Animals of Kruger National Park

The biological diversity found within the Kruger National Park is impressive, a natural richness abounds that few, if any, of the world's other great national parks can match.

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In the far east of South Africa, forming a common boundary with Mozambique along the low ridge of mountains known as the Lebombos, lies the Kruger National Park. It is a huge tract of land - a full 350 kilometers from north to south and 90 kilometers across at its widest point. The park stuttered into life during the early decades of this century and has matured through many vicissitudes to become without question one of the most renowned sanctuaries for wild animals in the world.

Kruger Animals:

Impala are often taken for granted in the Kruger National Park - there are well over 10,0000 of them - but they are beautiful, gracile antelope and rewarding to watch, particularly during the April/May rutting season when males fight to establish their territories and harems.

An 800-strong herd of buffaloe, Syncerus caffer, mills around the banks of the Shingwedzi River. Nearly 30000 of these bulky, formidable grazers inhabit the park, some in large herds such as this one although groups of a hundred or more are usual. Old bulls are often solitary, however, or form small associations of two to about ten individuals.

Buffalo are found widely in Kruger, but they do tend to favour the reed beds edging rivers and even when seen in open grasslands or more wooded areas, they will seldom be far from water. They are surprisingly quiet for such large animals and it is generally only in the mating season that their gruff snorts, bellows and the resounding clash of the horns of fiercely competing males carries through the heavy bushveld air.

Buffalo have a reputation for being dangerous and stories abound of hun-ters being charged and ambushed by wounded animals. If not threatened, however, they are almost as docile as cattle, but they are inquisitive and will often stare or even move toward an intruder.

Elephant, Loxodonta africana. At the turn of the century when the reserves which now comprise the present-day Kruger National Park were founded, they had no known resident elephants and it was only in 1912 that a herd of about 25 was known to have settled along the Shingwedzi River. Subsequently, large numbers entered the park from Mozambique before the raising of an elephant-proof fence. Today the population is 7000.

Elephants have prodigious appetites - adults can consume between 150 and 300 kilograms of vegetation within a 24-hour cycle and, depending on its availability, an average of about 200 litres of water in the same period. Their impact on the environment is significant and although contentious, culling has been deemed a regrettable but necessary conservation practice.

White rhino, Ceratotherium simum. So successful has the conservation of the white rhino been in South Africa that, with the endorsement of CITES, the animal may now be exported to countries where it has become extinct or numbers are few.

Chacma baboons, Papio ursinus. It is hard not to come across these self-assured primates in the Kruger National Park as they saunter arrogantly across the road or move through the bush foraging for food. The seeming nonchalance is deceptive, however, as always in the tightly knit troop there appear to be one or two 'sentries' posted to a vantage point to keep a sharp eye on proceedings and ready to bark out a warning if danger should threaten.

A strict hierarchy is maintained within each troop but there is always some individual ready to challenge the order and skirmishes often erupt. The ensuing show of canine teeth is impressive, but bluffing and intimidation followed by submission are often sufficient to settle a dispute and seldom is there a fight to the death. The baboon is the most widespread of all the African primates.

There are fewer than 400 wild dogs, Lycaon pictus, in the Kruger National Park and, although visitors may be fortunate to come across a pack almost anywhere, the greatest concentration is in the south. Previously the species was widely abhorred throughout its range as a ruthless, cruel killer and outside of protected areas persecuted as vermin. Furthermore, the reduction of suitable habitat and the species' susceptibility to diseases such as distemper, have led to real fears that the wild dog could be facing extinction.

Human ignorance and prejudice against the wild dog is rapidly turning to respect and intrigue, however, as field studies reveal an efficient hunter where co-operation and close, generally peaceable relations between pack members distinguish the life of wild dogs from that of other social carnivores such as lions, hyaenas and wolves.

A male kudu, Tragelaphus strepsiceros, on a misty morning near Skukuza. The kudu is the second tallest of all the African antelopes - only the eland is bigger - and the statuesque male has without question the most magnificent spiralled horns, typically with two-and-a-half turns and more rarely three.

Despite their size, kudu are adept at concealment in their preferred bushy habitat where their red-brown to blue-grey forms, broken with prominent torso stripes, make them difficult to discern. One might surmise that the male's long horns - the record stands at 1.82 metres - would make rapid passage through the bush rather difficult, but not so and with chin up and horns lying almost on their shoulders they can dash through thickets with consummate speed and ease. Large bulls have few enemies but are taken by lions and occasionally wild dogs.

