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We rented a car, attached to it a South Africa flag, and headed for a 3-day safari in the famous Kruger’s National Park. We well blended in the crowd of South Africans escaping the world cup. They usually begun their conversation in Africaan language, thinking we’re one of them. This was a funny experience and I must admit Africaan (historically based on Dutch) is quite understandable if you speak German.

However, Homo Sapiens was one of the least interesting species we have spotted. We were much more focused on the other mammals, especially the famous Big 5.

First, we saw elephants. These huge guys were eating entire bushes. They told us we were lucky to have seen them, but it was just one of many elephant encounters that followed.

Next arrived four fat rhinos. They slowly crossed our road. They are really big.

Third, appeared a beautiful leopard. It behaved as if it had a lot of experience on catwalks, and nicely posed to photographs.

Fourth, lion the king! First we saw the some scraps of meet next to the road, next a big feast inside the bushes, 5 meters away from our car. I must say it is very scary when a lion watches you from so close and starts roaring!

Finally, to complete the Big 5, we saw a couple of buffalos. We thought we were very lucky, but further north in the park they became a rule rather than an exception. The climax was at the park exit, where we saw a herd of maybe 100 buffalos.

“If you’re slow, you’re food” – that refers to many other species we saw, like all these beautiful antelopes, wild turkeys, small squirrels, and funny monkeys. Even giraffes, big and very fast when necessary, are sometimes taken down by lions – the lions we saw were feasting on one. Giraffes are funny animals. Difficult to photograph because of their dimensions: You will turn the camera vertically when giraffe is standing upright, but when it bends down to drink you rotate it to horizontal position. We were told that if a giraffe lies down with her neck on the ground, she suffocates within two minutes. Hard life, isn’t it?

Overall, it was great to watch all these beautiful living their lives as they should, in Nature. Kruger Park is fenced, but it is one of the biggest national parks in Africa, with about 350km in length. So the wildlife there probably resembles quite well how it looked like before the humans appeared. Highly recommended. We are already looking forward to visiting the other great parks in Kenya and Tanzania.

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