After Isambane, we headed into Kruger National Park proper. After 3 days where every decision had been made for us, we were on our own for the next 3 days and nights. At times Andrew struggled to keep his speed down and we doing a Ferrari-safari at times, but once yelled at to slow down, he reduced speed for a while until concentration slipped back into speed mode.
We entered the park at Orpen Gate and drove off in the direction of Satara camp, our base for the next 2 nights. Not far along the road we had our way blocked by 2 large elephants destroying a tree while standing on the road. We had to sit and wait for them to move on and other cars began to back-up around us.
Then from there through to camp there was no shortage of animals
After 2 nights at Satara we moved on to 1 night at Lower Sabie. Both camps were very good, but Lower Sabie was situated on the river and we could see elephants, hippos and other animals just outside the fence while sitting on our patio or from the restaurant.
Andrew had a little bit of a trouble understanding the concept of the glass sliding-door when he walked into it head-first. The bang was so loud the neighbours popped their heads out to see what the commotion was. Lucky he has a thick skull!
We also had an issue that there was no key for our bungalow at Lower Sabie. We were told the room would unlocked and someone would bring us the key. No one came. Later that evening we had a knock on the door and the previous occupants turned up. Apparently their stuff had been moved from our bungalow to another bungalow and that was why there was no key – they still had it.
Without a doubt Kruger National Park is an absolute gem. The size ~20,000km2, the diversity, the abundance and the facilities. It was a very special place to visit.