Panthera leo. Although lions are good climbers they are seldom seen in trees in the Kruger. Notwithstanding their undisputed status as the most powerful of the African carnivores, they are not as successful as hunters as may be supposed - even when co-operating in groups the energy-consuming stalk-and-chase routine more often than not ends in failure. Also, the tables can be turned and lions have been known to be impaled and killed on the rapier-like horns of sable antelope. Kudu, buffalo and giraffes sometimes get the better of lions as well, and even small animals can do terminal damage. Lions, for example, appear to enjoy porcupines, but in the attempt to despatch these spiny rodents, hard quills may become lodged in the lion's mouth and paws, causing wounds that can turn septic and even result in death.

A grey heron, Ardea cinerea. The nearby Lower Sabie rest camp is a particularly good base for observing wetland birds. There are two dams in the immediate vicinity. The first is right in front of the camp and at the overspill there is a good chance of seeing fish-eating species such as the goliath and greenbacked herons. The second dam is particularly good for storks, including the black, woollynecked, openbilled, yellowbilled and marabou.

The nyala, Tragelaphus angasii, is found only in south-eastern Africa and the Kruger Park is home to a relatively small population of about 800. Mostly they are found in the northern parts of the park and seldom occur south of the Olifants River. Occasionally, however, they stray as far as the Sabie River where this handsome male was photographed. Nyala are somewhat shy and secretive and seldom wander far from the thick cover fringing watercourses.

The biological diversity found within the Kruger National Park is impressive, a natural richness abounds that few, if any, of the world's other great national parks can match. For example, nearly 150 mammals have been recorded, including six of the seven true cat species found in Africa, and the birdlife is prolific with more than 500 species having been documented. The smaller creatures, too, are well represented, for example 114 reptile species are known, 50 fishes and 33 amphibians, while spiders, scorpions and insects also abound. Plantlife is rich and varied, from tropical to subtropical; almost 2 000 species have been identified including some 450 tree and shrub species and 235 grasses.

KRUGER FACTS

BOOKING INFORMATION For the uninitiated, the variety of camps and accommdation options at Kruger can be somewhat bewildering. The following pointers should prove useful but are no substitute for the detailed advice from vacationtechnician.com

TERRAIN AND VEGETATION The park is generally quite flat with the height above sea level varying from about 260 metres in the central grasslands to 839 metres in the south-west. In the east is the low scarp of the Lebombo mountains, and the areas around Berg-en-Dal and Pretoriuskop are also fairly hilly. The vegetation is 'bushveld' but within this collective description there are substantial regional variations.

CLIMATE The summer rainy season is from September/ October through to April with the heaviest falls usually from December to February. Rain seldom falls in mid-winter. Temperatures often soar above 40 °C on summer days, at night dropping to about 18 °C. Winter days are usually cloudless and warm (23 °C), but the evenings and nights can plummet towards freezing point.

ANIMAL LIFE Varied and prolific

WHEN TO GO Anytime, but the mild winter months are regarded by some to be the best. It is a dry time when the vegetation has died back and water is somewhat scarce. The animals tend to collect at permanent water sources, therefore, and at the same time are less obscured by thick foliage.

HOW TO GET THERE The access routes from Johannesburg are varied and all follow good highways. Depending on the entry point the Kruger is a comfortable 5-6 hour drive from the Witwatersrand. Comair offer a daily service to Skukuza airport, and Airlink and Interair fly daily to Phalaborwa for easier access to the northern parts of the park.

GETTING AROUND A motor vehicle is essential. Microbuses are ideal because they are spacious and their extra height makes game viewing easier. A number of travel companies offer tour packages either in minbuses or luxury coaches. Petrol and AA emergency services are available at the main camps. Avis operates a car rental service at Skukuza and Phalaborwa airports.

ACCOMMODATION A total of 3250 beds in 24 rest camps, from furnished tents to thatched huts and well-appointed cottages. Bedlinen is provided, but all provisions and utensils must either be brought in or purchased at one of the well-stocked shops in the main camps which, for those disinclined to fend for themselves, also have restaurants. Hygiene standards are very high.

THE CAMPS These fall into three categories: standard as well as the smaller private and bushveld camps, access to the latter two being limited to the visitors in residence.

SERVICE Unfortunately it is not always service with a smile, but attitudes are changing. Generally, however, things work well and service, if not imaginative, is usually efficient.

NIGHT DRIVES Night drives in park vehicles is a relatively new and most welcome addition to the services offered. They are extremely popular and may be booked in advance at the relevant camp.

