The Journey to the Kruger

I was awake at 4:30am and out the caravan by 4:40am. I was the first person up, it was still dark and a herd of impala were stood behind the car watching me as I made coffee.
I made coffees and Ellie came out while I made my second and I was already pulling pegs and removing our awning supports today was moving day and it was the biggest drive of the trip.
By 5:45am we were hitched and ready to go and we were so early we had to wait for security to turn up and open the gate for us at 6am.
Our first half the journey was 360km and we got held up at 3 lots of roadworks having to wait 15 minutes at each set which was a total nightmare by the third set. After that it was a straight run, through Bella Bella and onto the N1 motorway where we picked up speed to 120kph.
360km translates to 220 miles and our rest stop was the outdoor warehouse at the mall of the north in Polokwane, here we got a handheld compass and a tin of waterproofing for the tent canvas. We stopped for 20 minutes eating our rolls Ellie had made in the morning and then we refuelled at the shell garage before continuing.
I programmed in our final destination of Maroela Rest Camp in the Kruger National Park. It was another 320 kilometres and now it was all rural roads but we averaged 100kph for most of the journey taking 10 minutes off Tomtoms predicted time and arriving at 1:40pm we had travelled 418 miles in total. The biggest journey of this trip and the biggest drive we had done for a very long time.
We checked in at the Orpen rest camp and then drove to Maroela. Maroela is a satellite bush camp 2km from Orpen. Ellie opened the gates and to our astonishment it was almost empty so we parked up and wandered the campsite looking for a good pitch and boy did we find one. Right against the fence line with not 1, not 2 but 3 hyena!!
We dropped the trailer and popped the top and our bedroom. It was 37°c in the shade and because we had been in an air conditioned car for 8 hours, outside felt like the surface of the sun. I then spent 40 minutes painting our canvas with weatherseal before putting the awning out to give us some shade. I then realised I had parked the trailer 3 foot too far away from the electric point for our lead to reach. Atleast we have solar.
We were both knackered and I opened some beers and we both sat and watched as the hyena prowled the fence line. They looked quite cuddly until dinner time and as the sun went down the hyena got more active and started whooping. Now they looked like they meant business. Luckily we are in our own cage with the animals on the other side. It’s day one in the Kruger and we’re already loving this camp. We were in bed by 7:30pm totally exhausted.Read more