Safari at the Kruger from Satara to Skukuza

This morning we left the Satara Rest Camp, we are in the Kruger National Park in South Africa; first, today we went on a safari around the camp, in particular to go and see our lions for the last time.

The flock that is near the S 100 we did not find it immediately, but at some point they returned to their pool and we saw and photographed them for the last time; while at the pool of the lions on the S 41 we found a unique scene: hyenas and vultures competing for the remains of the giraffe captured just days ago by the lions, a macabre and fascinating moment at the same time.

We return to the H 1-3, part of the H 1, the main road, that crosses the entire Kruger National Park from South to North; we turn to the left and we proceed towards South, in this stretch of road we do not make big sightings, here usually there are few animals.

We continue along the H 1-3 until we reach the detour, we take the S 125 and proceed; this road runs along the course of a river that, at this time of the year, is dry.

We travel only the first part of the S 125 and we spot several giraffes and elephants in the riverbed, evidently there are still a few pools of water where they drink, moreover the elephants are able to understand if there is water in the subsoil and dig holes to reach it.

We return to the H 1-3 and turn right, shortly after we find a large baobab, it is called Southernmost Baobab Tree because it is thought to be the baobab grown further South of the African continent; it is majestic even though the Baobabs of Baines in Botswana are much larger.

We stop at the picnic area of Tshokwane for lunch, we choose a table in the sun and settle down; last night we prepared several things to eat, so Bon Appetite!

This picnic area is well cared for and big, we see that we are approaching the busiest area of the park, we moved from deserted and more spartan places to more frequented and cared for places with more services.

We take a short ride to take some pictures but then leave again, the safari awaits us.

We continue our journey to the South and arrive at the S 32, that leads to the Orpen Dam, where we spot several hippos, the Nile crocodiles and several herds of buffaloes.

We take the H 1-2 that leads us to the South West, along this stretch of road is the Kruger Tablets, a memorial dedicated to Paul Kruger, the Boer president of the Transvaal from whom the park takes its name, and the Orpen Rocks, where is the memorial dedicated to Eileen Orpen, who donated 7 hectares of land to the Kruger National Park.

We stop to take some pictures and then continue.

Suddenly, a snake crosses the road at one point; it's very fast, we barely see it, but I managed to take a couple of photographs, so maybe we can identify which species it belongs to.

We stop at the Olifantsdrinkgat, that means "elephant watering hole" and in fact we find a solitary male elephant, as well as some impalas.

We turn onto the H 12, a short main road that leads us to the H 4-1, just before the intersection, the road passes over the Sabie river; this is one of the big perennial rivers of the Kruger National Park, where a large number of wild animals are concentrated and sightings are frequent.

However, from the bridge of the H 12 we only spot many beautiful waterfowls, but we are only at the beginning of the patrolling of this area and we have high expectations.

Tonight we sleep at the Skukuza Rest Camp, where we will stay for 2 nights, and to reach it we should turn right, but it is still early, so we decide to turn left to better scour the area.

In this part of the Kruger it is easier to make sightings because there are more cars, both from safari with professional guides, and from private, and therefore sometimes you just have to see where there are still cars, even if the thrill of finding the animals on your own it is priceless.

After a few hundred meters we see two safari cars stopped near the river, it is not difficult to guess that there is something interesting and in fact, when we approach, we see a herd of lions on along the river; they are not particularly active, most of them are still blissfully sleeping, it is still early to see them awake.

We continue our research and, at a certain point, we make a U-turn and we follow the H 4-1 towards Skukuza; this is one of the most scenic roads of the park as it runs along the Sabie river.

As we continue West we see several herds of elephants down the river, some specimens are eating, others are drinking, others are still swimming; there are also several puppies playing with water and rolling in the sand and mud, they are too funny.

There are a lot of elephants, practically we see them all along the H 4-1; they are wonderful animals, it gives a sense of peace to watch them!

We also spot several hippos immersed in the water or on the sandy banks of the river, many impalas, some greater kudus, giraffes that walk along the river and sometimes stop to drink, finally several clans of baboons and families of vervet monkeys.

At a certain point, on a sandy island of the river, we spot a reclining lion that sleeps blissfully, we take the binoculars and we spot others hidden among the tall vegetation; at one point a lioness gets up and takes a few steps, just long enough to see it out of the high grass to go lie down next to the first lioness, what a beautiful life these cats have!

We arrive at Skukuza, but it is still early to go to the camp, so we decide to go to the Paul Kruger Gate; this road, the H11, is not particularly known for sightings but offers the opportunity to see a wonderful sunset and also leads to one of the three Western entrances of the Kruger National Park.

Near the entrance there is a granite bust dedicated to Paul Kruger, the one who, in the past, was considered one of the founders of the national park.

The bust in the past was located inside the entrance to the Kruger but, in 2003, it was moved out of the gate, when it was established that Paul Kruger had no role in the establishment of the park of the same name.

We take some pictures of the bust and the gate and then go back; while the sun has started to descend towards the horizon and even today gives us a spectacular sunset; we arrive at Skukuza, we check-in and we get at the camp right in time to celebrate the sunset and the end of this wonderful day with a glass of Riesling by Casa Montini, our favorite Oltrepò Pavese winery that is accompanying us in our South African travel.