Giants of Kruger - Elephants

When I think of elephants - these huge, intelligent and social land mammals - I just realize how small this incredibly big Kruger park is. When the Sabie Game Reserve was established in 1920 there were only 120 elephants in the area. In the 70s their population grew close to 9000. By now this number is over 11,500. The living capacity of the park is about 8,000. Of course this holds several problems for the biggest land mammals on Earth..







But from our own experience with Tarryn every encounter with the elephants were majestic and notable. Sometimes they just walked out of the bush and that was both a surprise for the big one as much as it was for us. It was a memorable moment when an elephant was showing his back to the road and as we were cruising we stopped by. When he turned around after a while he couldn't figure how we got there suddenly and scared us with his trunk. But we stood the test, we stayed there while looking at the elephants body language. Nothing happened and in couple of minutes time the big male was back to eating some roots again.

Another great story to remember when our car gear change broke down due to the shaky road. The gear box just fell apart and it was not usable. Just imagine. Tarr couldn't go forward so we had to wait as a whole family was passing in front of us from the left to the right. And one of the young ones got curious and came close to us to examine the alien object. That can be quite scary I can tell you ! Thankfully - just as Tarr started shaking next to me - we released the hand brake and we went backward to a safe distance from the curious elephant. Later on we had to fix the gear box on the spot. An hour after that experience it all became a great story to tell.

Of course we always had to give right-of-way of this big animals when they decided to cross the road and stopped at a safe distance, but we could spend hours just to look at them as they were eating grass, bark and leaves close to us.

Elephants very rarely attack humans but as we found out due to their migration habits and increasing numbers in the park they crash through the park's fences, terrorizing nearby villages and wiping out fields of crops.

Yeah these beautiful creations can cause some trouble to humans, but at the end of the day they were here first and cant be simply surrounded by a fence even though as big as Kruger itself.

to be continued...

The big White Rhino Encounter

Just imagine driving around from the morning in Kruger - which on its own is a fantastic feeling - and waiting for the next game and figure what is about to show up around the next area. Neither Tarryn nor me imagined that our first encounter with one of the Big 5 would be such a majestic moment.
Cruising slowly on the asphalt roads for about 3 hours and paying attention to every detail and every movement in the bush can really use up all your concentration energy. We just relaxed our mind and chatted about the impalas. And when we least expected there he was: our first White Rhino we had ever seen. It was almost a mixture of a shock and amazement. You truly have to be there to enjoy, but I hope my photos will share some of this excitement with you.

Tarryn spotted first the huge and grey body in the distance, which looked like a tank. We stopped the car and remained silent. Minutes passed by and the rhino started moving. Right toward us. Since this was our first time, we didnt know what to expect and I can tell U the adrenaline level in our blood was up in the sky. And it was just coming closer and closer. Probably 20 minutes passed by although "out" in the wild time is measured on a different scale. Finally it stopped near a dry and green patch of grass right beside our car. We saw the heavily built body in its full reality. These are the wonderful moments in Kruger. You are in the safety of your car, the wild animal doesnt recognize you as a threat or as a human, but if it attacked we wouldnt have been safe anymore whether we were in a car or not. But this didnt happen, we were silent spectators of this little show and enjoyed watching the white rhino.

Another 15 min could have passed when the body started moving closer to the road and just passed across the road along with the funny passengers on his body.Even if there are almost 9,000 White rhinos in the park, its still not that easy to spot one. We met people who had been in the park for days and still hadnt seen a rhino. Yeah the wildlife is unpredictable.
Since there were no more cars on the spot I had the privilege with Tarryn to be part of this amazing encounter. If we had seen only this one individual we would have been content for the day. But in the wild every minute brings you something else, so the excitement just started ...













































Two Red-billed Oxpeckers are traveling on the rhinos back while ticking parasites hidden in the thick skin.

The Famous Big 5 Game of Africa

Returning from amazing safaris during my traveling spent in Kenya, Tanzania and in South Africa, people always wanted to know if I had seen the BIG 5.

Well, before we went onto to our first safari in Kruger, Tarryn and myself were also quite curious whether we would see the Big 5 or not.

But what is really the Big 5 Game of the African safaris?

This well used term must be familiar to everyone from Wilbur Smith novels. It was coined by the old time big-game hunters and refers the five most difficult animals to hunt on foot. Since then its still used by tourists and wildlife guests on safari discussions.

So the big five consists of the African elephant, the Cape Buffalo, the lion, the rhinoceros (either white or black) and the leopard.

The big 5 obviously the hardest to hunt and the most dangerous animals especially when injured.

