For a good start of the year, Laura and I went to the Kruger park for the first week of January.
Monday, Jan. 2nd
We left Johannesburg on Jan. 2nd at 6am, in order to travel (by car) without rush, and to be able to stop here and there. In principle it is a 6-hour drive (or even less), but we decided to take our time.
As always, I decided things quite at the last moment, and all accommodations in the camps inside the Kruger were fully booked, so I booked at the PeZulu Treehouse lodge, recommended by Simon.
I will do this post completely chronologically.
So, we left very early, and the first part of the road is quite boring : highway to go out of Jo'burg, and not much landscape … townships in a more or less good state, mines, industries and fields !
After leaving the highway and entering the smaller roads (which are still usually limited to 120 km/h, and full of holes, so it's not an easy drive !), the landscapes change … We went through some forests which reminded us of the Alps - not for the temperature, though !
There were also parts with small lakes and hills, all very green and with some flowers.
The more we were going, the more it was becoming hilly, until we reached the so-called Panorama route. This route offers spectacular views on the Blyde River Canyon - but I will come back to this later as we visited it more extensively on the way back to Johannesburg.
When we arrived to the most famous view points, it was all in the clouds (any similarity with a situation that already happened to us at the Table Mountain in Cape Town is a coincidence … or is it ?)
Since it was obviously not a good day for the Panorama route, we just continued to PeZulu, following the indications given by them. It was not very easy to find, but we finally made it.
PeZulu is located within the Gernesey Nature Reserve, and so as soon as we entered, we started seeing animals !
Giraffes …
… turtles …
 |
| Mais enfin, Pierre, vous n'avez pas honte de regarder une chose pareille ? |
… and zebra !
It was already pretty cool ;-)
For the first night, we had the nice "honeymoon tree house" :
It was already the middle of the afternoon, so we just relaxed, had a beer looking at the sunset …
Then we went to dinner, and to bed.
 |
| Dinner at PeZulu |
The night was funny because we could hear animals running around - squirrels, maybe monkeys, even inside the house : we found one of our cookies half-eaten in the house in the morning …
Tuesday, Jan. 3rd
Got up early, because we were hearing birds … they were actually trying to eat the wipers of the car !
For our first day, we had booked an afternoon drive in a private game reserve. So as we had the morning free, we decided to go and visit some places around. First we went to the Moholoholo wildlife rehabilitation center. It is a center that welcomes injured animals (mostly victims of poaching) and tries to heal them and reintroduce into the wild. Of course, some 90% of the animals can't be reintroduced, for various reasons (too injured, too much time in contact with humans, etc.). The goal of this place is more educational. It was very interesting, and we also got to get close to animals we usually don't really approach : we could touch a cheetah …
... feed a vulture ...
 |
| Vulture |
... touch this big bird ...
 |
| Bateleur |
and see other animals (lions, leopards, hyena, etc.). There were also some rhino, freely going in and out of the parking, which resulted in our rented car being scratched … (we'll probably have to pay for that !).
After Moholoholo, we went to the Cheetah Project, where they also try to explain us more about the endangered species. We saw a rock monitor (a.k.a. un lagarto gigante que va en el agua y que no existe porque Laura no lo ha visto) :
 |
| Rock monitor |
… some birds …
… and of course, the cheetah (including cubs) !
 |
| Cubs playing in the shade |
 |
| A young cheetah crossing the road |
It was again quite interesting and nice to see these animals from very close - as a cheetah is usually difficult to spot in a game reserve !
Then we came back to the lodge for the afternoon drive. There was some confusion because of an overbooking, so we finally swapped with a night drive (originally scheduled for the next day).
The game drives are called "Big Five drives", because if you're very lucky, you can see the Big Five : lion, rhino, elephant, buffalo and leopard. We were lucky since we saw 4 of these (all except elephant !). Here are some pictures :
 |
| Sunset on the way to Thornybush game reserve |
 |
| Good evening, Mr Leopard ! |
 |
| Python |
 |
| Lions |
 |
| Gnus (or wildebeest) |
 |
| Rhino |
 |
| Buffalo |
 |
| Giraffes |
It is a very nice experience, to be in an open vehicle at night, looking for animals. The rangers are really amazing, the guy could drive, use the walkie-talkie, look around with a torch, etc., all at the same time ! And we got very close to the lions !
Wednesday, Jan. 4th
For the Wednesday, we had planned a bush walk (from 6 to 8 in the morning), then breakfast, then some visits around, then back for the afternoon drive ! Again a very busy but interesting day.
