Victoria's Voyage

3.30am. Blurry eyed I reach around for my phone to stop it from making that terrible jingly noise. I’m not ready to wake up yet. And yet Kruger National Park awaits, our step over to the wild side.

My time in Kruger can only be described as magical, and I have been sad to leave it behind. After a long coach ride, we finally saw our Safari vehicles up ahead, the ones that would take us on a tour through part of the park’s nearly 20,000 sq km to our campsite for the next two nights.

Almost immediately came the impala and warthogs. The impala are such an elegantly beautiful breed of antelope, whilst our little Pumbas tottled around looking as though they were having the time of their lives. This was positive start for sure. What I was less prepared for came a little further down the road. There was no mistaking what was walking casually on by, just ahead.

African elephants are incredible creatures, and seeing one walking so closely beside us, it’s tail swishing, ears flapping, wrinkles undulating under its impressive mass with every step – yeah, it took my breath away. Already I felt like crying from the joy I already knew this place would bring me, and little did I know this wasn’t even the closest I would get to an elephant.

The rest of the drive also saw us tick off giraffes – towering majestically over us – as well as kudu, zebra, hippos and even a brief glimpse of a lion. Not bad for our first trip in. Whilst I’ve seen the majority of these animals plenty of times in zoos and wildlife parks, nothing can quite compare to that moment a giraffe suddenly decides to cross the road right in front of you as they explore their own, vast home. It’s kind of hard describe until you experience it for yourself, but you gain a lot of respect for these wild beasts and the beauty of their existence.

We arrived at camp at around 6pm, when the park closes for the night. It’s really a beautiful place and not quite as ‘back to basics’ as I imagined. The best part though is sitting around the campfire with a few drinks just chatting and contemplating life without all our usual digital distractions.

I fell asleep to a tranquil cacophony of sound – birds, crickets, even a faint roaring somewhere in the distance. I woke at 5am the following morning to the same, ready to take on another day of big five spotting across two more separate game drives.

Leaving the camp gates, the previous day’s giraffe encounter suddenly paled in impressiveness. Right there, literally by the entrance, were more giraffes, within almost touching distance of the truck. And yet this still wasn’t the most magical thing we saw on the morning drive. We drove only a short while further down a rocky trail, the wind sailing through our hair, when we saw not one but four lions a short way back in the sand – three of which were particularly playful cubs! We had to watch through binoculars for a decent view, but wow were they cute, chasing each other, playfighting, gnawing on snacks.

Other highlights from both our sunrise and sunset drives included a number of baby baboons clinging to their mothers, a cluster of basking hippos and the very last thing before retiring back to camp for the night, which was so obscured against the dense leaves of the tree it inhabited and the darkening skies above you could barely see it in its true glory.

The mighty leopard – our fourth member of the big five. If only we could just spot a rhino…

Following a traditional BBQ dinner, more drinks and just general relaxation beneath the stars, I was actually really sad to have to say goodbye to camp and embark on our final game drive in Kruger as we made our way back through the park to where our coach waited to take us back to Johannesburg. Though at least we still had one more shot at spotting something, anything potentially even more thrilling than what we’d seen already.

Once again, the park did not disappoint, and it bid us a fond farewell via the likes of its largest pride of lions, rhino hoofprints (though sadly no rhino), and the most dazzling watering hole scene, where so many of the species we’d become acquainted with came together in total harmony. What a first Safari experience!