One visit to South Africa just is not enough. There is too much to see and do. On our first visit, we failed to visit one of the world’s top wildlife destinations, so on this trip, I sought to rectify that.
Kruger National Park is massive—just over 7,500 sq miles, larger than some US states. Established in 1926, this park sees about 1,650,000 visitors each year. With over 500 bird species, 100 reptile species, and about 150 mammal species, there is a lot to see.
We had three days to explore this massive park, so I had a lot of choice paralysis about what to do. I asked friends who have spent time there what their suggestions would be for such a limited amount of time and had varying answers that spanned all of the possible options – so it didn’t end up being much help. Time decided our route, though. I waited too long to reserve stays, so we ended up having a small selection to choose from and ended up spending two nights at Satara Rest Camp. I didn’t know what to expect when I reserved it other than we had a cabin with beds and bathroom facilities. I figured that as long as we were in the park and had food options – how could we go wrong?
We entered the park through the Phabeni Gate on the route to Satara Rest Camp first thing in the morning. At the park store, we hopped out to get a few bottles of water and grabbed a Tinkers National Park Map & Guide at the last minute, which ended up being indispensable to our trip. We encountered our first elephant strolling along the road within the first few miles. As we waited for him to clear the roadway, we had a Gray Go-away-bird fly across the road, Lilac-breasted Roller perched on a branch, Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill awkwardly stuffed in a bush, and a Rattling Cisticola singing. Not far down the road was the Nyamundwa Dam, where an elephant sat in the water lazily throwing water on its back. Hamerkop, Gray Herons, Water Thick-knees, and Western Cattle-Egrets lined the reservoir’s edges.
Skukuza Rest Camp was along the way, and we wanted to drive through and see what all the fuss was about. I wish we had more time to experience it. There are restaurants, spas, golf courses, and much more. Just outside of Skukuza is a bridge over the Sabie River, and in the distance is the train track housing the Kruger Shalati The Train on the Bridge, a stunning and unique hotel.
It was slow driving towards Satara, but that is because we frequently stopped to see birds, mammals, and gorgeous landscapes. We stopped to see some bee-eaters in a tree and were treated to an elephant family stopping for a quick bath in the river. And then jumped on the road to make some progress and a family of Southern Ground-Hornbills were plucking along looking for prey.
By the time we reached Satara Rest Camp, we had checked off many of our target species. But there were still many more to go. Just nearby, someone had reported Southern Carmine Bee-eaters a few days before, so after we checked into camp and got settled, we hopped back in the car in search of bee-eaters. Gates close at 6 pm, so we were cognizant of a time crunch. The road was quiet, and a few animals were around, but we saw our goal way off in the distance! Five gorgeous Southern Carmine Bee-eaters!
Since our trip was short, we signed up for a night and early drive the following day. They were pretty slow going; however, we did see a Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl and a Marsh Owl on the night drive, and a Kori Bustard was spooked on the morning drive.
The remaining time we spent in the car, exploring the routes and roads suggested in the Tinkers guide that are generally near Satara and enjoying the incredible nature beside us. Swainson’s Spurfowl and Zebras were constant sightings. The same came when we had to head back to Johannesburg for the trip home, but Kruger provided us with one more lifer on the last mile out: a Black Cuckooshrike just inside the Numbi Gate.
We had an incredible time exploring Kruger National Park, and there are still plenty of reasons to go back and see more. Next time, I hope to spend time in the northern, less visited regions and maybe save up for one of those luxury lodges.
The luxury lodges are very nice but won’t bring in the birds. Pafuri up north is fantastic and the drive north through the park will take a few days. There’s so much to see.