During the bush walk in the nature reserve, you can expect to see the plain game animals (zebra, giraffes, etc.), but the most interesting was the explanations about termites, spiders, how to track an animal, etc. Some pictures :
 |
| Warthogs ! |
After the bush walk, we took the car to Hoedespruit (the city close-by) to visit the reptile center. We saw lots of snakes and crocodiles, but also monkeys and parrots.
Then we tried to pay a visit to the "world famous Jessica the Hippo", but it was closed, so we decided to go to the Blyde river dam. No regrets : the views were wonderful !
 |
| Blyde River |
 |
| Blyde River dam lake |
Back to the lodge for the afternoon drive ! Same principle as the night drive, but in day light. We had a ranger and a tracker (who has the best seat !)
We stopped for the sunset and drinks :
and we found a lion footprint !
Then we went back to the lodge and had dinner, and we went to bed early, as the next two days were dedicated to …….. self-drive in the Kruger ! Our plan was : be at the gate when it opens (5:30am) and leave when it closes (6:30pm), in order to enjoy the day at maximum ! Well, so be it !
Thursday, Jan. 5th
We woke up at 4:15, and left the lodge at 4:45. There is a 45-minute drive to the Orpen gate, then you have to pay the entry fee, and they you're free to go ! The people from the lodge had prepared us a packed breakfast, which actually we used as a breakfast and a lunch !
Here are some pictures of the first day. We were very lucky as we saw a hyena even before the park gate, and then, among others, a rhino, elephants, lions (but from so far we could not take a decent picture), a buffalo. The most impressive was the elephants, which we had never seen before. When you have an elephant 10 meters away from you, you don't feel very confident !
 |
| Sunrise |
 |
| Gnu ! |
 |
| Pumba the warthog |
 |
| Impala |
 |
| Buzzard |
 |
| Rhino |
 |
| Go-away bird |
 |
| A footprint ... of some big cat ! |
 |
| Impala |
 |
| Elephant ! |
 |
| Fish-eagle |
 |
| Waterbuck |
 |
| Hippos looking like rocks |
 |
| Buffalo |
 |
| Baboons |
 |
| Vulture |
 |
| Brown hyena |
 |
| Jackal |
We came back to the lodge completely exhausted, but full of great images in our eyes ! And ready to do the same the next day !
 |
| The super large bed ! |
Friday, Jan. 6th
Same place, same time ! The day started very well : before the Orpen gate, we saw a leopard - though from quite far away - thanks to another person who pointed it to us ! Then we entered the park, and as we were observing birds and impala, a car stops and tells us there is a hyena ahead, then a leopard, and then lions ! So, off we go ! We missed the lions in the morning, but we could see some in the afternoon. Here are the pictures.
The hyena :
 |
| Spotted hyena |
The leopard ! That one was funny : it was on the left side of the road, not too far, and a few cars were stopped already. So, we were all looking at it, and it got closer to the road and disappeared in some bush. Everybody was looking at it, and Laura insisted I close my window (as we were not seeing the leopard anymore, we didn't want it to jump in !). At some point, however, we realized that it was on the other side of the road ! There are some pipes under the road to allow animals to cross more safely, so the leopard did this, and he was just sitting there, watching us all looking for him on the wrong side ! When everybody realized it and turned to him, he just left.
Then we took a road more to the north, and then came back south.
 |
| Kudu |
 |
| This is actually a rhino that Laura spotted from very far ! |
 |
| Secretary bird |
Lions !
 |
| Can you see the lion ? |
 |
| And where there are lions, vultures are never far ... |
Hippos and elephant (we actually saw the elephant charging the smaller hippo …)
 |
| Mister Elephant wants its way to the water ! |
 |
| By the way, it was a male ... |
More lions and birds.
Like the day before, we stayed in the park until about 6pm, and went back to the lodge, for our last dinner and last night at PeZulu !
Saturday, Jan. 7th
When we first arrived, we had the idea to go again to the Kruger on Saturday, and then drive to Joburg. But after these 2 exhausting days, where we saw a lot of animals, we didn't feel like going again as it is really tiring (you have to consider that after the drive, you still have 6 hours to Joburg, not to mention waking up at 4:00 …). So, instead, we chose to try again the Panorama route, which is on the way to Joburg.
We stopped at the Pinacle …
… at God's window …
… at the Wonderview …
(which looked like that on the previous Monday : )
… at the Berlin waterfall …
… in some other nice place …
 |
| We do look tired, don't we ? |
… at the Bourke's luck potholes …
… at the Three Roundavels, from where you have a nice view on the Blide River dam (that we visited a few days before)
 |
| Blyde River Dam |
Finally, we took the road to Joburg, where we arrived in the night …
It was a really, really great week we spent there. We were very lucky with the animals, we visited interesting places and saw wonderful landscapes … I hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as we enjoyed our stay !
