SANParks.org Forums

This is a thread that makes memories return!

Bushdad, our forum names correspond, though our families don't. However, the way we were raised and the way we raised our families do.

The first definitely confirmed visit of mine to KNP was when I at the tender age of 1, and thereafter nearly every year of my life. I introduced my SO to the "wildtuin" and hooked him completely, even before our marriage.

My elder daughter spent her first Christmas in Skukuza and the younger one was about a month old at her first visit. Since then they have also been on numerous visits every year and nowadays, at 34 and 31, spend their December holidays in the KNP.

No grandchildren as yet, but I am sure if there are, the tradition will be continued!

My next visit will be from 2-7 April 2010 and I will spend my birthday in Lower Sabie with my family. My yellow ribbon is already stowed in my vanity case and will be proudly tied on for the first time!

Hi Bushmom,

Amazing co-incidence with the forum names.

It seems as though once you are a KNP junkie, those closest to you are likely to be infected as well. There is nothing wrong with being hooked in this way.

Regards

Lapwing, I don't want to highjack your thread (but I'm doing it anyway ) and I also don't want to start a new thread (although it might be here somewhere already).... BUT I think it will tie in with this thread nicely.

We have certain family traditions when going to Kruger, and whenever I see it, taste it or smell it... it reminds me of the park. Incedently it is almost always food traditions but not always:

1. We bake our own pies (sausage rolls made from scratch) - not Wacktazz's buff pasties but just as good - and we take it as padkos (food for the road).
2. We always leave early morning to get to the gate at 6am.... and when we hit Witbank the pies are eaten for breakfast (even at 3 in the morning!!!)
3. We have the "sweet-cookie-thingys", made from condensed milk and Marie biscuits, covered in coconut, called "Leonora bolletjies" - only made for Kruger.
4. The first "real" breakfast in the park (other than the pies) is always scrambled eggs, mixed with Bullie beef (corned beef) and fried onions... stuffed in a hollowed out "skilpad bun". Those oval buns with the soft insides. You make hole in the one end of the bun, eat the soft insides and replace it with the filling of egg and bullie beef.
5. We play a complicated game of sightseeing, which I'll explain eventually to someone that is interested, of which the winners each day gets nothing other than knowing they're the spotting geniuses of the day.

Oh how I wish I was there right now

My parents instilled the love of Kruger in me from ever since I can remember.
I have spent close to 500 nights in Kruger, not bad for a 38 year old! Fortunately my SO loves Kruger as much as I do. Our first boy was 8 months old when we first introduced him to Kruger, our second boy was only 2 months old in July 2009 when we took him for the first trip of, GOD willing, MANY more to come.
I cannot see a "Chappie Stick" and not get homesick about Kruger. Strange how certian things (smells or tastes) can trigger fond memories.

I have been going to Kruger since the age of 7 - that's some 40 years!!! My parents used to take our domestic workers back home to Gazankulu in the days when they had to have their passes stamped on an annual basis. We then entered at Punda Maria (Milia) in those days and spent the week in the Park before collecting our staff again.
Have great memories - I even learnt to drive in the Park in our old Kombi. My husband was not an avid enthusiast but I have even converted him and he has since become a keen photographer! Sadly we don't spend nearly enough time in the Park as we would like to these days thanks to the pressures of work, etc but do try and make it at least twice a year!

Great thread!!

I was also introduced to the Park by my dad and uncle when we used to go camping together during school holidays,twice a year. I was more or less 5 years old. Sadly my dad passed away two years later in 1989 when I was seven years old - the only real memories that I have left of him was those in the Park, with all the traditions as well!

I remember sitting on my dad's lap around the campfire and listening to all the stories told when a fruitbat decided to do the "number 2" on my leg from an overhanging tree above us. It was a real mess and my dad smiled and thanked me for intercepting the path of the dung.

I also learned to drive with my mom and sister after that when we went again. There was period of more or less 7 years without a visit again until 2006 when I took my SO for her very first Kruger trip ever and my reintroduction back into KNP. This brought back all the memories of my dad, and SO was instantly hooked. We now visit 2-3 times a year. My mom also loves the park, but only winter time, she fears the snakes and goggas and will go the whole trip without any sleep!!!We introduced my sister's two daughters to the Park for their first time in July 2009 and they love every bit of the bushveld.

We will visit the Park 'till death do us part' . Just wish I had more memories of trips to Kruger with my dad. Great thread.....