On the 19,0000 sq km area of Kruger there are approximately 11,700 elephants, 27,000 African Buffalos, 1,500 lions, 350 Black Rhinos, about 9,000 White Rhinos and roughly 1,000 Leopards.

So there is quite a high chance to see the Big 5 on a weekly trip to Kruger and some spotted them in 1-2 days (other than private and luxury game reserves.

We were extremely fortunate to see all 5 of these majestic animals in the first 4 days of our visit to the park







An Elephant in the bush as can be seen from the safety (?) of a car.









A Buffalo is about to wallow in the mud in a nearby pond.












A young lion is returning to his hunt.












The tank of Africa just appeared from the bushes.












Leopard`s face as it was taken at a rehabilitation center near Kruger.

Leaping acrobats and prays in Kruger -The Impala

"Look at that beautiful Impala !"- said Tarr with astonishment after we entered the park on our first day and the an antelope suddenly jumped over the road and joined the others. We stopped by a smaller herd. We were watching them from the safety of our car with closed windows - not that they would have meant any harm, but they were less alert - and they were looking back and staring at us. It was a real excitement that time.

After traveling in Kruger for several days the impala (Aepyceros Melampus) seemed to be the most common sight, so we could come to the conclusion that they were everywhere and they were the least interesting ones of all as one "gets bored" to run into them all the time.

But these graceful animals are very interesting to watch as they just socialize, the young rams fight and ewes feed their calves, and when frightened or startled the whole herd starts leaping about in order to confuse their predator. They can jump distances more than 10 meters (33 ft) and 3 meters (9 ft) high and an impala can reach running speeds of around 80 to 90 km/h (50-55 mph) even hard for a cheetah to catch the animal.

Along both the asphalt and offside routes the impala browses on shrubbery and grazes grass by the roads where they always find fresh patches and more or less protected from big predators as they can monitor their surroundings all the time. But leaps are a rare sight and mostly they are seen just standing by the road and feed.

We loved watching them as they suddenly moved their reddish-brown body and shaking their back with that black stripe, which extends from the top of the rump down the back of each thigh (as can be seen on the last shot)
The impala is often preyed upon by leopards, cheetah, Nile crocodiles, lions, spotted hyenas and wild dogs. So they had better watch out !





















The name of this medium-sized African antelope comes from the Zulu language meaning "Gazelle". But they are put in their own tribe and dont belong to gazelles. Impala are among the dominant species in many savannas, including South Africa. They can adapt to different environment by being grazers in some areas and browsers in others.


Impala are active during both day and night and are dependent on water. A herd is normally an indicator of water close by but they can thrive in areas where pure grazers can not survive.



Females and young form herds. When food is plentiful, adult males will establish territories and round up any female herd that enter their grounds and will chase away bachelor males that follow. They will even chase away recently weaned males. A male impala tries to prevent any female from leaving its territory.







A beautiful ram is staring at us, with its typical lyre-shaped horns.











An ewe (female) is running away.












A young male in the company of calves.









A thirsty impala was trying to get close to a waterhole where 3 buffalo were resting. We were watching the whole scene and it took him about 15 minutes to finally get there and start drinking.



Next: the big 5 are coming !

An avian jewel of the Kruger National Park

Life little miracles happen when you least expect them. Probably it has happened to all of you. One has to train his eyes to see these little gifts of mother nature. In Kruger, too, there are many hidden treasures and not only the big ones worth keeping an eye out for.
In a rainy morning near the Paul Kruger Gate we stopped by a resting place and just enjoyed the time soon after dusk as the wildlife was coming alive after a short evening rest. Nothing happened for a while and then all of a sudden a tiny little kingfisher landed on a tree next to Tarryn who was the driver. I took this shot with a 400mm lens leaning over her paying attention not to make any sudden movements. We both wondered for a minute at this little kingfisher.
As soon as it arrived it flew away giving a high-pitched insect-like "tsip-tsip" sound.

This little bird is a migrant to Southern Africa from the tropics, undertaking its long journeys after dark. We were so glad it arrived here.


Out of the 87 kingfisher species in the world 16 occur in Africa. One of the 2 smallest ones my personal favorite is the minuscule African Pygmy Kingfisher (Ceyx pictus). It is a glorious sight with its fragile little body and dazzling ochre and aquamarine plumage landing next to you.

Can you spot the animals in Kruger?

