If I Were Going...: Africa: Kruger National Park Game Drive/Lots of Animals

View from the game drive vehicle

This was our big day – a game drive in Kruger National Park. We had the option of doing the morning, returning to camp and dropping off anyone not interested in an afternoon drive OR taking a day-long drive. Everyone opted for day-long, which was good because two drives retrace the same area and a day-long drive goes much further.

Sabie River

One of the largest game reserves in Africa, Kruger National Park covers 7,523 sq. miles in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces in northeastern South Africa.

Google Maps

It extends 220 miles from north to south and 40 miles from east to west. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898 and it became South Africa's first national park in 1926.

It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Kruger National Park with Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe (across the northern border) and Limpopo National Park in Mozambique (across the eastern border).

The park has nine main gates allowing entrance to the different camps. We spent all of our time in the far southern part of the park. Our route took us north and then east to Skukuzu, south to the Lower Sabie River crossing and then back. That took us all day and we saw such an amazing number of birds and animals that I can’t even begin to put together a tally.

Elephants on the Sabie River, Skukuzu

Kruger started in 1898 as a "Government Wildlife Park" created to control hunting and protect a diminishing number of animals. The area, later known as Sabie Game Reserve, comprised the southern third of the current park. Shingwedzi Reserve, now part northern Kruger National Park, was proclaimed in 1903. In 1926, Sabie, Shingwedzi and surrounding farms were combined to create Kruger National Park.

Giraffe and Impalas crossing a side road

There is some dark history here (yes, Africa has a lot of dark history). During the following decades, all the native tribes were removed from the reserve (the last were removed in 1960).

Kruger in the late afternoon

Unlike a lot of U.S. national parks, Kruger is completely fenced to curb the spread of disease, facilitate border patrolling and inhibit poachers.

Kruger has a subtropical climate with humid and hot days in the summer. September and October are the driest periods, culminating in rains late in October.

Even in the dry season, there is water

The dry winter season, when we went, is noted to be the ideal time to visit because there is less chance of contracting malaria, the weather is milder and drier and wildlife viewing is easier because the vegetation is sparser and animals are drawn to the waterholes to drink every morning and evening. We picked a good time to go.

Track near the Chisomo Lodge

The scenery pictures aren’t as pretty, but I think leafy green trees would have made it much more difficult to see and photograph animals. And, with the ongoing drought, I am not sure it ever gets super green.

Big Five: Leopard, Lion, Elephant, Rhinoceros, African Buffalo

Kruger National Park has 147 species of large mammals, including all of the Big Five game animals (Elephant, Rhinoceros, African Buffalo, Lion and Leopard -- considered to be the five most unpredictable and dangerous animals in Africa).

We saw four out of five in Kruger National Park (but I only got pictures of three in Kruger).

This is more species of large mammals than any other African game reserve.

Our game drive vehicle had three rows of seats at graduated heights, which generally made for good viewing from every seat.

Watching a Greater Kudu from the game vehicle

The safari truck we rode in in Kruger had a canvas roof cover (the one we rode in in Karongwe was uncovered). Beyond that, there wasn’t much protection, so I suppose you could get attacked by something. Fortunately, I don’t think it happens very often. It's probably because the animals really don’t have much to fear from the game vehicles.

Fortunately, we had very comfortable weather -- a little chilly when we were driving, but never uncomfortable. I imagine it is pretty hot in the summer -- which is where that canvas cover would really come in handy.

Like U.S. national parks, the game vehicles, of which we saw many, and private cars, of which we also saw many, must stay on the roads (most of which are paved). And, you are not allowed out of the vehicle except in designated areas that generally have restaurants, restrooms and picnic areas.

A Lion jam -- game drive and private vehicles

Go on a game drive with us, click here.

So, what did we see? Oh my! So much!

The first was the extremely shy Common Duiker, a tiny little antelope that grows to only 20 inches tall and generally weighs 26 to 55 lbs. Only the male has horns, which can grow to 4.3 inches long.

