Eco-Safari in Kruger National Park

by Bill Lorand

I. Orienting Kruger: Avoiding the Disneyland Crowd

By any measure, Kruger National Park is enormous. The flagship of the South African national parks is the size of the country of Israel, a narrow-shaped wedge 220 miles long that is widely regarded as one of the best wildlife sanctuaries in the world. People flock here from the four corners of the globe to watch and photograph large endangered land animals in their native habitat amid the protected savanna, rivers and the occasional rocky bluff. And Kruger does not disappoint, boasting 150 mammal species, 500 types of birds as well as a great variety of trees, reptiles, and amphibians.

Historically, the park's story starts in 1898 when Paul Kruger established a controlled hunting area here in the colonial age when safari was more akin to conquest than conservation. Thankfully James Hamilton, the park's first warden, brought a sense of conservation with him, and after realizing the tourism potential of wildlife, Kruger National Park opened in 1927. And now there are movements afoot to combine this park with others nearby in a project called the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park.

However, all this preserved land doesn't mean that Kruger doesn't get crowded. To maximize your time and pleasure, you would be wise to avoid weekends and school holidays. Kruger merits at least a 4-5 day visit, and an ideal stay is a week or more. The park hosts upwards of one million visitors per year, and there are sometime reports of "traffic jams" near animal sightings, especially in the Southern sector of the park. For optimal animal spotting, the cooler, drier winter season sees the animals clustered around prime water sources and the lack of leaves on trees can improve visibility.

For access to the park, there are 10 entry gates and the entire park is laced with sealed roads, including one that traverses the entire north-south spine. While these roads provide great access, Kruger has been criticized for the amount of "tarred" roads (asphalt) as opposed to more natural (but admittedly more dusty and muddy) dirt roads. The oddly-named Lembonbo Motorized Eco Trail provides 500km of off-roading along the Eastern edge of the park (doesn't it sound like it does wonders for the ecology of the place?), but for the most rugged and off-the-beaten-path experience, go for the multi-day wilderness hikes outlined below.

Far afield from the "Comfort Camps" that dot Kruger's landscape with pockets of tourists and remnants of civilization, the recommended wilderness hikes take out small groups of 8-10 adventurers to experience the African Bush away from your cars and closer to nature. Most treks last for two days and three nights, with rustic and primitive hut camps en-route. The advisories tell you that you're in the right place for genuine adventures: no cell phones, no mp3 players, no generators and "If you must walk around at night, please do not do so without a torch."

II. South Kruger: Big Five on the Bushman Trail

While each sector of the park has ecosystems that are favored by particular animal species, South Kruger has by far the highest concentrations of wildlife. The holy grail here is what is known as the African Big Five -- lion, African elephant, African buffalo, black rhino, and leopard. The Bushman trail offers ample opportunities to encounter these amazing creatures away from car traffic, and your trekking through the bush will provide a more contextualized view of nature than the Griswald's vacation checklist of guaranteed wildlife viewing.

Your trail also includes exploration of the sycamore-rich southwest corner of the park and a side trek to some San rock paintings (The ancient San were the first human inhabitants of this region of South Africa). While there, you'll also have a chance to see antelope and white rhino. Most of the large species in the park are endangered, but a recent rise in the numbers of African Rhino provide a glimmer of hope. Earlier in the 20th Century, Rhinos faced great danger from poaching for their distinctive and valuable horns. Now South Africa uses a monitor program to keep track of its rhino population.

III. Central Kruger: Sharing the Napi Trail with Elephants

The Napi Trail starts in the center of Kruger near Skukuza Camp, and is a park favorite for its opportunity to see the Big Five as well as cheetahs, hippos, giraffe, impalas, zebras and wildebeasts. But the most common species sharing the road will be African elephants, as the central region is home to their favorite food: the leaves of the dominant moponi tree.

As you proceed to the west-central portion of Kruger, you may encounter a different beast: well-to-do safari tourists coming from a cluster of private safari companies, whose operations run along the Western edge of the park boundary. Because of agreements struck in the 1990s, all the fences that used to wall of animals have come down, (a welcome development), but these private companies have faced criticism for there unsustainable, profit-driven methods. Because they are high-cost operations that guarantee game viewing of the Big Five, they often drive disturbingly close to the animals, and their luxury accommodations and trappings of empire can seem out of place in the natural environment.

IV. North Kruger: Into the Deep End of the African Bush

The trails of North Kruger offer the beauty of biodiversity and wilderness ambience rather than its guaranteed proximity to wildlife. This is under-rated, largely undiscovered country where the little things like birdsong bring the Bush to life. In the areas of Punda Maria and Parufi, there is more rainfall and an accompanying variety of plants. Many of the 500 bird species can be glimpsed here, along with amphibians and fish near the diverse ecosystem of the Luvuvhu River. Away from the commotion of the south, the trees come into fuller view, and you can start to appreciate the distinctively African Baobab tree with its thick trunk, lightly-tanned bark and bramble of intertwined branches.

The solitude of nature also lends itself to reflection, and you may begin to weigh the different sides of the current eco-tourism debate. One side believes that the use of tourism dollars to fund conservation efforts has nothing but upside. But this view is easier to support from afar. Surrounded by the magic of this animal sanctuary, you may come to appreciate the other side, which says "Just because something is marketed as 'ecotourism' doesn't necessarily mean that it supports long-term protection of the environment." According to this view, it must also help the surrounding indigenous community to be truly beneficial.

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