Not to be seen in nature is both crucial for predator and prey. The simplest way is to be of a color similar to its surroundings.
When someone enters Kruger just as with any other national parks, expects the wildlife appear right in front of the eyes. We met a lot of people who had been spending days and days in the park and still hadnt had the chance the see some of the bigger species. The big secret is patience.
Tarryn has great eyes to spot the wildlife behind the bush and I am not bad either. But you really have to be patient and slowly drive along the roads to be able to see anything. Whenever you see some cars along the road that is a sure sign that something is spotted so its a good idea to join in and check it out.
We were betting with Tarr who can see sooner an elephant or any of the big fives. She was extremely good at it.

Before I share any of the great encounters, I would like to show you how you can see the animals if you just speed by the bush and dont look for the details. These are great examples what an average wildlife enthusiast would see in the beginning.

Can you spot the animals in the pictures?







A Yellowbilled Hornbill is hiding in the middle of an acacia bush. These beautiful birds are relatively common around picnic sites.








A cheetah mum is sitting with her cub and watching for prey from the top of their viewing spot (on the left).








A male lion is lying close to his pray, a jackal is watching from a safe distance











What`s behind the green tree? Yeah, if you are just driving and looking in front of you, the sight of a giraffe is easily missed.










A rare sight in Kruger... and many donot even see it, two leopards camouflaged into the grass (in the middle of the shot)











The biggest mammal on Earth and still can hide behind a small tree.



It`s not easy, is it?

Kruger Adventures I

Today is Valentine`s day and a happy day for Canada as one of their heroes just collected his gold medal on home soil in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. I am watching it on TV. Winter sports are great I just wish more Hungarian competitors could qualify ! We are blessed with a great country but not enough mountains and snow and yeah sponsors for all these.
Happy V-day for everyone out there even if I am not fond of this commercialized holiday !
For Tarryn and me every day is a V-day and as we are working on our great future and living in the present and future I want to tell U more about last years biggest adventure of ours: The Kruger Park. So many of U have asked me about it, so here is a little memoir of our first safari together with Tarryn in South Africa.

To have an idea how big the largest game reserve In Africa is here are some numbers: It covers 19,000 sq kms (7,300 sq mi) and it extends 350 km from north to south and 60km from east to west. Its like Hungary from top to bottom. It takes a while to drive thru, but this is not a speed track, actually quite the opposite: the slower you drive the more chance you have to see the amazing wildlife and you reduce the chance to run over the inhabitants of this enclosed area.

The Park has 9 main gates that allow entrance to different camps. Tarrynitjie and myself started our adventurous journey from the southern gate, Malelane and our first destination was Skukuza rest camp.








We made reservations well in advance and everyone should do the same way to avoid some unpleasant surprise. During the 2010 year mainly due to the World Cup many visitors booked most of the rest camps already.

There are asphalt roads connecting the main camps and and many dirt roads you can go, as well, if you decide to be rougher and you have the right vehicle to do so.

Both Tarr and myself are fond of nature, appreciate it and with enough patience and luck you can see a lot of wildlife from the beginning. It was amazing to see the herds of impalas grazing by the road as this is the safest area from predators. One fatal mistake to do is to get out of your car as you can easily become the prey of the big cats. There are about 90 thousands impalas but it still quite a sight to see them all the time, especially when they are running away with huge jumps and acting like forest acrobats.

We visited the park in spring when you can see the cubs and young ones of all the animals. Its quite a treat, I can tell and had many nice moments from the beginning. After couple of hours we got to see our first zebra baby. There are close to 18,000 Bruchell`s Zebras in the park.

We were driving along the roads the whole day and were amazed at the sights of these wild animals.

As the climate is subtropical here our first day was a typical humid and hot Kruger day. It was sweaty we can tell !

Toward Skukuza we had a ride along a river. It was a beautiful sunset and above all we saw a crocodile patiently waiting for a pray.

Our bungalow at the rest camp was very good with AC and shower, a real luxury in the wild. But the loud and wheezing sound of the water horses - the hippos reminded us where we were.
The following day gave us some fantastic surprises, which we will never forget. As soon as the sun rose Tarryn and I... more to come soon

Welcome to my BLOG

Welcome Everyone, dear bloggers and followers !

It took a while until I found my way around and after a lot of testing and trials finally I am launching my blog. Right now I am very busy with all kind of other stuff but as often as I can I will let all of you know about what is going on here and share all of our great photo memories and adventures happened to us recently. And let this be an opening picture of ours with Tarryn taken in Kruger Park.
Our first night entering one of the biggest parks on Mother Earth presented us with a breathtaking sunset. It was truly South African. It was not even easy to get to our camp and we almost missed the gate closing time! What a beauty ! You can imagine.

It is being continued soon and more photos to come. I am sharing all those great memories along with some stories with U soon !

A beautiful sunset near Skukuza rest camp