Common Duiker

And, then, in the early morning light, we saw our first African Elephant. It was the first of many. I’ll talk more about the others in a separate post. This one was back in the bush, fairly close to the vehicle – much closer than I expected to see an Elephant (just wait …). It was still early morning, so there wasn’t much light. But, it was our first Elephant!

African Elephant

As I said earlier, I am not even going to try to talk about the animals in chronological order, so I will just talk by species from now on in multiple posts, starting with our next exciting sighting.

A Southern White Rhinoceros!

White Rhinoceros crossing the road right in front of us

And, once again, it was so much closer than I expected to see one based on my experience in U.S. national parks, I expected lots of driving with limited sightings; many at great distances. This Rhino crossed the road right in front of us. And, this one had an intact horn.

Look close for the Rhinos

In Kruger, Rhinos are completely natural, even though it puts them at greater risk of being poached for their horns.

In Karongwe, their horns are surgically removed to make them worthless to poachers.

Such a sad state of affairs!

Also called the Square-Lipped Rhinoceros for its wide mouth, the White Rhinoceros is the largest species of rhinoceros. Although the White Rhinoceros has two subspecies, it is highly probable the Northern White Rhinoceros is extinct.

There are approximately 20,000 wild Southern White Rhinoceroses, but Kruger does not reveal how many live in the park (once again because of poaching). Estimates are about 12,000. We saw five in Kruger.

Back end of a Rhino

A popular theory of the origins of the name "White Rhinoceros" is a mistranslation of the Dutch word "wijd," which means "wide,’” referring to the width of the Rhino’s mouth. So, the Rhino with the wide mouth ended up being called the White Rhinoceros and the one with the narrow, pointed mouth was called the Black Rhinoceros. We never saw a Black Rhino, which are much rarer and shyer.

The male White Rhinoceros weighs an average of 5,100 lbs. and the female weighs an average of 3,750 lbs., although males weighing nearly 8,000 lbs. have been reported.

The White Rhinoceros has two horn-like growths, one behind the other, made of solid keratin, which is different than the horns of cattle and their relatives, which are keratin with a bony core, and deer antlers, which are solid bone. The front horn can be about 24-59 inches long, with females having longer horns than males.

A good view; Photo: Caty Stevens

Rhinoceroses can run at up to 30 mph.

Found in grasslands and savannah, White Rhinoceroses drink twice a day if water is available, but can live four or five days without water. They spend about half of the day grazing and a third resting.

A rhino's skin is much softer than it looks, and is sensitive to sunburns and insect bites. That's why rhinos roll in the mud so much - it helps to protect them from the sunburns and insects.

Even though I am going to talk about birds later, I do need to point out that Rhinos (and many Hippos and antelope) tend to have “hitchhikers” -- Red-Billed Oxpeckers -- that eat parasites off the larger animals.

Red-Billed Oxpeckers on a Rhino

White Rhinoceroses live in “crashes” or herds of up to 14 animals (usually mostly female). The most we saw together in Kruger was two. Sub-adult males will congregate, often in association with an adult female. Most adult bulls are solitary. White Rhinos can live to be up to 50 years old.

Adult White Rhinos have no natural predators (other than humans) due to their size and tough skin. Even young Rhinos are rarely attacked or preyed on due to the mother's presence and that thick skin.

This was so exciting

Historically the major factor in the decline of White Rhinos was uncontrolled hunting, but now poaching for their horns is the primary threat. The White Rhino is particularly vulnerable to hunting and poaching because it is relatively unaggressive with very poor eye sight. Despite the lack of scientific evidence, the Rhino horn is highly prized in traditional Asian medicine, where it is ground up and used to treat maladies such as nosebleeds, strokes, convulsions and fevers. In 2013, poaching rates for White Rhinos nearly doubled from the previous year, giving the animal Near Threatened status.

