Into Kruger

Wednesday 10th September

Pretoriuskop, Kruger National Park

I was a real shame not to have spent longer in Swaziland - there's something captivating about this place.

After trying to get rid of as much of the local currency (emalangeni, which is tied to the South African rand E1=R1) as possible, we headed north through the capital Mbabane and over the mountains at Pigg's Peak and back into South Africa.

The border crossing at Jeppe's Reef was much less sophisticated than the one we entered - just a man behind a desk in a shed.

We stopped for fuel at Shoemansdal and I ventured into one of the roadside "tuck shops" - a small metal shed selling soft drinks and snacks.  Amusingly, there was a large cash and carry opposite and the shopkeeper was busy dragging goods across the road to sell at a significant mark-up in his store.

So much trade here is done at the roadside, with everything from pineapples to tombstones on display at the kerb in the hope someone will stop to buy.

Elephant, Kruger National Park

Before long, we entered the Kruger Park and headed towards Berg-en-Dal rest camp to have lunch.  En route, and with much surprise given the terrain, we spotted a few elephants.  Then a few more.  And a few more.  Before long, we had seen around 50, seemingly in a herd moving south in search of water.  (All the central rivers have dried out.)  There's a grace to these magnificent creatures which has to be seen to be believed.

Going on towards Pretoriuskop, the rest camp where we'll spend the next two nights, we stumbled across three hyena cubs, their playful, puppy-like appearance disguising the powerful jaws that lay beneath.

Hyena, Kruger National Park

We also sighted nyala, impala, kudu, giraffe, zebra and white rhino.  On arriving at Pretoriuskop, the car was surrounded by a family of dwarf mongoose, who posture themselves something like a meercat.

We thought we were staying in a rondavel, but are actually "mid-terrace" in an elongated rondavel.  Space is extremely limited - just enough to stand up at the side of the bed.  The sobering thought this brings is that small though this is, it is bigger than many of the homes we have passed in townships, which have whole families living in them.

There are hyena prowling the perimeter fence, clearly hoping for a feed.  More proactively, the vervet monkeys are just going into the communal kitchens and helping themselves.