Kruger Park in South Africa is the same size as Israel and dedicated to the conservation of South Africa's natural wildlife heritage. The southern region has abundant wildlife and usually, enough water to maintain it. The result of this is, understandably, a heavy presence of visitors.
Tourists flock to Kruger Park's southern region
Southern Kruger Park has easy access to the large, main road connecting Mozambique to South Africa near several points of entry and a greater number of beds and campsites are available. The easier access allows day trippers to enter the park and enjoy the sights even when the park is fully booked with overnighting clients.
The downside is that some tour operators feel obligated to provide their day trippers with sightings of the Big 5 (leopard, lion, elephant, buffalo and rhino). This sometimes results in operators rushing from pillar to post to please their clients who miss out on the smaller delights of the park such as the unbelievable variety of birds, smaller antelope, jackals, genets and a multitude of other animals. That said, the south is packed with endless wonders and well worth a visit.
Northern Kruger Park is a treasure
Camps are fewer and widely spread in the northern region of the park. This immediately slows the pace, lowers the number of visitors and enables more leisurely drives. The game spotting is not always as easy but the slower pace allows more time to sit at waterholes, enjoying a thermos of coffee, waiting for the game to come to you.
Understandably not all overseas guests can afford the time as any South African holiday needs to include other places such as Cape Town, the Drakensberg and more. However, there is nothing quite like the privilege of the wildlife choosing to move into your space as opposed to you invading theirs and only patience provides such opportunities.
All game are transitory. Food, water and safety require constant movement and inevitably a waterhole will be visited by a variety of game and birds.
Peace and quiet
At a waterhole, once the resident birds acclimate themselves to your presence, the birdsong restarts as they conduct an orchestration of sound that feeds the soul.
The privilege of two nights in the park is enough to provide a sense of peace and appreciation of life that you will carry forever. Every trip to the Kruger park provides a unique experience and often the source is the delight of the small things rather than the Big5 experience. A newborn impala calf with ears the size of trumpets, hyena pups sunbathing on an anthill, a bird you have never, ever seen before and may never see again, the drum roll greeting of the enormous ground hornbill as he gifts the girl of his choice a frog, majestic eland stepping out of the undergrowth to tower over the resident ancient buffalo, and more, so, so, so much more! Go north - if you can.