I wish we had seen babies

The poaching is so bad that a Southern White Rhinoceros was killed and had its horn cut off this year in the Thoiry Zoo in France, which is believed to be the first time a rhinoceros has ever been poached in a European zoo. More than 1,500 Rhinos were poached in Kruger between 2001 to and 2013 alone. Since 2009, some Kruger Rhinos have been fitted with tracing devices that enable officials to locate their carcasses and to track the smuggled horns by satellite.

For a Rhino video, click here.

We saw a wide variety of antelopes in Kruger --understandable since antelopes have more subspecies than other types of animals in Africa. And, they have a wide variety of horns, sizes, markings and characteristics.

Male Impala

The largest animal population in Kruger is Impalas at 152,000. We saw a lot of them.

The Common Impala stands about 28-36 inches at the shoulder and weighs 88-168 lbs.

The male's slender, lyre-shaped horns are 18-36 inches long (in other words, the horns can equal the animal’s height).

The horns’ arch-like structure allows interlocking, which helps a male throw off his opponent during fights and protects the skull from damage.

Impala live in three distinct social groups, often quite large: territorial males, bachelor herds and female herds.

The Impala is important prey for Cheetahs, Leopards and Lions, which they try to evade by jumping as they run. Impala can jump up to 9.8 ft., covering distances of up to 33 ft.

The Impala prefers shade, which can make it tricky to photograph. We saw so many that we forgot to take many pictures, especially of females.

Female Impala

Another common antelope we saw was the Greater Kudu, of which there are almost 14,000 in Kruger. One of the largest antelopes, bulls weigh 420-700 lbs. and stand up to 63 inches at the shoulder. Cows are considerably smaller, at 260-460 lbs. and 39 inches tall.

Male Greater Kudu

Make Kudus are striking, with 4-12 vertical white stripes along their torso, a small white chevron between the eyes, large manes running along their throats and large twisted horns, which, if they were straightened, would reach an average length of 4 ft., with the record being just over 6 ft. Males and females look significantly different, with the females closely resembling female Nyalas.

Female Greater Kudu

The male's horns begin to grow when the bull is 6-12 months old, twisting once at 2 years, and not reaching the full two-and-a-half to three twists until they are 6 years old. Cows don’t have horns.

Male Greater Kudu horns

Predators of the Kudu generally consist of Lions, Leopards and Hyenas. Although Cheetahs also prey on Kudus, they are unable to bring down a bull, and consequently target the more vulnerable cows and offspring.

Male Greater Kudu

Despite being very nimble over rocky hillsides and mountains, the Greater Kudu is not fast enough (nor does it have enough stamina) to escape its main predators over open terrain. So, instead, it tends to rely on leaping over shrubs and small trees to shake off pursuers.

Male Kudus spar by interlocking horns and shoving one another, in rare circumstances resulting in both males being unable to free themselves from the other's horns, which can then result in death of both animals.

We also saw a couple of Steenbok, a beautiful little fawn-colored antelope. They stand only 16-24 inches at the shoulder and the males’ straight horns are only 3-8 inches long. Steenbok typically browse on low-level vegetation and are almost entirely independent of drinking water, getting the moisture from their food. Known predators include small cats, Jackals, Leopards, Martial Eagles and Pythons. Unlike many antelope, Steenbok are typically solitary.

Male Steenbok

Oh, and a note about horns vs. antlers. There are no antlered animals in Africa -- no deer. We were told that is because the nutrition the animals in Africa are able to eke out of the land is not enough to support the massive job of growing and dropping and then re-growing antlers. Horns grow continuously from birth until they reach adult size, but do not have to be re-grown every year.

Male Impala with impressive horns

We also saw some Lions in Kruger, although none at close range, so I will save the detailed information on Lions for my Karongwe posts. But, our first sighting was amusing. Somehow, our guide spotted a Lion’s paw sticking up in the tall grass behind a tree. We were besides ourselves because this was our first big cat, even though it was virtually impossible to see. I ended up deleting a lot of pictures just like this.

