Arriving at Kruger National Park

Back on the truck, we drove past mile after mile of orange groves, apple orchards, and banana plantations. We had a couple of stops (for toilets and shopping) before arriving at the gates of Kruger National Park. Luckily, by this point, the clouds had cleared, and the rain had stopped. While René was organising our tickets, we dropped the windows and prepared ourselves for our first game drive in Kruger. We had an 80-kilometre journey to our campsite. With a speed limit of 40 kilometres per hour within the park, it was going to take us a while to get there.

The excitement was palpable as we all scoured the landscape to the right and left of the truck looking for our first animal sighting of the trip. We didn’t have to wait long! Within five minutes of entering the park, Ernest spotted a group of juvenile hyenas at the side of the road. He stopped the truck and turned it round to give us all a better view. As he did so, we spotted a leopard sprawled across the branch of a tree! How lucky were we? A leopard sighting in the first few minutes of the trip!! We stayed where we were for several minutes watching this magnificent cat and taking photos of it.Read more