For most of my adult life, even before I had a child, I have daydreamed about the moment I take my kids on a wildlife holiday. Well in August 2022 that dream became a reality as I took my 4-year-old girl to Kruger National Park, South Africa on her first safari, just me and her! It was a whole different experience to going there with friends or guests. She was my most demanding customer of all time, and I have never been asked so many questions in my life, nor have I heard the word ‘Daddy’ mentioned so many times. ‘Daddy, why are Honey badgers not called lemonade badgers’, and ‘Daddy, do honey badgers eat salad’, ‘Daddy, the lizards on the wall just need to get to know us, they don’t know us enough yet’, and so on. Some truly hilarious stuff came out of her mouth on this trip. It was a real pleasure to take a 4-year-old on a wildlife trip who hasn’t yet fully formed an understanding of the world around her. A lot of people said to me I was mad, and that she was too young and wouldn’t appreciate it, but my idea is to inspire her from a young age and get the cogs moving from the off. I am not too fussed if she remembers it or not, as long as she is inspired, which she was.

The trip was divided into three places in the southern section of Kruger, as I wanted to stay in 3 very different places, Skukuza, Pretoriuskop, and finally Sabi Sabi Lodge to try a bit of luxury.

Anyway, I decided I couldn’t take my big cameras and lenses with me as I would have my hands full with her, so I decided to try out the latest Canon mirrorless technology, and a more compact camera set up in the form of the Canon R5 with a versatile canon RF100-500 mm lens, and wow did it impress. In fact I have never been so impressed with a new piece of equipment, the thing didn’t miss a beat as you will see in some of the pics, where I am somehow managing to navigate Kruger, parent and photograph at the same time.

The sightings come think and fast in this national park, so I am not going to discuss everything, only the highlights. A smooth flight to Joburg and then a short 1 hour flight direct to Skukuza got us straight into Kruger with no driving, where I picked up my car and got stuck straight into a game drive, just me and my daughter! Her little socks were blown off at the sights of her first wild African animals such as Impala, Chacma Baboon, Kudu and Warthog.

We checked into Skukuza camp, put the bags in the Rondeval (small hut) and went for some lunch, which was great as we had a small party of colourful birds coming up close to pinch our chips which was great for my daughter.

In the late afternoon we decided to go for a short game drive to Lake Panic to show her her first Hippos. It didn’t disappoint as we had close up hippos from the hide that were getting a bit aggressive with each other. We also had a nice bushbuck up close by the hide. It was late and Myla was falling asleep so went back to camp to rest. I had some sub adult Hyenas lying on the tarmac of the H1-1 as they were waking up for their nocturnal activities, unfortunately my daughter was asleep by this stage.

The next morning we were up early as I wanted to go to Mathekeyane Granokop, which is a large rocky outcrop or ‘koppie’, where you can get out and admire the view, but I like to target these places for leopards as they love to rest and hunt from the raised lookout points. No such luck, but we had super close up Klipspringers right next to the car. My daughter immediately reached for her iPad and tried to get a photo. I was amazed, and hoped that this was the start of her being a budding wildlife photographer.

Other interesting sightings from this Koppie were Common Duiker, Burchell’s Coucal, and a Tawny Eagle. I decided to take the S21 gravel road to Lower Sabie so that we could get breakfast. It is quite a long journey, and we had some amazing encounters along the way. There were signs all around the camps about Southern Ground Hornbills and their decline, so my daughter was aware of them and kept saying she really wanted to see them. While we were watching a large Cape Buffalo, a flock of 4 turned up, and she was blown away. They came really close to the car allowing me to get some amazing head shots. These birds are listed as vulnerable and nowadays can only really be seen in large protected areas like Kruger. Their demise is the same old story, habitat loss, persecution and even poisoning. Read more, or even help here https://ground-hornbill.org.za. Incredible birds that show so much of what they are thinking with their massive eyes and lashes.

We moved on and got back onto the tarmac road on the S79 near Lower Sabie. We we’re stopped by an old couple who told us there was a leopard nearby. We found about 5 cars all parked up looking, but nobody was onto it and it had dispersed into thick bush as leopards always do. Then further down the road we saw a long traffic jam heading towards us slowly, as we got closer we saw what the fuss was about and we had a our first lion. A lone female walking at pace, looking like she was on the hunt. Maybe she was hiding cubs somewhere as she had a particularly saggy belly.

After a nice lunch at Lower Sabie Restcamp looking over the Sabie River, I took her to Sunset Dam to look for Crocodiles and the many Hippos that are always there. We had a lovely Yellow-billed Stork posing right next to the car.

