Kruger National Park: Crocodile Bridge Camp

I booked a one-woman safari with FireFinch Safaris (www.firefinchsafaris.com) primarily because Pierre was helpful, responsive, honest, and he created a custom tour for my desires, interests, and budget. He always responded to emails within a day, and he took great care of all the logistics. He’s on a one-month training (living in Kruger) so Andria and Dylan have taken over for the last week. Andria did shopping and food preparation based on the food and drink preferences that Pierre requested from me. Pierre ensured that, having spent a month working in Ghana, I would have the things I need here that I couldn’t pack (flashlight, mosquito coil, extra bug repellent, binoculars). And Dylan (Pierre’s little brother, who loves the Bush and has spent most of his life in and around the Bush) is my guide, driver, cook, and companion for the trip. Throughout the planning of the trip, they have all been super communicative (via email and SMS), which I really appreciate. If the service pre-trip is indicative of how my safari will go, I am in for a real treat!

Dylan is not on African time, because he showed up early instead of late :) He picked me up and we headed to Kruger National Park so I can see the Big 5 (Buffalo, Elephant, Lion, Leopard, and Rhino) and other animals. He also told me about the Little 5 (Buffalo Weaver, Elephant Shrew, Ant Lion, Leopard Tortoise, and Rhino Beetle). We saw the terrain change between Joburg and Kruger, moving from Highveld to Lowveld (“veld” is the Afrikaans word for grasslands). The maize (which they call mielle) turned to citrus farms, banana farms, and sugar farms. We stopped for lunch in Nelspruit and made it to Crocodile Bridge Camp at ~2:30pm.


After unpacking, we headed out for our first game drive. Dylan wasn’t sure what we would see, but I was optimistic that we’ll see the Big 5 on this trip. He said only one time ever (he’s lived here his whole life) has he seen the Big 5 in a single day, and he comes here several times per month. I can’t reduce my South African Safari to a desire to see the Big 5, but I do hope to see them as part of my trip. We didn’t see the Big 5 today, but we did see 4 of the 5 on our first 3-hour game drive! First we saw wildebeest, then impala, then elephants (including a calf). We saw some beautiful birds, including bright blue starling, brown snake eagle, Wahlberg’s eagle, vulture (not beautiful), lilac-breasted roller (called roller because they roll in the air when they fly), guinea fowl (which are cute with blue heads and I don’t think I’ll eat again), hornbills, and lots of franklins. We saw warthogs and white rhinos (all rhinos are grey in color, but white rhinos have square lips to graze on grass, and are generally bigger because they are actually wide rhinos) but haven’t seen any black rhinos (very rare, smaller, aggressive, and hook lips because they are browsers).

Dung beetles lay their eggs in dung (usually elephant, rhino, or buffalo) and roll it into a ball (the size of a golf ball). They stand on their front legs and roll the dung ball backwards with their back legs like a wheelbarrow, and then they bury the ball so the eggs hatch. Sounds crazy, but actually quite interesting and dare I say cute. Ant hills and termite hills here typically have trees growing out of them, because impalas and other antelope will eat seeds and then do their thing on ant hills, so their droppings provide a great place for seeds to germinate. Centipedes are called shongalolo, which is a fun name.

We saw vervet monkeys, and they were running away so we looked and saw three lion cubs! They were adorable, but their mom must have been out hunting because we never saw her. Dylan says he’s not satisfied until we see a male lion, but I was thrilled to see lions on our first day. We needed to rush back to camp after watching the lions (gates close at 6:30pm) and saw a group of zebras on the roadside. The landscape was breathtaking as the sun was setting, as both sides of the horizon were ablaze with purple and the trees looked incredible. Our rush back to camp was halted with the largest herd of buffalo Dylan has ever seen. There were at least 300 buffalo, and they were leisurely crossing the road so we couldn’t drive. We waited almost 20 minutes for the buffalo to cross (we couldn’t drive through them because a bull could charge our truck and do some serious damage to the truck and us). We waited patiently and finally were able to drive through, making it back to camp just in time.

Right now, Dylan is making braai (he’s barbecuing dinner for us) while I sit outside our tents and ask him loads of questions to make sure I have the animals right. He’s making potatoes, butternut squash stuffed with feta and spinach, salad with avocado, and kebabs (called sosatie, mine made of chicken). Everything is made on the braai except the salad.

Current score on Day 1 of the one-woman safari: We’ve seen 4 of the Big 5. Even better, Dylan doesn’t laugh at me when I refer to The Lion King. So far we’ve seen Pumbaa (warthog), Zazu (hornbill), Nala and Simba (lion cubs). We will likely also see hyenas, a male lion (Mufasa), and maybe meerkat (Timon), but not Rafiki.