Lion paw

After further scouring the area, we saw another, a female, reclining in the grass. She never moved; the other one with its paw up did lower the paw. We were soooo excited to have seen wild Lions.

Reclining Lion

Later, we came upon a small group of females and tiny cubs on an island in the river. They were, unfortunately, behind some trees – a situation that got worse when the driver repositioned the game vehicle.

Lionesses with cubs in the weeds

Still, we could see them – and, when we looked closely, we could see the cubs climbing over their mom.

Lioness and cub

And, then still a little later, we came upon ten Lions (yes, ten!) on some rocks by the river. They were far away, but very much in the open.

Kruger Lions

At first, we saw a few on the rock to the left and, while we were watching them, we heard a driver in a car nearby tell another driver that there were seven in the area. That caused us to look more closely and to see the larger number of Lions on the rock to the right. I am not sure the other driver had seen the ones we were looking at. We could have easily missed them all, although they were relatively easy to see through binoculars or a camera lens.

As we were driving about, we saw a Water Monitor Lizard, well camouflaged, but at fairly close range. Second in size only to the Nile Crocodile, adults can reach lengths of up to 8 ft., including the tail. This one was probably 5-6 ft. long.

Water Monitor; Photo: Caty Stevens

Although usually found close to water, they will actively forage on land, often traveling far from water if needed. They can climb trees, but are usually found basking on riverbanks. They use their long, strong tails to propel themselves through the water.

Water Monitor

Opportunistic carnivores, they eat frogs, crabs, invertebrates and lizards, small mammals, fish, birds and eggs. They lay – and then abandon – their eggs in active termite mounds. The termites close up the hole the Monitor dug, providing the eggs with a warm, humid and safe environment. Young Monitors then dig their way out of the nest upon hatching.

Speaking of Termites, we saw lots and lots of huge termite mounds, some of which were probably 8 ft. tall and about as large in diameter, including one that was providing grazing for a group of Zebras. But, we never saw any actual Mound-Building Termites.

Burchell's Zebras on a Termite Mound

The structure of these mounds can be very complicated with an extensive system of tunnels and conduits that serves as a ventilation system for the underground nest. Vegetation on termite mounds usually differs highly from vegetation in the surrounding area because decomposition of plant material makes the soils more fertile and wetter. Thus, they are good grazing areas. The Zebras seemed to enjoy it.

Vervet Monkey

Although people tend to think Africa is full of Monkeys, it has only one type: the Vervet Monkey.

The Vervet is an Old World Monkey, as opposed to New World Monkeys that are found in Central and South America.

Males are generally 20 inches long and weigh up to 12 lbs. and females reach 16 inches and weigh up to 9 lbs.

Active both during the day and the night, they are very social and live in groups with as many as 40 members.

We saw quite a few, mostly far range -- and usually moving about in the trees. They spend most of their time in trees, but sometimes go to the ground to feed. However, they rarely go further than 1500 ft. from the trees, which helps to protect them from predators.

The Vervet Monkey eats a primarily wild fruits, flowers, leaves, seeds and seed pods. In agricultural areas, they can become a problem, raiding bean, pea, tobacco, vegetable, fruit and grain crops. They also eat grasshoppers, termites, bird eggs and chicks.

Watching us; Photo: Caty Stevens

Vervets are often used in research because they are easy to capture, breed well in captivity and have human-like characteristics, such as hypertension, anxiety and social and dependent alcohol use (I assume that is just for research; I didn’t see any Monkey liquor stores).

Although spiteful actions are extremely rare in the animals, Vervets have been observed destroying a competitor's food source rather than stealing it and eating it themselves.

Mothers have been seen punishing their young for being too playful.

Humans pose a big threat to Vervet Monkeys. Farmers trap and kill them for eating their crops. They can be killed by electrical wires. They are often used for bushmeat. And, as I mentioned, they are captured to be used for research.

We also saw a male Ellipsen Waterbuck, showing us his unique target markings!