Why I was wrong about one of Africa’s biggest safari parks

I’d long dismissed the idea of visiting Kruger National Park, the oldest and largest in South Africa. To my mind it was too big, too crowded and too regulated to be able to offer an authentic experience.

In the past, I’ve been spoiled with stays at some of Africa’s most exclusive, private game reserves so I’d doubted whether the well-trodden Kruger could stack up. One hour into our first game drive and I’m eating my (safari) hat.

We leave the bitumen to follow a gravel road alongside the Sabie River, its sandy banks lined with groves of thorny acacia trees. Our guide, Jabu “Happy” Tsatsi, pulls over and cuts the engine of our four-wheel-drive jeep, allowing us to soak in the stillness of this quiet section of the park.

“Even in a park as popular as Kruger it’s possible to get away from the crowds,” he says. Happy would know, he’s been a guide here for 15 years.

After three nights in Cape Town and a couple of days sampling fine wines in the Franschhoek Valley, Kruger National Park marks the mid-point of our 10-day Highlights of South Africa small-group tour with Inspiring Vacations. By visiting in early June, we sidestep the peak-season crowds of July and August.

A rain shower has passed, leaving the air thick with the earthy scent of crushed leaves, while the only sounds are the grunts of hippos and the scuffle of vervet monkeys in the trees above. Then a herd of elephants, their legs and bellies wet from a river bath, cross. I stop counting at 30.

“One of the advantages of a big park over the smaller reserves is the size of the herds we get in Kruger,” Happy says. “We also encounter a greater variety of ecosystems and landscapes.”

And that’s what elevates this safari experience from those I have previously done in private reserves. Yes, our accommodation is outside the gate, and no, we are not pampered to within an inch of our lives, yet somehow, the vastness of Kruger feels less choreographed and more real.

From boulder-strewn plains to granite outcrops to low river lands, the geography is as much an attraction as the flora and fauna.

With the bend of the river to ourselves, we laugh like loons at the baby elephants trotting to keep up with their mums, all flapping ears and flailing trunks as they bump into each other like school kids.

Just as the dust settles, we hear the soft shuffle of giraffe feet as a lone male appears from the thicket, his coat a mosaic of chocolate set against a background of caramel, so close we can see the individual hairs on his hide.

Moving on, we pass a small herd of kudo, their white stripes blending perfectly with the dry scrub. Like a magic eye puzzle, a large male with corkscrew horns slowly emerges, followed by a female, her tan coat strung with red-billed oxpeckers. Next, it’s a conga line of zebras crossing our path.

I sight warthogs and wildebeests, hyenas and hornbills before a tip-off from another driver leads us to a trail of lions. A crush of jeeps gives it away. One by one we edge forward until two magnificent males come into view, basking in the morning sun.

Another tip-off sends us back to the river. “This is starting to feel like leopard country,” says Happy, pulling over under the shade of an acacia tree.

I aim my binoculars in the direction that Happy is pointing and there, on the far bank, I make out the muscular outline of a lone leopard, her noble head raised like a living sphinx.

Despite three earlier visits to Africa, including many weeks on safari, this is my first decent leopard sighting. By the end of our second game drive, we’ll add another two to our tally. Yes, turns out Kruger more than stacks up.

The details

Fly
Qantas flies direct from Sydney to Johannesburg, with onward connections to Cape Town on Airlink. See qantas.com.au; flyairlink.com

Tour
Inspiring Vacations’ 10-day Highlights of South Africa premium small-group tour (maximum 12 people) includes four-star accommodation, breakfast daily, some meals, internal flights, transfers, guided touring and entry fees. It costs from $4595 a person, twin share (international airfares not included). See inspiringvacations.com

The writer was a guest of Inspiring Vacations.

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