At the end of April, we had the privilege of visiting the Kruger National Park with a wonderful group of friends; altogether 21 adults and children from 5 families and by far the biggest group we’ve ever accompanied to the Park! Our base for the four nights was the camping area at Satara Rest Camp, allowing us to introduce our friends to many of our favourite places in the central section of the Park.
Our previous visit to the Satara area was in the winter holidays of 2016, at the height of one of the worst droughts on record in South Africa. What a pleasure seeing the region transformed into a sea of lush green vegetation now at the end of the summer rainfall season, and experiencing a few of the final showers rolling over the Lowveld before winter sets in!
Of course the dense vegetation made game-viewing very tricky, and in stark contrast with our visit last year when there seemed to be predators resident at every one of the few remaining pools of water, we really had to work hard to find the meat-eaters for which Satara is so famous on this visit. We don’t consider ourselves “Big-5” chasers, but when you’re introducing a couple of newbies to Kruger’s wonders you do want her to put her best foot forward, and luckily Satara remained true to her reputation as one of the best game-viewing areas in the Park. Even if the predators kept us in suspense at their appearance, there were still a myriad of other species of game to be found in good numbers and keeping us enthralled on our drives, and even in camp! Of course, we expected to find high concentrations of plains zebra, blue wildebeest and giraffe roaming the central plains, but we were very surprised to find so many elephants around Satara!
For anyone looking for birds, Kruger could never disappoint, however on this visit the Park seemed to be bursting at the seems with feathered inhabitants even more than usually. We’ve shown you the enormous flocks (rather swarms!) of queleas in an earlier post, but notably we’ve also seen bigger flocks of marabou stork and wattled starling on this trip than ever before – no doubt in response to an eruption of food in the form of grass-seeds and the insects that feed on it.
At the end of our stay we had to contend with every camper’s worst nightmare – having to break up camp in pouring rain! They say that any friendship that survives going on holiday together will remain standing come what may, and happily it seems despite the hardships of dripping wet, muddy bodies and thoroughly soaked camping equipment, our friendship with the Bernards, Krugers, Nels and Therons have come through the tribulations with flying colours.
(If you’d like to find out more about Satara and surrounds, have a look at the dedicated blog post we published about this popular part of the Kruger National Park)
Beautiful wildlife photos. Like any expert, you make it look easy. Thanks for sharing them!
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You’re way too kind John, but I appreciate your comment all the same! As long as the photos convince you that Satara is a great place we are very happy!
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Thank you for visiting and following my blog! Your blog is quite special, and it is a great opportunity to know more about South Africa. Thank you for sharing your awsome experiences!
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Welcome here Albina! We love boasting about our country’s beautiful wild places – hope you’ll come around often!
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Amazing and beautiful photos! 🙂 It is truly a wonderful nature.with beautiful animals.
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Thanks for the compliment, John. Indeed, Kruger is a very special place and there’s so much natural beauty surrounding one there that it is easy to walk away with a few decent photos.
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Incredible numbers and variety of wildlife there!
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Kruger really is our flagship Park, still beating to Africa’s ancient heartbeat – What a place!
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Magic photos once more, thanks! What a great time for all those people
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Thanks Kate. Indeed, the whole group really enjoyed themselves, just showing again what a special place “The Kruger” is!
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yes I haven’t heard anyone that would disagree with you on that … on my list for next time round
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You won’t regret it!
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next life I mean … may not be many animals left by then …
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Let’s hope that the foundations on which Kruger was built will stay standing for many more generations to come!
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yes I certainly hope so
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Lekker foto’s gekyk Dankie!
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Bly jy’t n bietjie saam kom toer deur die Wildtuin, Tina!
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Fantastic. Your photos bring back so many lovely memories of my visits to KNP. I also saw a pride of lions just north of Tshokwane picnic place. They were eating a zebra that they had killed an hou or so before we arrived. Great times.
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Wonderful memories, and everytime you pass that spot in future you’ll remember it again!
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Ek dink jy het die wildtuin ‘op-geneem!’. Kyk net al jou pragtige fotos.
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Altyd so gaaf, baie dankie!
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Ai dis darem lekker om saam met julle te kuier.Ek glo jy het ‘n nuwe klomp natuurmense ingetou,veral noudat die wildtuin so mooi is.Dis darem ongelooflik hoe alles so kan verander.Jou foto’s is weereens so pragtig.Dries!
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Altyd lekker wanneer jy saam kom, Dina! Ons hoop ook die Wildtuin-googa het ons vriende en hul kinders behoorlik gebyt!
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Dan kan julle dit ook ‘n jaarlikse instelling maak.Ons klomp familie gaan nou elke jaar Balule toe tydens paasnaweek…drie jaar nou al.Dis so lekker!
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Dit is baie spesiaal, Dina, en n baie goeie idee!
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Great picture of the Scops Owl!
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He’s a Satara “local”, hanging out in the same spot most days.
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We always loved camping in big groups!
So many animals! I always loved the buffalo… they look like they are wearing pig tales! Ha ha!
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Poor things will have their egos terribly crushed if they hear you say that about their powerful weapons, Ilex!
😀
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Hi, love your blog and pics. This time some arer familair as we were also in Kruger at that time travelling from South to North. It was fun for us (as oversea guests) to camp in the park.
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Amazing to think we may well have crossed paths in Kruger, Antoinette, and wonderful to know that you had a great time in the Park as well! Which was your favourite camp?
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We had a nice place in Berg and Dal, ut our last night and the loops around Shingwedzi were also amazing
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The gravel road leading along the Shingwedzi River towards and beyond Kanniedood Dam is our favourite place in the Kruger Park as well!
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