Kruger National Park

Josh and I trekked over to Kruger National Park in the north-east corner of South Africa to see these animals that everyone associates with Africa. We went in our usual style, on the spur of the moment with little to no planning. Our thinking was that we could go there, walk around a bit, camp at night, etc. When we told our plans to a National Park spokesperson she laughed in our face. Apparently, there is lots of stuff that can kill you at night and the only time you are allowed out of your car is with an armed guide (we broke the rules a bit in the above picture). We rented a car with a Dutchman who we met at the hostel just outside the park (pictured above). It was my first time driving a car with right hand drive. I was lucky that we started out at 4:45 am so there were not too many cars on the road for me to hit. It actually wasn't as hard as I feared but a little weird operating a stick with the left hand.

Right off the bat we saw animals at a distance and with the help of my spotting telescope we spent a long time looking at white rhinos and water buffalo from 300 yards away. Little did we know how close we were going to get some large animals in the next few hours. There are so many wildebeast, impala, and zebra that they seemed like flocks of pigeons in a city square. After awhile we saw so many elephants and giraffes that we didn't even slow down unless they were right next to the road. We were searching for some of the cats, which we didn't find until the end of the first day. On our way to our campsite we saw three male lions laying around like a bunch of couch potatoes. The picture above was on our second day of a lone female lion.

This is the southern most baobab tree in the world and a big one at that. Again we fudged the rules and got out to take some pictures next to it to give it some scale.

One of the many elephants that practically were reaching out to touch our rental car. Josh once got a little brave and told me to take a picture with him outside the car but the moment he opened the door to elephant turned and pointed his trunk at him just like a warning. We sped away.

All in all an amazing place. Considering how many large animals there are and that it is not a game reserve but a completely wild place it really is a natural wonder.