Mother’s Day in Kruger National Park
05/09/10
“When will the vacation begin?” Choppa-chaw joked, breaking the 5 a.m. silence on route to Kruger National Park. The drive was unusually quiet towards a red rising sun, expanding orange across the horizon.
Inside the park, we climbed into an open-sided truck painted military green. Morning dew coated the ceiling in small rivers that dripped downwards across our faces, illuminated in the morning sun. Boxie-boo and Choppa-chaw wrapped themselves in blankets as my hand numbed in the cold attempting to write on pages where water droplets expanded my ink.
After seeing zebras, wildebeests, impalas, kudus and circling eagles, our driver Pasta whispered “Lion,” brushing away the condensation on his windshield.
It was strange to see a deer out in nature because I was beginning to assume their natural habit was right in front of my car on the highway in Canada.
We headed further up the paved road towards a traffic jam. A shuffle in the bush. We all stared. Then a male lion walked through the tall glasses onto the road. His large teeth and proud mane were within a few feet of us.
“We are so blessed to see this,” Choppa-chaw said.
“Happy Mother’s Day!” I responded, before showing her an up close shot of the king’s face on my camera.
By 8:30 a.m. when we stopped to prepare breakfast, we were unusually lucky. In total, we had seen: mother and cub leopard (far away), male lion, wildebeests, impalas, one buffalo, zebras, a death adder snake, baboons, an elephant, crocodile, kudu (large deer), giraffes and many birds.
“I cannot believe this game drive,” Pasta said.
“Not bad for three hours,” added Miguel from Spain.
With our eyes squinted in rising dust, we headed back into the park. Within minutes, I had spotted multiple animals and was on a role ever since spotting the baboons.
“Cheetah! Cheetah!” I yelled, spotting a hyena. My vocabulary made as much sense as yelling touchdown at a hockey game. Minutes later, in deep brush, a lioness chewed down on a baby zebra. Following that, we were lucky again when I spotted a family of hippos in water.
“Put on your banana face,” Pasta said, after we stopped by a resting white rhino. Its giant body hidden in the shade, it appeared like a giant stone. Standing up, it faced us momentarily, before returning to its lazy afternoon resting.
“Must be a nice life relaxing all day,” Choppa-chaw said.
“Shut up!” Pasta interrupted, then smirked, before pulling out his ringing cellphone from his pocket.
We were all in good spirits, even though Pasta was rude at times. We had seen the “Big Five” - leopard, rhino, water buffalo, lion and elephant - in one day, something Pasta said can take weeks.
By the time we left the park at 7 p.m., everyone had fallen asleep multiple times, except for Choppa-chaw and I. Even after sunset using flashlights to spot animals, I still found myself fully entertained. I had spent my life always reading nature magazines and watching wildlife documentaries. Seeing these animals in person was a dream come true. I still had a few species left on my list, including my favourite animal in the world - the cheetah.
We also saw: steenboks (small antelope), a bush baby (small nocturnal primate), vervet monkeys, warthogs, black-backed jackal, ostriches, waterbucks (large antelopes), roan antelopes and even a few rabbits.
What a day!
(Side Note: Boxie-boo really wanted to wish her mom at Happy Mother’s Day but was unable)
That’s all for now.
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