(Conveniently skipping over the three days it took to get here — by the time you join us it is 0-dark-hundred and we are waiting for the Pretoriuskop gate to open so that we can sally forth and conquer the park).
Because of booking late (well, by summer standards I was fine, but Kruger is booked long in advance in winter, I learned the hard way) we had one night in Pretoriuskop, three nights in Skukuza, two nights in Letaba1 and two nights in Lower Sabie2.
Skukuza can be busy and sometimes it’s hard to get a spot, and we had a nice spot at Pretoriuskop, and Pretoriuskop was one of the few campsites which were not fully booked. Also, we only had to vacate our campsite at 11 or some such, and the gates open at 6. So the plan was, take a drive up to Skukuza, have breakfast, see if there’s a lekker campsite, squat on it with a chair, come back and fetch the teardrop. Alternatively, change our booking to Pretoriuskop for the next three nights.
But we found a nice site, and we squatted a chair on it, and all was good.
Southern Ground Hornbills are listed as endangered but they are quite common in Kruger.
They’re also hella curious.
(Concerning the Big Six, our count for the trip is 5/6. We saw two Eagle Owls this trip, have yet to spot a Pel’s).
While going back to Pretoriuskop to get the teardrop, we spotted (1) a gaggle of cars and (2) a male lion kind of far off, lying in the grass. Then he put his head down, didn’t get a photograph. Then while towing the teardrop back to Skukuza, same thing (different lion). This time we snagged a pic.
This is with a 600mm lens on a 2/3 sensor with about 3x “digital zoom” a.k.a. cropping. Shot handheld out the window because sometimes that’s all the chance you get (jockeying for position while towing is not that simple). Never fear, better pics ahead.
Green-backed Heron from the Skukuza bridge.
And a Giant Kingfisher.
- Much further north than we like. But all I could get at the time.
- Our preferred camp.