My mum and dad first started taking us to the Kruger National Park when I was eight or nine. It was a highlight of my childhood and since then, we’ve tried to go as a family every year.
While it’s always thrilling to see one of the Big 5 (there was one year when we saw all of them, starting with a leopard in a tree, on the 50km-stretch of road from the Orpen Gate to our first night at Satara), we also love to potter and look at birds, insects, trees, sunsets and sunrises, and everything in between. Although the game and sightings are always different, some of the family arguments are pretty much the same, year-in, year-out: which road did we see that lion kill on a few years back, who was with us the year when the rhino charged, which is the best camp to stay at, how many muscles does an elephant actually have in its trunk, why does one family member in particular never give up trying to take the “perfect impala picture” (picture 10 refers)?
My wonderful mum, who is still the chief instigator of this annual pilgrimage, has made all her grandchildren solemnly promise to bring their children and grandchildren in times to come. Right now, though, I can’t wait for Kruger 2014!
