South Africa (2020)
Inhalt/Content
Kruger National Park
For our next stop we rented a Landrover, which was actually more difficult than expected because we had not made a reservation before, and drove towards Kruger National Park. The driver for this first big distance was myself and I have to admit that I was a bit scared about the drive, considering the fact that there is left-hand traffic in South Africa and that we had to pay a horrendous deposit for the car. Luckily this fear was unfounded, as one quickly got used to left-hand traffic and as driving a car in South Africa is very pleasant once you get out of the big city, thanks to many wide straight roads. Halfway we stopped at the Alzu Petroport. This is not just any rest stop, but more an attraction in itself, as it is often considered the most beautiful rest stop in the world. This is actually not exaggerated: Beside the big choice of restaurants and shops and the really clean toilets, the main attraction of this rest area is the water hole behind it. Here, we could observe rhinos, anitlopes, ostriches and other animals from close range. There is probably no better way to get in the mood for the famous Kruger National Park.
We finally reached our destination in the late afternoon. We spent the first night in the park itself at the Pretoriuskop Rest Camp. On entering the camp for the first time we saw monkeys running along the path and small squirrels climbing around the trees. This was really an incredibly beautiful place. The next morning we were finally ready for our first safari. This time Kevin was the driver. Admittedly, I was a bit worried that the Kruger Park would be too crowded with tourists, similar to what we had experienced in some places in Peru. Fortunately, these worries did not come true. Of course, a lot of tourists visit the national park, but the area is so wide that one is oftenly the only car on the road. After a while, we had already seen some hoofed animals like antelopes and kudus, we saw how a car in front of us drove very slowly and braked. As we approached we discovered the reason for this. An elephant walked in front of the car along the road. After a short time it took pity on us and went into the neighbouring bushes. It is an unbelievable feeling to experience such animals in the wild. In the further course of our safari we saw more elephants, giraffes and zebras. After some time another car overtook us. When they were on the same level with us, the people let down their window pane and explained to us that if we followed the road further, we could spot lions. Of course we did not let this be taken away from us. When we arrived at the lions there was a whiff of mass tourism. Beside single cars there were also smaller safari busses. Everybody wanted to have a photo of the lion and the lioness who were lying at the roadside. Admittedly, in old animal-selfie-tradition I could not resist to take a selfie with said lion. All in all our safari was a complete success. Of course we did not see the complete Big 5 (Kevin compensated my slight disappointment about not seeing any hyenas by buying me a small plush hyena, which from then on became our constant companion on the trip), but still we had a really good time.
In the late afternoon we said goodbye to the Kruger National Park and drove towards Mbombela, formerly Nelspruit, about an hour’s drive from the National Park. A bit off the beaten track in the countryside we had taken an AirBnB. It sounds ironic, but actually we would not have needed a 4×4 in the Kruger Park itself, as there were normal flat, tarred roads. Our accommodation, however, could only be reached via an unbelievably terrible dirt road. With a normal car we would most likely never have reached our destination. The AirBnB itself was a little paradise. It was located on a farm in the middle of nowhere and belonged to an elderly lady who lived here with her incredibly lovely and shaggy dogs. At night you could hear the insects and wild animals outside and in the morning we could see the sun rising over the nature of Africa. This was probably one of the most beautiful places we have ever been.
