Last Sunset Game Drive

Last Sunset Game Drive

Berg-en-dal has certainly been the most updated of the camps. We have a lovely thatched cottage that actually has places to plug in battery chargers, etc.

We departed on our sunset game drive with limited expectations since we hadn't seen a lot of animals in this part of the park. We started off right away with a rhino and baby and some interesting asides from Rastah, our first African ranger: for instance, there is a tree called Leadwoood Tree that is so dense and heavy that it feels like lead and is almost impossible to cut down. It's ashes are very high in calcium and are used as tooth paste by natives.

People in a passing car said that they had seen a lion further up the road. Rastah drove to the location and started following tracks in the dirt road. I helped spot the tracks from the other side of the truck. At each fork in the road he would decide which way the lion went. We lost it, then it appeared on the side of the road a little behind us. Rastah explained that lions like to follow the road because it is easy walking but they also know the short cuts and when to go off the road and through the brush. We followed the young male for almost an hour as he ambled along the road. Once he stopped to mark a tree then to roll around on the grass (trying to mask his scent for hunting) and gave us quite a show rolling around on the grass and nibbling leaves from a tree, only 10 feet from the truck!

When we finally came to the main road and left him we came across two females who were lounging in the road. We followed them a ways then left them and saw two hyenas coming towards us. They almost walked into the truck! Further along we spotted more hippos grazing in the grass as they do at night. They are very shy and run into the brush as soon as we put our lights on them.

Sorry, I couldn't get pictures of these night encounters. It was a fantastic finale to our Kruger safari experience. The last morning I took a walk around our guest camp and came across the memorial to a "student ranger" who was killed by a leopard. Glad I saw it on our way out of the park vs. when were coming in.