Out in South Africa’s wild places it’s very difficult not to be enamoured with our magnificent sunrises and sunsets. This photograph was taken at Lake Panic, near Skukuza in the Kruger National Park.
“Muse” is the theme for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge
Lake Panic is a man-made body of water just outside of Skukuza, the headquarters and biggest rest camp of the Kruger National Park. The dam originally got its name when a flood threatened to destroy it shortly after it was built, but today, being home to enormous crocodiles and cantankerous hippos, the name is still just as apt.
The hide at Lake Panic, situated at the water’s edge surrounded by lush vegetation, is extremely popular with photographers. In the early morning the sunrise over the water, often shrouded in a cloak of mist, is absolutely breathtaking, and there’s a constant processions of birds and animals to focus on throughout the day.
While staying at Skukuza recently, we made sure we popped in at Lake Panic regularly, staying for an hour or two. These are just some of the sights we enjoyed.
We’re sharing the beautiful sunrise we enjoyed this morning at Lake Panic near Skukuza, to celebrate de Wets Wild’s 300th post!
This tranquil sunrise scene was photographed near Skukuza in the Kruger National Park, ironically at a location called Lake Panic due to the large number of crocodiles and other predators and other dangerous animals that lurk in the vicinity. To us, there is no place where we feel more at peace than in the Kruger Park.
We’re participating in the online adventure travel magazine LetsBeWild.com‘s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggers. This week’s challenge was “Peaceful” and we’re very happy to have been awarded another honorable mention for our entry!
There’s no other way to explain it. Kruger National Park is an addiction.
I blame my parents and I will be forever grateful to them. My first night in the paradise that is the Kruger Park was in September 1983, at just four years old, camping at Pretoriuskop.
As with any decent addiction, the more you get the more you want – visit more often, stay for longer. And I’ve been only too happy to oblige. Every time I enter those gates I feel reborn, every time I leave I get depressed. In fact, if I didn’t already have the next visit planned so that I have something to look forward to there’s a good chance I wouldn’t be able to leave at all.
Worst of all is that we’ve gotten our son addicted too. Little Joubert was only eight weeks old when he had his first taste, also at Pretoriuskop, and in the two years since he has been back to Kruger 6 times (not to mention all the other reserves he’s been visiting with us) and been all over the Park from Pafuri Gate in the north to Malelane in the south. Absolute proof to the saying that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, our little two-year old gets excited weeks ahead of our next visit. He recognizes Skukuza, Letaba, Olifants and Satara from pictures and can identify a multitude of animals and birds, even from their calls. He recalls previous sightings at particular locations when we pass there again. Joubert carries his own little digital camera around, clicking away at anything from beautiful landscapes and elephants to insects, leaves and…dung, by which he is absolutely fascinated: every so often we have to stop at some or other poo-pile so that it may be thoroughly appreciated.
Our good friends the du Plessis’ joined us on our most recent visit, at the end of April 2012, to Skukuza and Satara.
We visited as many of our favourite spots as we could fit into the five days – Lake Panic bird hide near Skukuza, N’wanetsi and Timbavati Picnic Sites, Sweni bird hide, the S100 gravel road and the Girivana waterhole near Satara, the viewpoint in Olifants and the Elephant Hall in Letaba. Sadly another favourite, the low level causeway over the Olifants River at Balule was still out of commission following the January floods.
What follows is a selection of our photographs taken between the 26th of April and the 1st of May 2012 celebrating the serenity and beauty that the Kruger Park is so famous for.
Luckily for us our next short visit occurs in June!
DeWetsWild 