South African Braai

I found that resteraunts in Kruger National Park varied quite a bit in quality.  Where I started in Lower Sabie was a Mugg and Bean (which I hear is a chain).  The food was quite good; mostly International fare, sandwiches, burgers, steak, etc; but the view was spectacular, right over the Sabie river with good opportunities to watch game on the morning, or the sunset in the evening.

When I passed through Skakuza (where I would love to stay next time) there was a steakhouse overlooking the river and the Skakuza railway bridge.  The food here was really good also.
So, I had high hopes for the last camp, Pretoriuskop.  Unfortunately, it features something called a Whimpy, which is a South African fast food place.  I cannot actually comment on the food since I decided to bbq instead.
In the park shop you can buy meat and vegetables, dessert, and even wine.  They also sell a Braai box which is this wooden box with a fire starter (looks like a small brick of C4), some kindling, and some charcoal.  As far as I can see, all the huts and campsites had somewhere to bbq.
So I placed this box on the metal stand and lit it, and presto … we have fire!
A lot of fire!  Of course, you have to wait for this to calm down a bit before you can start grilling.  Eventually you are left with just the charcoal glowing and then you can start cooking.  Cooking is then the same as using a charcoal grill, so you should spread your charcoal out before you start.
When you book accommodation inside Kruger, try to see what is included.  Some of them have hot plates, cutely, even pots and pans. A fridge is handy too so you can keep milk cold.

Watering holes

My best sightings of elephants so far has been at Nyamundwa (I don’t think I can pronounce this one), which is 10km East of Phabeni Gate.  This lake was one if the few that I have been to that still had a lot if water in it during the dry season.

When I arrived there was already a few cars there.  You can park right at the edge of the lake and, if you are lucky, you can see elephants taking a bath! There were maybe 15 or so that were playing around in the water and just relaxing in the morning sun.
Further East, close to Lower Sabie is Sunset Point, which is also good for game viewing, especially around sunset.  I saw quite a few hippopotamus here.  They are hard to spot at first if they are almost fully submerged, but if you wait they will return to the surface.
I also saw some crocodile here, which is perhaps why it is important not to get out of your car!
Last night I took another night drive and saw hyena for the first time.  There was a mother and two cubs.  I will add pictures once I download them from my camera.

Kruger sunset drive

I flew from Johannesburg to Nelspruit yesterday morning.  Getting from the city to the airport in rush hour as a bit of a task in itself, but I can save that for another post.

Nelspruit airport is quite small and the car rentals are located directly after you pick up your baggage.  I requested a small car and got a Chevy Spark Lite. This is probably the smallest car I have ever driven!
I drove from Nelspruit to the Crocodile Bridge gate to enter the park.  Thus was a little over an hour.  The drive is quite scenic as there are rolling hills, but otherwise it’s just freeway driving.
Once you enter the park, you need to cross a single lane bridge with no guard rails on either side.  They have some concrete safety stumps on either side, but plenty are missing!  I’m quite curious to know how many cars end up in that river!
From there it is only about 35km to Lower Sabie where I was spending the night.  It’s a slow drive in the park with a maximum of just 50 km/h, which is good since there seems to be a lot to see.  I first stopped at the side of the road when I saw an elephant in the distance drinking water from a steam.
A little further on, a lot of cars were stopped and I saw 2 giraffes eating leaves from the top of the trees.  Suffice to say, it’s difficult to drive and take pictures, but hopefully I can get some better pictures than the blurry ones I have so far!
I arrived at camp just in time to attend an evening drive.  When you do this, the ranger drives and you are free to take pictures.  The first thing we saw was a lion that was drinking from the stream.  After this, we saw a pride of lions that were sleeping under a tree.  This must only have been 100 metres or so from the truck!
We also saw, among other things, a leopard sleeping in a tree.  At first the ranger found it by seeing it’s tail.  I don’t think I would ever have noticed it.  Eventually it jumped down from the tree and walked across the road in front of us, heading off to find its dinner!
If you ever visit Kruger I would really recommend the drives.  The rangers seem very good at spotting all kinds of things!