Page 10 - Flipbook

8,000 elephants and about 300 rhinoceros. Little wonder my game rides were invariably rewarding. The cool, rainless season, (April to September), is a good time to view animals forced to emerge to seek water supply. Summer (October
to March), when migratory birds
arrive to breed, trees blossom in the veld and antelope drop their young, has its own charm.
Skukuza, Kruger’s capital, has an excellent information centre. Accommodation options in the park include camp sites with communal kitchen, safari tents, bungalows and cottages with kitchens. Daily air services link the park with Johannesburg, Nelspruit, Durban and other cities, and plans are underway to construct an airport within Kruger. I took a 0-minute flight to Nelspruit from where I was transported by Land Rover. By road, the 400-km trip from Johannesburg would have taken about five hours.
name made it into the Big Five Book of sightings. Back at the camp, preparations were underway for a popular South African pastime, a barbecue or “braie”. Cooking aromas wafted from a reed enclosure called the “bomo” where crocodile, impala and spicy sausages (boerwors) were sizzling on hot coal. Kruger is an immensely rewarding experience wherever one decides to stay.
Addo Elephant National Park
The road out of Cape Town – popularly called the Garden Route – leads to the coastal city of Port Elizabeth on the Eastern Cape. Just an hour north, in the Sundays River Valley near the Zuurbera Range, the Addo Elephant National Park is one of the best locations to view the world’s largest mammal.
There is no creature in Africa quite as dramatic and regal as the elephant in the wild, each weighing  tons and standing 4m high. Addo’s evergreen bush not only supports about 420 elephants, but also 40 Cape buffalo, black rhino, antelope and the unique flightless dung beetle, (found exclusively in Addo). Together, they ensure a grand wildlife experience.
An exciting transformation is underway to expand the park into a 30,000 hectare Greater Addo Park – an ultimate tourism destination where the Big Seven (elephant, rhino, lion, buffalo, leopard, whales and the great white sharks) will be seen in their natural habitat. It is advisable to call ahead as the park may close during heavy rainfall which makes the dirt roads impassable. Addo Elephant National Park is one of 20 national parks run by South Africa National Parks (SANParks).
Mapungubwe National Park
Proclaimed a National Heritage Site, scenic Ma-
pungubwe National Park is a recently opened park of great cultural and archaeological importance. Strategically located far north, at the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo Rivers, the park offers spectacular views of three countries
– South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. The closest city, Musina, is about 0km away.
EV Tip: South Africans are casual in manner and do not like to
rush decisions. The handshake is a common greeting. The Global Etiquette Guide to Africa by Dean Foster offers good tips.
Addo Elephants
From Bongani, located at an elevation of 1,300m within Methetomusha Game Reserve, I surveyed the magnificence of South Africa’s natural environment: serene yet secretive, rugged yet accessible. On nearby mountains are remnants of bush paintings made 400 to 00 years ago. Here, centuries ago, Dravidians from India arrived to prospect for gold and left when the winds were favourable to carry them back.
Rangers made sure I got my share of thrills on twice-a-day game rides. Each trip was a fascinating game of hide-and-seek between man and animals, and my trophies were encounters to talk about and memories to take home. With “Boy” balanced on the pointer’s seat over the front wheel, I sighted impala, kudu, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and warthog.
“Never turn your back on animals in the bush,” cautioned my guide. A game ride at Bongani turned exciting when news was received of a leopard being sighted. By now I had seen four of the Big Five. “Hang on folks, I’m going to fly,” said our guide, thundering through the veld, whipping branches, crunching gravel and jumping streams in a thrilling chase. But the leopard had disappeared.
Disappointed, I settled for chilled sundowners and a snack of biltong (air-dried deer meat). Suddenly, a spotlight sweeping the terrain revealed a leopard! Vehicles closed in, cameras clicked, the star of the show had his moment in the limelight – and my
The sanctuary for endan- gered large mammals, such as the black-and-white rhinoceros, the African elephant and other predators, is an area of invalu- able discoveries. Exceptional testimony exists of an ancient civilisation straddling the two rivers where Arabian, Indian and Chinese merchants traded in gold, ivory, animal hides, glass beads and ceramics. The sophisticated trading centre thrived from around 1200 to 1300AD. The ruins are evi- dence of the first and greatest ever South African kingdom.
Cape Sugarbird
Endless Vacation 8
© South African National Parks
© South African Tourism