I was introduced to Kruger by my parents when I was 3 ( oops ... just on 50 yrs ago). As a child Kruger was our winter breakaway - usually for a week or so. Oh boy! so many memories - the rusks specially baked for the trip, the biltong packed in washed out flour bags (when flour still came in cotton bags), not being able to sleep the night before we left, the special smell of the bungalows .... Tshokwane, when it was still a small kiosk that only sold cold drinks, chips and sweets etc.
And then I grew up, went to varsity, got married and so on. Introduced my SO and daughters to KNP. Now the children are all grown up and go on their own introducing their friends to the KNP. In 2005 my daughters and I took my Dad to Kruger for a week while my Mom was playing in a bowls tournament. A very special trip as he passed away not long after that. His ashes were also scattered in Kruger, at a place he loved very much. SO and I go to the park at least once every two months and still take my Mom once a year for her annual week-long breakaway.

Wow BB that must have been an awsome experience!!
I would give just about anything to go to Kruger with my dad....

Great thread, we make an effort to take the little ones to Kruger, at least 3X a year, they caanot get enough of Kruger and the exprience and wonders of nature.

Can you believe we have friends that have never been to Kruger...and their children have never been there either!

Both my parents' ashes were scattered in Kruger too within sighting distance of each other.

We have the place mapped on the GPS and regularly take photos of this special place. The last one has a lovely sighting of impala and zebra at mom's tree.

Things like that makes Kruger special to the whole family!

Love to your moher and I hope she enjoys her visits for a long time to come.

Hi all,

Heavens, but the memories start pouring back! Can anyone maybe remember the days when they still made fires at the picnic sites and in the camps? You just asked for coals and it was delivered to your braai area. I can still remember the days that if you went to the communial kitchen, the silver kettle was always boiling on the stove, 24/7 (not the hydro boils of today). The smell of Kruger was something out of this world. As if it was enticing you to come back soon!

My parents took us to Kruger when we were still very young. It had a big impact on our lives, as we still go there at least twice a year. We just can't get enough!!

It was my SO's first trip to the Park about 8 years ago, and since then I can't get him away from there. He even plans our next trip while we are resting in the chalet/tent We have been taking my son (5 years old), since he was a baby. He is even worse then his dad My daughter (16 months) loves to show us the birds or animals. One thing she really doen't like is the shongololo, as it curled around her finger and she couldn't get if off fast enough. We went to Munster in KZN December as well and when it was time to say goodbye, my son sayd "Goodbye sea, I will see you next time in Kruger" Just shows you what Kruger does to our kids. Ai, the kids these days

Thanks for this thread. I really enjoy it

Nice reading!!

My dad also told us about the fires that was always ready in the camps and picnic spot! The ranger that came around and share the stories about the wilderness. One very good memory I still have up until today was the day my dad caught me and my brother sticking those coloured dots into the maps were we “saw” lions, cheetah and other big five!! Sjoe he was really upset with us, that’s all I need to say about that one. My mom always insist on baking her own biscuits for our KNP holiday. Still remember my dad brining the coffee and biscuits early in the morning making a funny sound from behind him and said “did year the lion raw”

Hi Lapwing,

Aaah, memories! It is great to have them, isn't it? I remember on one of our trips to Kruger, my brother got the biggest hiding ever in his life. We were camping in a tent in Lower Sabie and after mum bathed us, went back to the tent and started the fire. Well, some time later we were looking for my brother, he disappeared. We actually found him on the other side of the fence He climbed through under the fence where it used to be open for the water to flow through. I promise you, he did not do that again

Oh I do remember those fires! However, the cooks actually braaied your meat for you if you supplied them with it. I remember sitting in a circle around these fires on sawn off logs! Everything was done by oil lamps too! Those were the days!!!

You are so right Those were the days! But at least we were blessed to experience the "old Kruger"

Family tradition consisted of early Sunday lunch in Shingwedzi...then traval from Shingwedzi to Satara (sometimes hitching a lift with the army guys from the nearby camp), then get anoyther lift from Satara to Skukuza...overnight in hut then next morning at 04h00 get up to catch the bus to Nelsruit school.

Friday you start the trek again, sloooow bus ride to Skukuza, catch mini-bus to Letaba this time, from Letaba to Shingwedzi with the army guys eating rat packs :-)

Arrive home on Friday night in time for the braai...

Sunday early lunch again and then the downward trip starts again.

Cheers!