SANParks.org Forums

our dear overseas tourists are welcome and sure help out with tourism and so forth. have met some wonderful people.

but with all due respect is it not amusing sometimes how little some people know about africa. do they watch documentries etc overseas. we were once watching a mating pair of lions and some nieve american bloke could not see so he promptly got out and walked towards the lion. after getting him back into his vehicle he wanted to know what our problem was "after all they are tame they wont do anything" well i never heard such uneducated rubbish in all my life and could not help myself from peeling into
fits of laughter!!!!!!

anyone else had some strange experiences with our visitors?
PS ever noticed the long slleves and jeans that come strolling off the busses? Air con must be freezing on them busses..hee hee

I have seen very odd things from overseas visitors, but sadly I've also seen things from South African's, who should really be leading by example. Would I be starting a province war if I mentioned that the number plates often seem to be GP...?

A number of years ago we came across a leopard, sitting on a branch right on the side of the road, near to leeupan. There was a South African out of his car, walking closer to the tree to take photo's. There were loads of cars around (we were certainly not the first on the scene), and when people saw him being so bold they started sitting up on the window frames, etc, to get better photo's. It really is a shame that we don't seem to lead by good example and this would probably be a good place to start.

I also think it's a good advert for our country if we try to help overseas tourists as much as possible. Another time, on the road from Nkulu to Skukuza we spotted a leopard lying on a sand bank in the river. After a while a few more cars arrived and things were going well. Just before we left I realised that the car next to us had two young Germans in it, and commented to them how lucky all of us were to have had the sighting. At that stage the chap only plucked up the courage to ask if we were all looking at a crocodile!!! By the time we pointed out the leopard to them they were so excited, never having seen one in the wild before. It was easy to see from their faces that that moment would stay in their memories for a lifetime.

Don't get me wrong, I've also been annoyed at times by overseas tourists (especially when they behave as if the game ranger taking a night drive should know where the Big 5 are almost lined up along the road, like it's a zoo!), but it's our responsibility to educate them, and ensure that they leave SA wanting to return and advertising the country to anyone they speak to once back home

One of our night drives the guide asked if anybody saw anything. This was while we were looking at 2 lions next to the lower Sabie river.

There was another vehicle with 4 people in and advised the guide (KNP Guide - infact a ranger) that they saw 2 lions next to the road. And their words were:

"It's about 1km down the road, turn right, you'll see a no entry sign. But we only went in about 100m then turned around."

Talk about sticking you face in it.

yup i have to agree that sa people are sometimes equally to blame. we were once watching a chameleon bravely trying to cross the road when a parks board vehicle came zooming up from the opposite side. we frantically started waving trying to tell him to stop and wait. instead of slowing down to see what was up he quite cheerfully drove past waving back at us and sqished the poor chameleon into oblivion!!!!!!

two uk visitors once stopped us and exitedly pointed to the family of rhino alongside the road. on inspection we laughinly pointed out to them that it was in fact a couple of warthogs and that the size difference between them and a rhino was quite substantial.

as timone would say "talk about yr fixer upper!!!!!"

Driving from Lower Sabie to Skukuza we came across a troop of baboons walking along side the road. Being an extremely hot day we had all the windows of the car open and because we were moving camp had all our luggage with us. On the back seat I had put a big bright yellow bag which I put my shoes in. All of a sudden I see this flash behind my head and when I looked back this huge male baboon had climbed into the backseat and proceeded to grab the yellow . Needless to say I almost had an accident (in all the contexts of the word). He jumped back out and dashed back down the road. Luckily for us he realised the bag had a pair of stinky bushwalk shoes and no food so he dropped it.

The other day a south african couple just returning from the Kruger told me that they saw a leopard in a tree with a springbok near Croc Bridge

huh???

Now imagine if they actually saw a springbok... I think that they should add it to sighting special antelope, maybe after the ReedBuck

I read about the day when 2 tourists (Belgian and Chilean?) got out of their car to photograph elephants nearby at the Engelhard dam.

One cow with a calf charged them. They got back into the car but could not start it before the cow stuck her tusks through the passenger door and lifted and shook the car like a box of matches. The one tourist got out and the other one was, together with the car, dumped unceremoniously into the water.

