Kruger Park - Skukuza

With a few more separate impala sightings on the road, the remainder of my journey into Skukuza remained uneventful. Skukuza is the administrative headquarters and the largest rest camp of the park. In the early 20th century, it was also the overnight stop for tourists who travelled on the Selati Railway from Crocodile Bridge.

The construction of the Selati Railway was a highly controversial affair. When gold was discovered in the late 1800s in the nearby region, the government decided to build a railway track for transportation. They awarded the contract to two brothers who turned out to be corrupt, embezzling funds, falsifying accounts and bribing. Embroiled in a public scandal, the government immediately ceased all construction, abandoning partially completed works for the next decade. When work finally resumed in the early 1900s it took another decade to complete the job.

By 1923 it was taken over by the South Africa Railway and rolled out a nine-day train tour through the lowveld. The tour proved very popular. Each week a total of 250 trains travelled through the park until 1963, when plans for expansion were considered in conjunction with the high number of wildlife accidents. To keep them safe it was decided to relocate and expand the railway around the park. The last train to run through the park was in 1973.

Selati Bridge in Skukuza is where the tour train used to stop overnight. Today it is home to a fully refurbished train that recently opened as luxury accommodation. Adjacent to the train is a walkway with stunning views of Sabie River and the bushveld. A great place to watch wildlife drinking or frolicking in the river.

This seemed like an ideal location to wrap up my journey and reflect on the wonderful animals I encountered along the way. Although I only visited a small portion of the entire park, the wildlife is in abundance as was evident by my sightings of zebras, giraffes, elephants, buffaloes and antelopes.

Farewell for now.

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Kruger Park - Antelope

Nkuhlu Picnic Site was a quiet and tranquil resting spot on the banks of Sabie River. It was dotted with picnic tables, beneath the shade of Natal Mahogany trees. Stretching my legs and enjoying a snack, I kept one eye peeled on the river for any potential sighting and the other on the monkeys or birds hanging around, waiting for the chance to swoop in and steal my picnic.

It reminds me of a story I once read. It was mid-morning at a picnic site with a handful of families around preparing breakfast when suddenly, a woman screams: ‘Leopard! Leopard!’. Lo and behold, a leopard had wandered onto the site, drawn by the aroma of the sizzling bacon piled up high on a skottel (BBQ grill). As you might imagine, everyone cautiously retreated away from the leopard, who besides a cursory glance, padded towards the skottel. Jumping up and resting his front paws on the skottel, the leopard tucked into the bacon. The game ranger tried to scare it off, but the leopard wouldn’t hear of it. Taking his sweet time, the leopard took a half hour to polish off the bacon and when done, just hopped down and slipped back into the bush. It’s fair to say that it covered one of the Big 5 sightings for the day.

As I returned to the main road, I came across a family of impala. The ram and two calves were patiently waiting on the side of the road for the ewe to prance across it and join them. These graceful animals are amazing jumpers, leaping as far as 33ft (10m) and as high as 10ft (3m), and they are incredibly fast with a top speed of up to 55mph (90km/h). Although they could never outrun cheetahs, one of their predators, the impalas are adept at swiftly changing direction, running in a zig-zag fashion; add to that their jumping capabilities and they have a good chance of escaping.

Barely half a mile further, I came across a whole herd of impalas, grazing on the shoulder of the road. Impalas are one of 21 antelope species found in Kruger Park. They are easily distinguished by the black streaks on their tail and down their hind legs. With 130,000 adult impalas in the park and being prolific breeders, they are the ‘least concern’ on the conservation status.

Let me leave you with another Kruger story. One day, a cluster of parked cars were on the lookout for five cheetahs that were seen in the area when all of a sudden, an anxious herd of impalas broke through the brush, leaping across the road, seeming to be fleeing for their lives. Just as the last impala fled into the bush, a cheetah burst out of the brush, hot on its tail. The impala must’ve taken a sudden turn whilst in the thicket because both of them reappeared speeding towards the parked cars. The impala was so desperate to escape that it leapt straight through the open window of a tourist’s 4WD, whilst its pursuer skidded and slid under the car. Luckily, the shocked passenger had the presence of mind to swiftly open the door and let the impala scramble across his lap straight out of the car and disappear back into the bush. As the excitement died down and the vehicles dispersed, the road returned to normal with no evidence of the action that transpired.

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