Photographic Safari: Self Drive Tips for Capturing the Big Five

There are pros and cons for paying to go on safari or do your own self drive. When you go on a paid safari, you have the advantage of a trained spotter usually and you don't have to worry about watching the road as you ride along; they are doing that (you hope!) You are also in a vehicle that sits high off the ground and so sometimes you can see things people in a regular passenger car cannot.



This being said, the freedom of a self drive is immense. When you find something, you can sit and watch to your heart's content. If if it something of everyone's interest like a lion for instance, my advice is to turn your vehicle so no one can block your view! If you in a busy park like Kruger during the school holidays there are pluses and minuses. One advantage of going at this time of year is that there are more eyes out spotting the game, though it can get quite hectic when one of the Big Five is spotted. People can get a little crazy so you have to assert yourself and hold your ground. This is one big advantage of a small car: you can quickly zip into a space or move around some big clunky 4 x 4's as needed.

When out driving, and you see a car stopped, backing up etc., slow down and start segmenting the viewing field and looking for it. We were able to spot a leopard in a tree by slowing down, stop, go forward six feet, look around, go forward six more feet and so on. It allows both the driver and passenger to look for what has been spotted.

We also if possible, see which direction the people are looking so we can both be looking in that direction. Before setting out on a game drive, it is advisable to look at the sightings board, and if you can talk to others at the board to see what and where they have seen anything. We go a cheetah report from a man who had seen two cheetah that very morning. We went out looking but were not successful. We did the game drive at about 10-15 km where the cheetah had been spotted which did allow for both of us to be looking.


Another tip is to not just look on the ground; look in the trees especially ones that look like a likely place to find a leopard. Look ahead, something could be crossing the road--the elephants can just suddenly appear on the side of the road. Lions seem to enjoy lying around and if you are lucky it is on the side of the road!

Vultures circling usually indicate a kill somewhere and you can try to follow their path or if they are in a tree, look around so see if you can find something nearby. Prey animals like the impala are worth watching if you see them "alert." They may be sensing one of their predators is in the area and may show themselves!

For more of our pictures of Lions Mating, see
Vicious Lovers: Lions at Dusk, Mating, Then Stalking Off For Their Nightly Hunt at http://www.traveljournals.net/stories/30097.html

Self Drive on a Budget in Kruger Nationa Park, Wild Card

Camping at Letaba in Kruger National Park


Last time we were in South Africa and Kruger National Park, we had heard about the Wild Card. It is similar to the National Park Pass used in the United States parks. It is good for one year and allows you to enter the parks for an unlimited number of times. The international traveler can only buy the all-park pass but according to my calculations, the pass has paid for itself after the sixth day. The entry fee to the park is $36 per couple per day. If we did not have the Wild Card, the cost of staying in the park would be no longer be budget travel, adding in the cost of the rent car and the camping fee of $17 per couple at the current exchange rate. We bought a pass at the mall in Phaloborwa and than proceeded to the gate.

We got a permit to enter the park and the girl at reception told us if we did not find a space to camp we would have to be out of the park by 5:30 p.m. We thanked her and drove on into the park. There was not much wildlife at that time of day along the stretch of road we were on. We stayed on the paved road because we needed to make time to get to Letaba, check out sites and if necessary, head back to Phaloborwa.

We got to Letaba, and went to reception . Everything was "fully booked" as it was last time except this time, there was no allowing for a small tent by the ablutions block without a reservation. The girl at reception told us there was nothing she could do and we would have to leave the park. Robert suggested I check and see if there was anything available.

Before I could check out that option, the people behind us in line approached us and said they had overheard our conversation. They had two campsites reserved, were using only one, would we like to have their other spot. Would we ever!!! Took their extra spot for the four days they had it reserved for. They suggested we go to reception early in the morning and see if there have been any cancelations at Letaba or any other campground.


We were able to extend our stay at Letaba and make reservations for other campgrounds by checking with reception on various days. The important thing is you must have a exit permit issued by the campground to leave the park. Without this, you are in trouble. Not sure what trouble entails but did not want to find out!

The campsite has two kitchens available for cooking and washing of dishes. The learning curve on the three double hotplates takes a little while, but Robert mastered it! For the early morning game drives one of the nicest things about these camps is the instant boiling water! Makes it quite easy to make a pot of coffee quickly!

In the restrooms, there are two bath tubs on the women's side. I guess it is great for bathing all those small children. They were always in use when I was in there and you could hear the happy sounds of children bathing. There are laundry facilities also but the ablution block we were using did not have a working dryer and one washer was out of commission but since we carry a clothesline with us, there was no problem with that.



There are also huts and rondevals available. There is a park store with a surprising amount of fresh veggies as well as canned goods and meats. That of course is the other ingredient in making a park like this work is cooking your own meals! There is a restaurant if you do wish to treat yourself at some point on the trip.

Car Rental for Kruger Self Drive Safari

We had a rec on Thrifty from JP of Blue-Africa Safaris, the great guy who gave us a ride to Ngepi.

We used Expedia to check their rates, and according to Rob of Shoestrings Airport Lodge backpackers, the rate was great.

The car we got was a four door VW Polo Classic with a "nice boot," a trunk, not a hatchback, which is what we wanted. It also had a standard trans, which we prefer, and air conditioning.












The biggest problem with a passenger car for a self drive is its low clearance, and as we later saw, there were a few places in Kruger we could not go as a consequence.



However, there are miles and miles (kilomoters and kilometers ) of Kruger National Parke where we could, and did, go.