They left the country very soon after. Wonder why?

Funny about the Springbok - I actually saw (can't remember where unfortunately) an SA tourism website advertising Springbok as one of the animals which can be seen in Kruger

Still, I had an odd experience as a kid, and have since wondered if people don't transport things like Springbok around for hunting or such. The farm I grew up in was in Schoemanskloof (the alternate route from Nelspruit on the N4, not the route passed Sappi Ngodwana), and we had a lot of game there, but never Springbok or Impala. One day I was driving along on my quadbike, minding my own business, when a Springbok leapt out onto the sand road in front of me! How on earth it got there I'll never know, but can only assume human involvement. I wonder if species which aren't supposed to be in the Park sometimes end up there through no fault of their own?

I've been debating posting this for a few days, mostly because I felt like a complete klutz when this happened in front of quite a few fellow campers at Shingwedzi! We'd been cleaning our coffee mugs at the Kitchen block and on our return we found a hyena lying right in front of our tent where we put up one of those lead lights. Quite a few people were around watching her. I got my camera and that's where the pawpaw hit the fan. The fence at Shingwedzi isn't as high as for example at Satara, so I stood on tiptoe (being rather short!) and stuck the cam over the fence, forgetting the electrified fence which I touched with my elbow.
Some people tactfully decided not to get hysterical, but my husband and a few others went into fits of laughter.
I did get my picture in the end though.

While the Pilansberg may be a very nice little reserve, how on earth can it compare to a reserve approx the same size as Israel?! (and that's excluding the new transfrontier extensions)

In my experience people are surprisingly snobbish about Kruger - it's almost as if it's a victim of it's own success. People feel that because it's such a brilliant place, it's not the "real" bush - whatever that means, and that you have to go to the Kalahari (would I be killing my own arguement by saying how much I love it there too?) or the Serengeti to really see the beauty which Africa has to offer.

All of which is complete hogwash. After all, it's quite possible to drive through Kruger and see nothing, if you don't use some skill, get up early, and leave the radio off so that you can use your ears to assist with sightings. The fact that a place is popular doesn't make it any less beautiful - it's a real shame that people come out with such rubbish, especially when advising international tourists.

As for the conservation fee, I reckon it's brilliant. Many South African's struggle to go into their own national heritage because of costs, while R120 a day for the majority of international tourists is small change. It's not as if SA is the first country to introduce two levels of billing, hopefully it's something we'll see more of as the country grows in popularity as a tourist destination

*meg steps off soapbox*

There is a filling station attendant at Punda Maria who, when asked, will always explain where one can find a "Lilly-breasted Roller".

Many years ago there was a time when some people thought it fashionable to have a plastic orange stuck on the aerial and some furry stuff covering the car`s dashboard - anyone remember that?
Well, I was parked somewhere near Letaba once, watching some birds, when one of these cars drew up, aerial swinging with the orange on top, and the driver asked what I was looking at. On hearing it was birds he drove off at speed. A while later I carried on and eventually caught up with the same chap who had stopped and was enthusiastically pointing at something as I parked behind him. He leaned out and shouted to me "look, baby rhino" It turned out to be a warthog!!

Hi All

My mom decided to drive the one day, (BIG MISTAKE). We were staying at shingwedzi and decided to drive to Mopani camp, the trip towards Mopani went off with out any problems, but the trip back was awhole different story. About Half an hour into the drive every one in the car had fallen asleep (INCLUDING MY MOM), I was the only one still awake,Lets just say we went bundu bashing with a golf estate, I shouted so loud I think i scared all the animals in a 1km radius far away.Its funny now but thank goodness we didnt crash into an animal or car. Well I can assure you all that Krugers roads are a safer place that my mom doesnt drive in the park anymore.

Regards
Paul

LOL, Paul, sounds familiar! One morning we left Satara early and headed north. You know how the roads around there are elevated above the veld (gotta love that! ), well, my husband was driving and also fell asleep! I was merrily looking out of my side of the car for game when I realised we were drifting across the road towards the drivers side embankment Fortunately I grabbed the steering wheel just in time. We have a new rule now - I do the early/late drives, he does the stuff inbetween