South Africa – Kruger and Elephant Whispers

Cheers! We are back in the United States from our trip to South Africa which has been a long time coming. The pandemic really put an anchor in our plans to go sooner as we haven’t been back since 2019, but this age was perfect with Calihan.

Originally we planned on being back in late 2020 to visit family since if you are new – Lyall’s entire family is there (besides his sister who now lives in Atlanta). That means that Calihan was finally introduced to everyone at 3.5 years old. I will go more into the travel portion in a different blog, but I am happy to say that the flights were pretty easy. We landed on Wednesday night around 7pm South Africa time on April 12th. That night we just went straight to my mother in laws place and woke up at 2am to make our way to Kruger National Park.

The drive is about 4 hours give or take and we stopped on the way to grab more snacks. My father in law came with us to Kruger and between Lyall and him they did all of the driving. Kruger is definitely a you love it or feel “eh” about it as you can see so much and so little in the time you are there. This is the wild so you aren’t guaranteed to see everything you’d like. We love Kruger as to us it’s relaxing, exciting, and just a get away from the busy life we normally have. We were so excited when we realized Calihan was also loving Kruger! He had his own binoculars and would tell us to stop if he saw any animals. His favorite animal is an elephant – so he was lucky every day on this trip! The neat thing about Kruger also is you drive your own vehicle unless you pay for a drive by a guide. The point is to go casually throughout the park and just drive all day finding animals.

We made sure to make stops and at one we purchased this book for Cal to match the animals he finds. He thought it was the coolest thing and made sure to point out what he saw each time! He also took quite a few naps throughout the day as driving in a car + jet lag can certainly do a number on the body. There are different camps that have gift shops, restaurants, and sleeping arrangements throughout Kruger. We stayed at two different places this time Skukuza and Berg-en-Dal. Each one has a different accommodation set up and the camps are blocked off by gates with a curfew. There is a fine if you are late past the curfew which we almost paid one night as we saw Lions right outside the gate!

As you can see the encounters go pretty close… we had Zebra and Elephant right next to the vehicle numerous times. The other rare sighting we saw was a leopard! I did more of a Day 1 & 2 video posting on Tik Tok (see here) that showcases how our days went inside the park as photos do not do anything justice. Also – you have to be smart about your driving. Slow is best, but being aware of your surroundings to avoid any situations that would get you on TV is recommended.

I always feel like I could do an entire post about how I love the food in other countries. South Africa never disappoints and we had delicious breakfasts each morning at different stops throughout the drive. Just bring your own food and throw it on. We made breakfast sandwiches one day, and then of course for a snack we stopped for milkshakes! (This is a huge pregnancy craving of mine). I also forgot how delicious a Coca Cola from South Africa is. The sugar is different if I remember correctly, but it just tastes 100000x better. We also had coffee and rusks in the morning which is nostalgia for Kruger in my eyes. The instant coffee with the box of rusks in the car and just driving enjoying the sunrise.

This time was wonderful for Cal to spend with his Opa! He was able to see a chameleon up close and personal during the drive. Also peek the pajamas because we would wake up at 5am to be out the gate at opening.

Overall, we were at Kruger from early morning on Thursday April 13th-Saturday mid day April 15th. This was such a short Kruger trip, but we had so much to do that we needed to get to next. Saturday we drove from Kruger to Elephant Whispers which was about an hour and a half from the main gate. We met up with my mother in law and a wonderful family friend to see the beautiful Elephants. This was a necessity as Calihan was able to touch his favorite animal! He was so incredibly brave with the feeding, and being gentle touching the ears and feet.

These elephants were rescued from the park and we were able to learn all kinds of information about each of them. There was a informational piece before each group was able to interact with the elephant. We ended up doing a video of it all and then photos as well. The video footage is located here and I was amazed at just how BIG this elephant is. I kept thinking that Calihan has no idea how amazing these experiences are yet he does. At 3.5 years old he traveled 16 hours across the world and touched an elephant.