South Africa – Kruger: King of the Parks?

July 14

Hello everyone!

South Africa’s safari pride and joy is Kruger National Park. It is one of the most visited safari parks in the world and contains almost every animal your imagination would picture when thinking about safaris. It’s also a good chance of seeing the ‘Big Five’ in one day.

A female kudu leaping through the bush

Zazu from the Lion King!

Kruger, named after Paul Kruger who was President of the South African Republic from 1883 to 1900, is massive, covering about 19,500 km². It’s the size of Wales. Huge.

Some of the park is in Mozambique

Sunrise in Kruger

It is huge in terms of popularity as well as size. This is one of the go-to places for South Africans, who are encouraged further with steep discounts. The park gates opened at 6am – at 5:45 the line at the entrance, which we were somehow able to skip, stretched for hundreds of metres. Within the park itself, it was rare to be driving for a significant amount of time without seeing or passing another vehicle, even with the sheer size of the park.

Being stuck in traffic was a new safari experience for me,
and one that didn't add any pleasure

This was the first safari I’ve been on that had ‘traffic’. There are other factors that make Kruger different to the other national parks I’ve seen in southern Africa. The obvious one is the roads. There are roads. Most of the tracks are paved with bitumen: hardly natural for the animals.

A sedan drives comfortably down a hill in Kruger

I can't imagine that the giraffe enjoys walking on tarmac

Entering so early allows people on a game drive to see some of the more elusive animals, those which find shelter from the sun during the day. We struck gold within five minutes of entering Kruger, having to stop to allow some lions across the road. The pride consisted of five or six lions.

A lioness observing the rest of her pride

Within half an hour of passing through the gates, we’d seen our second member of the ‘Big Five’ group: the elephant.

Big Momma feeding with her baby

This young elephant was between three and five years old

After driving for less than an hour in Kruger’s boundaries, we then found our third member of this group, so-called because of the difficulty and danger encountered when people used to hunt them. The buffalo were well hidden in the long bush.

Later we saw a large herd crossing the grassland

As expected, the number of predator sightings thinned out as the Sun rose and started to beat down on the grassland. Plenty of other animals use this chance to move around the park.

Antelopes can move around with greater freedom in daylight

A male kudu, complete with twisted horns showing his age

One new animal for me was the hyena. Looking like ugly dogs, we drove past a pack hiding from the strong rays of sunshine.

Hyenas are normally seen at night

They don't look quite like they did in the Lion King...

Some national parks have specific opening times, usually based around sunrise and sunset. In contrast, Kruger is open all day but with a limited scope for night drives. The only other drive I’ve been on with these opening hours is Etosha in Namibia. The difference there was the flatness of the land, which makes it difficult for predators to hide in Etosha. In Kruger, the bush is dense, giving plenty of shelter and hiding places.

The buffalo herd, heading towards the dense greenery

Hippos drinking at a water hole

Kruger seemed a bit more commercial as a safari destination compared to the other places I’ve visited. The cafes could have been found in any park in the UK. I thought it lacked the charm of other, smaller parks I’ve visited, and didn’t feel as adventurous as a place such as South Luangwa. I’m not saying it wasn’t good; it’s worth a visit as you’re pretty much guaranteed to see some of Africa’s most popular animals. I do believe that a more inclusive and truer experience can be found in the national parks about South Africa.

Love you all

Matt

Mozambique – The Brilliant Blue of Bazaruto

July 9-12

Hello everyone!

Mozambique has a huge coastline, stretching almost 2,400 km from tip to toe. Even though the roads are of reasonable quality, it takes a long time to get from one place to another. Our next port of call was the sleepy village of Vilankulos, home to the Bazaruto archipelago.

Bazaruto is known for its rich variety of aquamarine life. Unfortunately, our luck was out; not a single turtle was to be seen, and the only dolphins were found painted on walls.

The fish that we did see on our short snorkelling adventure were colourful little things, though paled in comparison to the iridescent cichlids found in Lake Malawi. It was a relaxing experience, with almost no sound, until I started swallowing the sea through my snorkel. The water was glistening, its colour reminiscent of the Caribbean.

We had taken a dhow boat – it had a motor, so not technically travelling like they did back in the day – to the island of Magaruque. This is one of the five islands that comprise the Bazaruto archipelago, and by far the easiest to reach, even though it took an hour of boating to do so.

Magaruque is a beautiful island. Sand dunes slope gently from its interior to create white, sandy beaches on most of its shores. Stunning views can be enjoyed if you struggle up the dunes to the top.

Arguably the coolest wildlife was found on the beach itself. A blood-red starfish was motionless as we approached, then curled each of its five legs inward, presumably to protect itself.

