Kruger Trip

This Easter break we had a fantastic stroke of luck... all the government schools went back on the 5th April but our school only started on the 11th April. We had to take advantage of the chance to go on holiday out of the normal school break. We used to spend weeks in Kruger every year but our last trip was almost two years ago. It was time to go back.

A's sister has kids at a school that has its long holiday in April so they decided to join us on the trip. My in-laws recently purchased a new trailer/caravan from Bushwakka so they decided to join us and it became a camping holiday. This was new territory for me as we have always stayed in the standard bungalows in Kruger. I spent ages reading reviews of campsites on 4X4 forums and in the end I chose to spend the first two nights at Maroela and then three nights at Skukuza.

I drove up to Vryheid on the 1st April and had a relaxing weekend in Vryheid visiting old friends and celebrating kids birthdays. We packed the two vehicles and trailer on Sunday evening. Monday was a really long day. We left at 6am and drove up the through Nelspruit to Orpen gate. We did stop once to let the kids run around at Casterbridge in White River. A cute little spot with a jungle gym and some interesting shops. We had planned to eat there but father-in-law had made tons of sandwiches for the trip and everybody was fairly full. The restaurant there is called Gumtreez and it really looked very nice and had a play area. If I take that route again, I am sure we will stop there.

Orpen check-in was fairly easy but I don't think I would use the gate again. It lacks the sense of arrival in the park that you get from most of the gates. Maroela camp was fantastic. Really small with only 25 sites and at the time of our visit it was nearly empty. We camped alongside the dry Timbavati riverbed. The game viewing in camp was brilliant. At night we had hyena next to the fence and during the day we saw elephant, bushbuck and kudu. The camp has a really nice disabled bathroom which made camping far more comfortable for my mother-in-law. The ablutions were clean and modern. I was truly surprised by this little camp. The camp manager and his wife keep the place spotless and even help you to set up camp. I highly recommend this spot to everyone and I can't wait to go back there.

We did get started fairly late in the morning but that was due to the size of the group and everyone having different plans. We still had amazing sightings. The weather was fairly warm the first two days but then the temperature plummeted. It was rainy and chilly as we drove to Skukuza. The thought of putting up the tent in the rain was fairly miserable. Luckily the skies cleared as we arrived and we managed to get the tents up before the next drizzle started. The ground at Skukuza is rock hard and we had fairly rough time pegging the tent. This was not helped by our tents age and state of disrepair. We got the tent up using ropes and rocks. So be warned that camping here takes a large amount of muscle or a handy tree to tie the tent to. After we had exchanged some "affectionate" words while putting up the tent and trying to string together poles with snapped elastic, we have decided to buy a roof top tent. Let me know if you have any advice in this regard.

Camping at Skukuza was not great. The camp is noisy at night. Trucks driving at all hours, people drinking and talking through the night and people starting to pack camp at 4am. It was a very different world to the bush sounds of Maroela. At Maroela I heard lion and hyena, now it was the sound of civilization. The camping is fairly crowded and as mentioned before the ground is very solid, so putting up your tent is not easy. Sadly the biggest camp in the park did not have disabled ablutions which made life fairly difficult for my mom-in-law. The only disabled toilet is near the shop, on the other side of the camp from the camping area and there are no showers or baths that cater to the physically disabled. Hopefully this is changed soon.

We did have incredible sightings around Skukuza including a sighting of 8 female lions and we were the only car there. By the time the lion had finished playing on the road and vanished into the bush another four cars had arrived. It was still the most incredible sighting and it was pure luck to arrive at that moment.

The five days of the trip went by so quickly but we really did have a great time. The cousins played constantly in the camp and Skukuza now has a jungle gym next to the main restaurant that the kids loved. Food has improved greatly in Kruger since our last trip. We only ate out on the Friday night to celebrate A and his sister's birthday but the food at the Cattle Baron was lovely and the decor fitted the setting. We had an ice-cream at the Wimpy at Pretoriuskop and amazingly they have even toned down their image to suit the bush setting.

A and I are going back at the end of September for our wedding anniversary and I really can't wait.

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