After a long drive from Pretoria, our entry point for the Kruger National Park was the Punda Maria Gate in the north. Of all the wonderful surprises—this guy was there to greet us! One of the rangers pointed him out as we were heading to our vehicle from reception. I walked back to see him and got these pictures.
The northern end of the park tends to have fewer animals than the southern end, at least if you’re looking for a wide variety of game viewing, but it is a beautiful landscape—kind of scrubby and dry with small, bare trees, dry river beds and patches here and there of greener vegetation with some bigger trees just sprouting their leaves— and there are a ton of elephants and buffalo, as well as the ubiquitous zebras, wildebeests, antelopes, kudus, etc. The elephants alone suited me, even if I’m still scared when I see them!
Rule: always watch trees and bushes at the side of the road for emerging elephants, or the sudden appearance of some big guys with huge tusks munching away on leaves and branches. Elephants are not very happy if you inadvertently get too close—and they are always right, and you are always wrong. Several times we did some backing up.
We spent two nights at the Punda Maria camp. There is a fantastic hide there overlooking a watering hole just beyond the perimeter fence. With the watering hole and hide easily accessible, we were able to enjoy a drink and some great game viewing, all without the set up, take down, and set up again that we do when we drive.
Here are some pics from the Punda Maria camp watering hole—we had a treat when an entire herd of elephants came by!
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