Then there were the jellyfish. These massive cnidarians (they’re not fish, I’ve learnt after a bit of Googling) were washed up on the shore, alive but immobile. We were able to touch them (I tried to pick the whopper below up off the ground but it was very heavy and slippery, and that’s without mentioning the poison pellets it could me with from its underside); the jellyfish was a weird texture with I can only equate to a soft, pimpled and slightly slimy ball.

Another place with great sea life was in Xai-Xai, an eight-hour drive south from Vilankulos. Not fish this time: crustaceans. Thousands of crabs lined the beach, being smashed into the sea by a relative tsunami of a wave only to reappear moments later. They obviously have an excellent sense of feeling or hearing as they would scuttle into holes or the incoming tsunami whenever I approached.

Someone is obviously more artful in their movements than me as crab is a popular item on a Mozambican menu. I sampled crab mapata, which seemed to be whole baby crabs in a creamy, spinach-like sauce. It tasted about as good as it looks.

More to my group’s liking has been Mozambique’s beer, which is on a much higher pedestal than the Malawian version. It also comes in larger bottles. 2M is the most popular in these coastal resorts, with Manica being a stronger beer. Many of you will be able to guess which one I drank more often…

It was a full moon whilst we were in Vilankulos, which was a breathtaking sight: a blood-red semi-circle appearing on the black horizon and rising whilst changing to lighter shades of orange and yellow, before illuminating the ocean with its reflected rays.

Mozambique has been a very pleasant experience. Though I have access to Lake Malawi, it was nice to be on the coast, feeling the sea breeze and watching the waves crash near the beach. As I said at the start, Mozambique is a huge country and there are many places in the northern section which I would like to visit. The shimmering sea, charming people and array of activities make it a somewhat hidden gem, unknown to many who aren’t South African (lots of them come here for holidays). I have a very strong temptation to return. Maybe I’ll get to swim with a turtle then as well…

Love you all

Matt

Mozambique – Whale, Whale, Whale…

July 7-9

…look at what we have here!

Whale shark

Hello everyone!

Bon dia from Mozambique. More specifically from Tofo, a village on this large country’s eastern shore.

Mozambique: massive

Tofo beach

That beautiful water that laps against Tofo’s soft, white sand is the Indian Ocean. Johannesburg, my previous stop, isn’t a million miles away from these waters either. Travelling from one to the other, however, makes it feel like you’ve travelled that far.

We split this drive into two days, also including a surprisingly
easy border crossing

Travelling through the northeastern provinces of South Africa allowed us to see some rather barren landscapes and occasional wildlife.

White rhino

Crocodiles

A short drive away from the crocodiles was the border post allowing us entry into Mozambique. Conflicting statements meant that I played it safe and got my visa in advance in Malawi; British citizens can get one at this border. As a slight aside, I wasn’t aware that you couldn’t wear shorts in the Mozambican embassy in Lilongwe. Asking the security guard what I could do, he simply replied, “You can use my trousers.” I duly did.

Traffic near Maputo, Mozambique's capital city

There’s certainly no need to wear trousers in Mozambique. Temperatures at the moment – winter – seem to be matching those in Britain’s recent heatwave.

Sunrise at Tofo - warm enough to go for a run without
a t-shirt!

The temperature of the ocean is warm enough to swim in, a stark contrast to the Atlantic Ocean on Africa’s western coast. We spent a couple of hours bobbing up and down on the choppy waves on an ocean safari.

Tofo beach stretches for many kilometres

There are a few species which I’ve never seen before. The one we saw close up – and I mean really close up – was the whale shark. These giant fish, which can reach up to 15 metres in length, are very docile and swim smoothly and slowly through the water. This means that you can swim with them. Yes, you read that right. Swim with (whale) sharks.

A whale shark is often in excess of 10 metres long

Whale sharks are the largest fish on our planet

I say they swim slowly – it’s all relative. It was quite tricky to keep up with them with the waves bashing you backwards. Still, I was swimming about two metres above the shark for a while. To give you an idea of his enormity, his tail seemed as long as my body.

Most photos here were taken on my camera by another
person, who was a faster swimmer than me

Later we caught glimpses of humpback whales in the far distance, the darker air from their blowholes looking like small smoke stacks on the horizon. We also passed a manta ray but many of us, myself included, didn’t spot it before it scurried out of sight in the deep blue.

Mozambique itself is quite similar to Malawi; this is understandable, given they’re next door neighbours. The land is lusher but villages along the main road between Maputo, the capital, and Tofo seemed identical. The main difference is language; being a Portuguese colony until 1975, Portuguese is the lingua franca for the country.

The green, green grass next door

A village which could easily be in Malawi

One other difference, come to think of it. None of these in Malawi!

Whale sharks have 3,000 tiny teeth but don't use them to eat

International Whale Shark Day is August 30th, if you're interested!

Love you all

Matt