HIKING TRAILS The park operates a number of trails for the more adventurous visitor, but these cannot be arranged at short notice. Booking well in advance - up to a year - is essential. Armed ranger necessary...

MALARIA The park falls within an endemic area for malaria and prophylactics as well as good insect repellents are strongly recommended. A pharmacist should be consulted.

USEFUL REFERENCES Good references are essential for maximum value from a trip to a game reserve. There is a plethora of material available but recommended are:
Ken Newman's Birds of the Kruger National Park (Southern Books);

Piet van Wyk's Field Guide to the Trees of the Kruger National Park (Struik); Chris and Tilde Stuart's Field Guide to the Mammals of Southern Africa (Struik); Kruger National Park: Questions & Answers by PF Fourie (Struik); Kruger National Park: A visitor's guide by Leo Braack (Struik); and Making the Most of Kruger (Jacana). A good map is essential and the best on the market is the one published by Jacana.

The Kruger National Park-A time of challenge

The status of the Kruger Park as a conservation area is huge - it deserves recognition as a 'World Heritage Site' - and its importance as a tourist destination cannot be underestimated. More than 600,000 people make the pilgrimage through its gates each year, generating an annual income for the Park approaching R130 million.

For many people these aspects alone should be sufficient to guarantee its survival into the future yet, nearly 70 years after its proclamation, the Kruger National Park faces threats to its existence of the like it has never before had to meet. These threats are a bird's nest of tightly interwoven social and economic matters that at times seem beyond unraveling. Put simplistically, however, they reduce to a twofold problem: the Park is being choked by a tightening noose of an impoverished and rapidly expanding human population on its borders, and it could quite literally die of thirst.

The extent to which these threats can be minimized or turned into opportunities will depend principally on two things: the creativity, sensitivity and dogged determination of the Park's management, and a committed government. Sadly, for the moment at least, the latter seems reluctant to recognize that any social and economic reconstruction programme is fundamentally reliant on sound environmental and conservation policy and action.

Water is in short supply in many parts of South Africa which has a notoriously erratic rainfall - and the Eastern Transvaal is no exception: a cycle of good years is almost inevitably followed by dry times, causing great stress. As if it weren't enough that the Kruger Park should have to cope with these natural cycles, it also has to suffer an exacerbation of man's making. None of the major rivers that flow through the Park rises in the Park itself. Instead the rivers' headwaters are in the escarpment to the west where over the past decades vast plantations of exotic trees have all but usurped the natural montane grassland. Whereas the grasslands are a natural filtering system feeding and channeling rainfall into the river systems such as the Olifants and Sabie, the plantations suck unsustainable amounts of water from these vital aquifers.

Even the waters that do tumble into the valley below do not flow unrestricted into the Park as they are drawn for the irrigation of farmlands, the municipal use of towns and their industry, and the domestic use of sprawling rural communities.
In past decades the Park has not enjoyed very good relations with these neighboring communities. Feelings of resentment towards what has been seen as a rich white man's playground were understandable given that people had been moved to make way for conservation and that they were precluded from any involvement with the Park either in management terms, or regarding any economic or social benefits. At best a feeling of indifference towards the Park and its future was engendered, at worst it has raised questions of whether cattle and other farming would not be more relevant activities in this huge piece of real estate. Fortunately, no less a person than Nelson Mandela himself has gone on record saying that Kruger was an 'established fact whether we like or not how it came about'.

It would be a pity, though, if Kruger were to exist under little more than sufferance, however, for in such circumstances it would never fulfill its true economic and conservation potential.

There are encouraging signs that the Kruger National Park is beginning to work hard, not only at polishing its image, but also demonstrating in a very real way that it is prepared to identify with the needs of those on its borders and to draw them through consultation and partnership projects into a general economic interdependence and prosperity for the region with the Kruger National Park at the hub.

The driving force behind this new direction and vision is Dr Robbie Robinson, the current Chief Director of the National Parks Board of South Africa. Already, this quiet, self-effacing conservationist has taken his organization towards the future at a pace that has left reactionary elements in his bureaucracy in an evolutionary cul-de-sac. The mission of the National Parks Board is to establish a system of national parks representative of South Africa's important ecosystems and unique natural features and to conserve them in such a way that they will be preserved for all time in their natural state for the benefit and inspiration of present and future generations of all South Africans.

To this Dr. Robinson adds: 'My own vision is for our national parks to become the pride and joy of every citizen of South Africa'. One can only hope that his courage and determination will be supported as it should by regional and central government.

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