We got into Kruger park at 7 AM.

We entered at Orpen Gate which is about 1/3 way up the park on the west. 

Kruger is like 400 km long and 60 km wide, on the northeastern border of SA up against Mozambique.

It has several paved roads and many unpaved but passenger-vehicle-passable roads which are mostly well marked, but not as well as in Pilansburg, of course there are many more of them.

Our guide said Kruger employs 30,000 wardens, all of whom have a degree in a natural science, such as forestry or biology. They spend 6 months working and 6 months doing research. There is a 2 year waiting list to get a job, except for anti-poaching enforcement.

We drove up and down these roads, since it was wet from the rain, we had to be careful on the dirt roads.

We saw a bazillion Impala, also we saw so many Gnu, Zebra and Giraffes that it became old. We saw.... jeez, I shoulda bought that book.... Kudu (like an elk!) and 2 kinds a little antelope. Thompsons and DuikDuik if I remember. We later in the day saw half an elephant, the bottom half was hidden in bushes, We saw a lioness carrying a cub in her mouth on a rocky hill, and a klipspringer on the opposite side. We saw 4 young cheetahs, they are endangered and our guide got very exited to see them, we just all hung out the windows and took photos. We saw a boabab tree, Cape buffalo, Hippos.... 

We stopped at Satara (24 deg 23.528' S, 31 deg 46.950' E) for a big breakfast of toast, eggs, bacon and fried tomatos at there are numerous rest/picnic areas throughout the park where one can buy things or set up a barbeque, ours looked like a shallow wok on a burner on a 3' shaft attached to a butane can. On the other side of the fence, there was a hyena begging for food. We later stopped at another spot, Tshokwane (24 deg 47.216' S, 31 deg 51.587' E) for a light lunch of bread and salad. There were 2 species of primate (other than humans) one was a baboon, the other was some kinda monkey. After most of us had eaten, one of the ladies in our group was sitting at the table and a baboon went charging across the picnic area, jumped up on the table, grabbed the largest piece of bread and raced back 50 yards to its tree and it happened so quickly no-one could react (it woulda made a great photo!).

We kept on driving, looking for animals until just about dark, when we got to a campground at Pretoriaskorp (24deg 30.828'S, 31 deg 3.682' E). We set up what the company advertized as "large 2-man dome tents"....well actually they were tiny. We set up 3 of them, our guide gets to sleep in the van. We also set up a tarp to sit under to cook and eat.

Our feerless leader cooked rice, a vegetable stew pot and barbequed (over coals this time) Boerwors (boer sausage) and steak. We ate all that while the rain drizzled on the tarp. We could hear lions roaring in the distance.

At this campground, there was a large electric fence (reminded me of Johanesburg) to keep the animals out, there were thatched cabins, RV parking and spots for tent campers. A nice restroom with showers and lights to attract a billion insects, a gift shop, and the burned down shell of what had once been a thatched roof bar.

After everyone turned in, I got back up at 11 PM, the rain had stopped, but it was still thickly overcast and hazy, it was very quiet so I could hear the lions better, I walked around a little. In my 3 weeks in Africa, I never ONCE got a good look at the stars or southern constellations. The only days I was not in a light-polluted city, it was so overcast I could not see a thing.