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The great thing about camping in Kruger National Park (apart from the fact it is cheap!) is that thanks to the lack of electrics in some of the camps you have a great view of the night sky and plenty of time to stare in wonder at it.
Sitting there star gazing inevitably prompts thoughts of the bigger questions of our universe such as
Do woodpeckers get headaches?
Why advertise for wildlife trips in to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest?
and for the philosophers amongst you (that's a short list!) the most philosophical question of all
Can I possibly get any more handsome as I approach my 49th birthday?
Those of you with good memories will remember that we visited Kruger last July (those of you with bad memories, just a reminder that you owe me 1000 pounds). Last time we spent 17 days in one camp, Skukusa, in the south west of the park, this time we entered Kruger in the far north at Pafuri and travelled down the spine of the park, exiting in the southwest at Malelane. It is only when you do this trip, taking 21 days to cover 1900 kilometres and staying at in 6 different camps, that you realise how far sighted the founders of the park were to preserve it.
Despite having the park named after him former President Paul Kruger was not instrumental in preserving the place. James Stevenson-Hamilton, first warden and the real driving force behind the park's preservation before the wildlife had been completely shot out, wrote in a private letter that Kruger "never in his life thought of animals except as biltong"
Regardless of who to thank, Kruger is a magical mix of some 20 different vegetation zones, 147 mammal species, over 500 birds, 336 tree types, 114 reptiles, 49 fish and 34 amphibians. Not wishing to become lunch for some of the huge crocodiles we've seen hauled out on riverbanks here, our fish spotting opportunities are somewhat limited but we have been lucky to see all of the main animals and numerous birds.
It is interesting that now we've seen all of the familiar mammals on our travels, we are now studying the reference books and noting the stranger details. For example were you aware that the hippo is so efficient at selecting nutritious vegetation to eat on it's nightly forays on land that it only eats half the weight of food you would expect for an animal that size? The flip side to that is that elephants are so inefficient and wasteful in their selection and digestion of food that other animals will eat their dung and humans often gather it for use as fuel, (providing they have heavy colds when they light it).
After the terrible state of most of the national park campsites in Namibia and Botswana it is pleasing to report that the campsites in Kruger are clean and in a good state of repair, we've even had locks on the toilet doors for once! The only downside is that Compass Group has the catering contract, so the menu is the same everywhere and the quality spectacularly forgettable!
Another notable thing about Kruger this time was the weather. To say that temperatures dropping to 0.5C for 8 nights in a row tested our resolve and enthusiasm for sleeping under canvas would be an understatement, I haven't put on iced clothing since I was at school! Angela decided that wearing all the clothing she brought out to Africa would be the best option to keep warm in bed, sadly it didn't leave much room in the bed for me!
From Kruger we drove south through Swaziland (just a couple of hours to traverse it by the way) entering South Africa in KwaZulu Natal province. I had hoped to leave Angela with the King of Swaziland but his aides advised that 26 wives were enough for him.
We have now arrived back in Howick, descending on Pat & Roger De La Harpe and filling their double garage and most of their house with the contents of both the trailer and car. Rentokil have promised to come out and take our washing away!
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