you turn you see something incredible. You just drive up to a spot, stop and see what happens. A 20 mile dive can easily take 2 hours.
Restcamps are scattered throughout the camp and are good places to stop, have a picnic or spend the night. During our week in Kruger, we moved leisurely throughout the park, exploring the different regions and staying in different camps. The camps also provide a different venue for exploring the park in the form of guided hikes and drives. While exploring on our own was great, using the tremendous knowledge of the guides helped round out our experience. Plus you get the chance to see the park at night when private vehicles are not allowed on the road. Everything changes at night. We saw leopards hunting and Hyena packs on the prowl. A mongoose, wildcats and a caracal. Bushbabies in the trees, elephants, rhinos and giraffes. (They pretty much need to eat all the time.) And the biggest cat of them all, the lion. I really like lions. A male with a beautiful copper mane roaring for his pride. 3 gorgeous females with 3 newborn cubs. Watching the pride and the cubs was one of the most special animal interactions I've ever had.
On the more mundane side, I still had to think about my training and upcoming race. Our little huts had kitchen a sort, so we could cook our own food. No running on the roads here. But the restcamps were large and spread out and provided decent running. We were consistently up before 5:00 to take advantage of prime wildlife time, spending most of the morning either hiking or game driving. During the heat of the day, we run around the camp. Animals have enough sense to rest, this human is silly enough to run. Most of the other humans thought we were crazy. I figured it was good acclimatization for my Comrades run. Then maybe a little nap and off for an afternoon hike or night drive. Life couldn't be better.
No comments:
Post a Comment