It was the heat of the day and the drive back to Skukuza was nice, but nothing bar the normal game was seen. The following morning we were up and at it early doors, aiming for the S65 gravel road. We had a great close encounter with a roadside elephant, where Myla again tried to hone her photography skills on the iPad. Moving on further up the road I spotted a mixed flock of vultures on the top of small acacia bushes which I thought looked a bit unusual. As I moved a bit closer to investigate, there were more on the ground. This usually means there is something dead in the area, and eventually I spotted the carcass. As I moved nearer, it was a dead Hyena, being eaten buy Vultures and Bateleurs. The scavenger scavenged!

On the evening drive I decided to do a long looping drive around the H5 between Jock Safari Lodge and Lower Sabie. We literally didn’t see another car all evening and felt extremely remote in the wilderness. We came across the biggest elephant of the trip so far, this massive Bull. His tusks had both snapped, probably due to his power. He was absolutely massive; the size hard to capture on camera:

A few minutes down the road from him we came across a huge herd of females and youngsters that he was probably hot on the heels off. At a guess I’d say there were 100-150, all slowly foraging through the lowveld. At one point, we were completely surrounded which was nervy, but turning my engine off and staying calm did the trick as I let them through and waited for my opportunity to get through the roadblock.

Having to wait for them to pass put me under massive time pressure to get back to camp before the gates closed at 17:30. So I rushed off back, and typically, when you are in a rush to get home, the chances are you are going to see something good. And we did, a pride of lions hunting on the edge of the Lower Sabie river at sunset! Hard to put a number on it as they were moving through long grass and reeds, but I would say at least 20. A rushed yet amazing sighting, but I had to go as I was in danger of not getting back into Skukuza in time. It was too dark for photography, so the photos are not worth sharing.

The next morning I wanted to look for leopard again at one of the Koppies near Skukuza so I was the first one out the gates and heading down the H3 Tarmac road. As we drove, a ranger flashed me and pulled me over and tipped me off that there is a very large pride of lions on the road about 3km ahead, but you must hurry before they move off. I got there, and turned a corner and was absolutely blown away at what was coming at me around the corner.

Shaking with excitement as there were lions everywhere, all different ages and maturities including tiny little clubs. The whole pride was ruled by just two adult males who seemed super relaxed.

They were all around our car and the young ones were constantly play fighting providing us lots of entertainment. 4 of the sub-adult lions were even climbing high up in an Acacia tree, and I am still not sure what the fascination was. Maybe there was a leopard kill in the tree the night before and the scent was still around, not sure, but they were hell bent on being up there. They were even sharpening their claws at the base of the tree.

Then all of a sudden the mood changed, and all the female lions started to become more alert and all looked in the same direction. Around the corner came another separate pride of around 20 lions. I couldn’t believe my luck, and thought we were about to witness a fight. As they got closer, they appeared to know each other and were slightly edgy but not aggressive. Only the lead female from the new group showed her teeth, but it wasn’t too aggressive. The prides merged together and seemed happy in each others company. All the while the two males barely flinched and didn’t react to the goings on. They must have been formidable males if they were in charge of this many females and cubs. If anyone has more info on this super pride I would love to know more. There were at least 40 plus lions together.

Moving on, I tried to follow the old Selati rail road as I have had good sightings of rhino in the past, and had absolutely no luck with rhino so far on the trip. I last went to the southern part of Kruger in 2012 and a few times in the previous 2 years before that, 2011 and 2010. On those trips I would find roughly 3 to 5 rhino per day, and poaching was really bad back then and making the headlines. On this trip I really struggled to see any so far which is a really bad sign, then luckily, I got a fleeting glimpse of 3 rhinos on the old Selati railway road, and these all had their horns cut off by the authorities, to protect them from ruthless poachers. I have since learned that the population has reduced by 75% in the decade that has passed since me last visiting this area. What an absolute tragedy. I didn’t see a single rhino with a horn on the entire trip. Read more here https://africageographic.com/stories/kruger-rhino-poaching-update-75-population-reduction-in-10-years/

Help here https://www.savetherhino.org/get-involved/

Further down the Selati road, my daughter was really getting into the swing of things, and she was now demanding me to stop and reverse for animals (which I loved). She screamed stop Daddy, there is a big black bird in the tree. I didn’t really believe her as I thought I would have also seen it, but I humoured her and reversed back. Much to my surprise was a super close Bataleur in perfect light, followed by a Lilac-breasted Roller, which she aptly named a Rainbow Bird.

That brings me to the end of my stay at Skukuza. Next stop Pretoriuskop, which I will discuss with the next set of pics.