For the past five weeks I have been living in Cape Town – interning at Weekend Argus and staying in an apartment on Long Street. A very loud apartment on Long Street. So when I was given the chance to go to Kruger National Park for the Easter weekend, it was a welcome break from the bustle of the Mother City.
For five days and four nights we stayed in the park – one night in the Satara rest camp and the other nights in a private research area. The trip was above all else a valuable learning opportunity. Some of the lessons were fairly straightforward: stay in your car…or you will get eaten; don’t stick your hand out the window when a leopard is present…or it will get eaten; and – of course – don’t leave oranges in your car around elephants…because, well, they will get eaten. Other lessons were buried a little deeper and could prove important for your trip to the game reserve.
Lesson 1: Even the most beautiful places can have ugly histories.
When Paul Kruger proclaimed the area as a game reserve in the 19th century, he probably didn’t ever think it would become the second largest reserve in Africa, nor did he think that it would become a destination for people across the globe. Instead, he intended the land to be used as a controlled hunting environment.
In the early 1900s white passengers on trains to Mozambique became enamored with the park and would stop the train to have a party in the reserve. David told us: “They would bring a piano, wear cocktail attire and have a little party in the bush.” Naturally, the powers that be saw this as an opportunity to make some money, and in 1926 it was declared Kruger National Park. The park remained for whites only until the 1970s, and park administrators removed native people from the land and pushed them outside of the park’s gates. The park still faces land claims retribution cases.
Lesson 2: Know the right people.
Upon our arrival at Hoedspruit airport – which is just a glorified landing strip in the middle of nowhere with a small visitor’s centre attached – our guides David and Jim ushered us into vans. David Bunn has literally written the book (and many scholarly articles) on Kruger, and Jim is a former ranger and current veterinary student at the University of Pretoria.
Needless to say, they know their stuff. As a journalism student the thought of a lecture sends a chill up my spine – sitting in a boring hall listening to somebody ramble on and not getting to ask questions is like water torture for someone whose job it is to be curious. So when I saw that we had two lectures scheduled for the week, I was wary. But David’s lectures to us – one on the history of Kruger and the other on the current controversies in the park – were both engaging and fascinating. Perhaps best of all, he encouraged any questions from our group of young, American journalism students – from inquiries about his involvement with the struggle to curiousities about how to ship giraffes. He knew it all and was willing to share it.
Lesson 3: If you want to see animals, you have to think like an animal.
Animals have strange sleeping patterns. While (most) people are active during the day and resting at night, animals are most active when it is not too hot to hunt. This means that if you really want to see animals, you need to use their sleeping patterns. This is particularly true for predators (other than the cheetah).
Every day we woke up between 4:15am and 4:45am to go on game drives or hikes, came back to the huts for a nap during the hot afternoon, then went out again when the sun was going down for game viewing. This pattern proved fruitful – one morning we saw the entire Big Five before 1pm. So get in touch with your inner animal and get moving when they are.
Lesson 4: The Lion King lied.
Lions are impressive and beautiful creatures, and they top most visitors’ “must see” lists. That being said, they are kind of boring. During our stay we saw two prides, both of which were not running or getting into elephant graveyards or even hoisting their young above huge rocks, instead, most were sleeping. Our guide Jim did his masters on lion kills in a private game reserve and found that on average the kings and queens of the jungle get between 18 and 20 hours of sleep a day. And while they get to rest and relax at the top of the food chain, poor giraffes and other prey stay up long hours feeding on grasses and trying to avoid getting the tuckered-out predators. No wonder Simba couldn’t wait to be king.
Lesson 5: To find the best sightings you sometimes have to look for what animals leave behind.
I wish there was a more delicate way of putting this, but animal waste tells stories. During one morning drive our guide slowed down and exclaimed, “that’s rhino poo…and it’s fresh!” Not three minutes later we found a mother rhino, her baby and a male guard. Animals are elusive and move around a lot (other than those lazy lions) so the presents that they leave on trails and roads not only tells where they are going and how long ago they passed, but also what their last meal was.
Of course, for the squeamish visitor, animal tracks are also a great way to find out where game is. Eight of us were on a morning hike when we heard a sound. The ranger said that it was probably male impala. A few minutes later we came across some fresh lion tracks, and realized the sounds were more than likely lions.
Lesson 6: Elephants are at the same time the most politicised and most interesting animals in Kruger.
The history of elephants in Kruger is a sad one. The park has adopted a plan that promotes biodiversity called strategic adaptive management – which David described as showing “what you do is reparable or adaptable…you have to know what to do if you screw up.” Unfortunately, elephants breed faster and take over land more than is sustainable, and the animals used to be killed to maintain the so-called ‘golden number’ of 7 000 elephants in Kruger. Now, the park is realising that the ‘golden number’ may not tell the whole story and they are investigating better ways to deal with the elephant population.
Elephants themselves, though, are endlessly entertaining. One morning we were fortunate enough to see a herd crowded around a watering hole. They interacted in much the same way we do – the kids ran around chasing impalas awkwardly while mothers nibble on anything they can get their trunks on. Although the animals are responsible for many false charges to tourists’ vehicles, they are remarkably gentle in the way they interact with one another.
It is tempting to get a picture of the grey giants and check it off your safari “to see” list, but resist the urge. Stay and watch the way these behemoths work and play together for a bit (because in this writer’s opinion they are far more interesting than those sleeping cats).
Lesson 7: Sometimes you just have to get lucky.
Yes, it helps to have guides who know what they are looking for. And, yes, it helps to have working knowledge of the park and the game viewing routes you are taking. And, yes, it is even important to know when animals are awake and when they are asleep. Ultimately, though, most sightings involve luck.
As we were leaving the park on Monday we saw a pack of about seven wild dogs, of which only 140 remain in the wild. Everyone in the vans, as well as our guides, were astonished that we got to see these extremely rare dogs. Similarly, our lion sightings were rare – one during a night drive and the other during a morning excursion – as was the family of white rhinos that we saw. So, although you want to stock up on safari essentials before you leave – a sun hat, malaria medicines and binoculars, in particular – your best tool just may be a lucky rabbit’s foot. - Weekend Argus