Big 5, Kruger National Park

G'day!

by K.Knight

Kruger National Park and South Africa in general, have spent a considerable amount of money on anti-poaching activities, with a special army-trained squad going after ivory and rhino poachers.

Having said this, South Africa has been pushing hard for a lifting of the ivory ban. This is mostly so they can unload the huge stocks of ivory that the National Parks hold, and use the revenue for the parks.

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	Big 5: The Big 5 - 1 down, 4 to go! Tip Rating:

By K.Knight on December 12, 2004

Don't make me come over
there!

by K.Knight

The "Big Five" animals (lion, rhino, elephant, leopard and buffalo,) are all very well represented within this park.

Anne and I experienced excellent viewing of all of the big 5, except for the leopard which is referred to as "notoriously difficult to find."

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	Big 5: The Big 5 - 4 down, 1 to go! Tip Rating:

By K.Knight on December 16, 2004

What do you mean I'm only
number 4?

by K.Knight

More than 15,000 buffaloes live in the Kruger National Park and often large herds of a hundred animals can be observed. To avoid the heat, they prefer to graze in the cool hours of the morning or evening and even at night. They very much like to wallow in the mud and so build up a protective layer against mosquitoes and other insects on their skin.

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	Big 5: The Big 5 - 2 down, 3 to go! Tip Rating:

By K.Knight on December 12, 2004

Top of the food chain.

by K.Knight

The big five got their name from the era when we were killing animals for "sport" (fun) and paying big bucks for the experience. The "big 5" were the 5 most sought after trophies by these hunters.

Personally I do not agree with this and I feel the name that these magnificent creatures are refered to should be changed to reflect a tourism view point.

Kruger National Park Page by Bwana_Brown

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	Big 5: One of the Real 'Big Five' Tip Rating:

Updated By Bwana_Brown on February 7, 2004

Cape Buffalo Near Mopani Camp

by Bwana_Brown

Big game hunters in Africa are always after one of the 'Big Five' - Lion, Elephant, Cape Buffalo, Rhino or Leopard. Although I am always shooting only with a camera, it was a great thrill to come across a herd of Cape Buffalo north of Mopani, on our last hot afternoon in the Park. Here, the herd is not bothered at all as they forage beside the road. We were so close to these ones that we did not need a telephoto lens!

Kruger National Park Page by Bwana_Brown

Directions: Park roads north of Mopani Camp

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	Big 5: Where Is the Candlelight Dinner? Tip Rating:

Updated By Bwana_Brown on March 2, 2004

A Lion is Rejected

by Bwana_Brown

On our first full day in Kruger, we had a very interesting sighting at just after 1 PM, not long since we had left our lunchtime stopover at Oliphants Camp. As we continued our drive north, we noticed a lion and two females sleeping in the bush at the side of the road. We pulled the car over and switched the engine off to see what, if anything, would happen. We were totally surprised when, a few minutes later, the lion roused himself up and approached one of the lioness' with amorous intentions! As soon as he stirred, I clicked the video camera on to catch this possibly award-winning sequence! Alas, the battery immediately conked out - the photo that you see of the lion staring after her is all that we have. He was rejected and the lioness strolled off into the bush!

Directions: Between Olifants and Letara Camps

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	Big 5: The nocturnal buffalo Tip Rating:

Updated By Jenniflower on April 18, 2006

Warily eyeing us out

by Jenniflower, 1 more photos

Buffalos fall into the BIG 5 category with ease, they are large, lumbering and have a certain reputation. They have thick horns, popular with hunters unfortunately. They are gregarious and are generally quite fearless as they are safe to a certain degree from lions. The only buffalo a single lion will catch with ease is a baby buffalo.

It takes a herd of lions to get one mighty big buffalo down. Often the chasers became the chased though haha, when buffalos turn on the lions and start chasing them

Address: Throughout the KNP, at dusk and during the night

Phone: +27 (21) 424 1037

Directions: Throughout the KNP, at dusk and during the night

Website: http://www.krugerpark.org/

Other Contact: http://www.sanparks.org/

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	Big 5: The importance of the trunk Tip Rating:

Updated By Jenniflower on April 18, 2006

KNP elephant close up

by Jenniflower, 2 more photos

The trumpeting elephant is an elephant that is feeling threatened. If you are close by, make haste to get away from it. Their trunks will most likely be in a type of periscope position at this time.

They are social creatures, with closely knit family groups. They hug each other by wrapping their trunks around one another, they also nudge their young gently with their trunk too, and, as a young child does, a baby elephant (calf) sucks on its trunk too.

Address: Throughout the KNP, especially the north

Phone: +27 (21) 424 1037

Directions: Throughout the KNP, especially the north

Website: http://www.krugerpark.org/

Other Contact: http://www.sanparks.org/

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	Big 5: Sunscreen for elephants!? Tip Rating:

Updated By Jenniflower on April 19, 2006

Wading into the water

by Jenniflower, 1 more photos

Elephants have various uses for their trunks, eating being one, and pulling down trees being another... but another rather important one is to keep itself cool! Elephants live in hot climates generally, the KNP is a very hot climate certain times of the year, and they squirt cool water over themselves to keep cool in the blazing heat. After that, they squirt a fine layer of dust over themselves... which, when combined with the water, makes a thin type of mud layer... their sunscreen :)

They also use their trunks as snorkels when they wade in deep water. They are incredibly good swimmers, something which I dont think many folk realise :)

Address: Throughout the KNP, especially in the north

Phone: +27 (21) 424 1037

Directions: Throughout the KNP, especially in the north

Website: http://www.krugerpark.org/

Other Contact: http://www.sanparks.org/

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	Big 5: Elephants and trees Tip Rating:

Updated By Jenniflower on April 18, 2006

Behind every good eli...

by Jenniflower,
2 more photos

Elephants and trees...the one loves the other, but not so for the other! haha Elephants are prolific in their destruction of trees, they pull them down and eat the vegetation off of them, with scant regard for the destructive manner in which they do so. It makes tracking them VERY easy, you just need to look for torn roots and shoots to know where they have passed by.

The trunk may look clumsy but it is anything but! It has two little finger-type things at the end of its trun which act like fingers, and are quite nimble. This enables the trunk to pick up a small berry off the ground, or clasp a thin leaf in its trunk.

Pretty amazing :)