Ghostblog Hantu dan Mitos

First, a few words on traveling to the Kruger Park. If you want to make the most of it, and really, you DO, you need to realize it is not strictly speaking a very relaxing destination. Looking for game is more or less a full time occupation, and to me, some of the fun of Kruger is to see what I can spot next. Endless hours of the aforementioned kidney rattling gravel roads and long, slow drives through tall grass and bush along the paved roads, where the speed limit is 50 km/h (30 mph) will test your mental stamina. All so that you might get a glimpse of a lion or a leopard that may or may not be within miles of you. In addition comes the physical challenge. You're sitting in a car, driving for most of the daylight hours (appx. 6AM to 5:30PM in the winter) and it can be hot, hot, hot in the day; my last full day in Kruger saw the temperature creep up to 32C (90F) in the middle of the day, and that was in winter down there. During their summer, it can easily reach 40C (104F). Of cou...

Thursday, I got up at the ungodly hour of 4:37AM, hopefully for the last time this summer. I'd set the alarm for 5AM, but woke up sooner. Gah. Shirley was waiting outside reception and we headed for the Numbi gate, which is usually a little less crowded than Phabeni. We first headed south, to do the loop roads around Pretoriuskop. We visited the hyena family, which was in the exact same place as the day before. They probably use a shallow hollow right beside the road (but under some bushes) as their den. After that, we saw nothing so I headed north to Shabeni, where Shirley saw her first elephant. Then followed a quick break at Pretoriuskop camp. I had to be back at the hotel around 11, so time was running short. I headed for S65, with quick stops at Shitlhave, which held lots of zebras, impalas and some waterbucks. One of the zebras was running around trying to scare away the impala and largely succeeding. I'm not sure if he had anything against them or just chased them becaus...

I never did get that cheetah. I left Pretoriuskop shortly after opening time, and then took the loop roads to the south and west. After a few minutes, I happened upon a family of spotted hyenas; endlessly fascinating animals. I quickly grabbed my small cam and shot a little movie, to make sure I had something, but I needn't have worried. I spent the next 20 minutes in complete, wonderful silence with this little family, except for the little growls and whines they made to communicate with each other. Mama hyena kept a watchful eye, but these animals were probably so used to cars and humans she didn't perceive me as much of a threat. Morning fog over Pretoriuskop. Keeping a watchful eye. The group consisted of two or three adults, a few youngsters and three cute, wittle babies. One was hidden from view almost the whole time, but the other two were out and about, and the biggest one was high and low, running around from side to side, crossing the road several times and sniffing f...