Big 5 conquered at Kruger

Female leopard- resting after an impala kill

We packed and left Joburg for a long-weekend of luxury and relaxation at 12.30pm (as is customary and acceptable in SA offices on a Friday!) and headed along the N14 to Graskop. Even though we had left at what we thought was a reasonable hour, we were caught standstill on the freeway for at least ½ hour… the traffic can get unbearable!

Graskop, our stop for the night, is a small town built on the forestry industry but surviving on the bandwagon of the tourism generated from the picturesque Drakensberg Escarpment. As always dining amongst the locals was an experience at the local Mozambique and Portugese Tavern for the pricely sum of R440 on Friday night (ridiculously cheap for 4 people by Australian standards). Stu amused us with his devouring of the 1kg skewer of ‘blue’ beef… the beef is surprisingly good here.

The drive along the Blyde River Canyon was stunning, especially the viewpoint overlooking the Three Rondavels. The impressive canyon is the divider of the highveld from the lowveld. On one side is rolling hills and escarpments which continue to beyond Johannesburg, whilst the other side of the canyon is the flat bush covered expanse of the lowveld. The comparison alone is impressive.

We continued to Thornybush Private Game Reserve where we would spend the next 4 days. Mum and Dad were excited about experiencing the quintessential African safari and could not believe their luck when we passed a herd of giraffe and nyala (antelope) within metres when driving to the Camp… merely a taste of things to come. Thornybush GR is a private reserve on the border of Kruger NP- game viewing is a huge industry in South Africa and a lot of private game reserves have been developed which border Kruger. We stayed at Chapungu Tented Camp in glorified tents (well…more like luxury standalone suites, except the walls were canvas!) so continued the ‘camping/bush’ tradition adopted by the Smith’s at Easter.

Game viewing was impressive. Each day there were numerous sightings of all cats (lions, cheetah and leopards) and we even saw an African wild cat, small spotted genet and an African civit (we must be turning into game nerds!). We saw the animals of the Big 5 on numerous occasions (Elephant, Lion, Buffalo, Leopard and Rhinoceros), however the highlight has to be seeing a leopard eating a kill of impala less than 2 mts away… beautiful lean animals.

There was an organised game drive each morning at 5.30am and each evening at 4pm. Day time was for sleep, relaxation, swimming or taking an outdoor bath amongst the roaming grey duiker (antelope), zebra & giraffe. Some of the wildlife can get within the perimeter of Chapungu, including leopards. Thankfully it was only warthogs and antelope we had to contend with! One night a pride of 7 lions and lionesses were within a hundred metres of our camp and roaring all night... not surprisingly, Jen didn't sleep too well that night!

We now feel that we have done a considerable amount of game viewing through our trips to South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. The beauty of game viewing though is that every drive is a different experience either through location or animal sightings. What will the next holiday be.....