Maguga Lodge to hazy view.

An 8am start this morning for the bus trip to Hazyview, our starting point for Friday's safari in Kruger National Park. The road took us north to the border where left Swaziland immigration and re-entered South Africa. I am always intrigued how mobile phones know to switch from global roaming to local once you cross a country's border and sure enough we were back on the SA MTN network within minutes. The northern end of Swaziland appeared to be wealthier than the south with more dispersed and tidier houses. Poverty was still evident however but as always, the school children looked neat and tidy in their uniforms.

We arrived at the Malalane gate entrance to Kruger NP around 11am and stopped at the gate to be head counted for our entry. Red tape is alive and well in South Africa but I think they wanted to check we were paying the right amount of money as we only paid for our 20 people and the coach holds 49. 

I always thought we were taking this route simply because it was the shortest route on tarred road to Hazyview. The animal sightings along the way took us all by surprise. Before we even entered the Park we crossed the Crocodile River and spotted hippos and a lone croc. There were many small herds of Impala and these are referred to cynically as the fast food of Kruger. They are a beautiful sleek animal and my favorite of the antelopes we have seen but when you view their "butt" end the markings make a large M, reinforcing the "fast food"cynics. (See photo). Several small parades of elephants were spotted, some on the road and they didn't disappoint with their young ones in tow, feeding as they went. One thing you do notice on the road is the occasional huge pile of rhino poo. They have a habit of marking their territory and the piles are big enough to fertilize a bowling green. There were 3 sightings of white rhinos, the cutest being a baby under the watchful eye of its mother very close to the road. Giraffes were also encountered in closer proximity. Other animals included wart hogs, kudu, nyala, monkeys with babies clinging on, zebras and southern buffalo. They are not water buffalo as I mistakenly said in an earlier part of the blog. If this was a casual ride through a small part of the Park, what will tomorrow's 4wd safari be like?

Lunch was at the Park's admin headquarters and there was a great range of fast food and restaurant meals available. We exited the Park through the Paul Kruger gate which was appropriate as he was the founder of this vast environmental area. The motel is right in Hazyview and it is a town where I wouldn't walk to by myself and in fact we were warned not to. The Numbi motel is a sprawling mass of reasonably comfortable rooms with a few anomalies. One is that there is a hair dryer in the room with a European 2 pin plug that doesn't fit the SA socket. You then have to go over to reception and hire an adaptor for 20 rand to make it work. The guy even looked a bit like Basil Fawlty. I must say the meals are excellent however. Kruger awaits!