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I have many memories of Kruger, My first memory , but probably not the 1st trip- Along the lower sabie road, it was still sand then , we spottes a troop of vervet monkeys. We did the wind up the window thing as in those days the monkeys and baboons regularly hitched rides on the car. But we had no aircon so we left a tiny gap to keep some circulation going in the heat. My brother was eating a biscuit and as quick as a flash this little hnad stretcehd in the window and grabbed the biscuit out of his hand. He was only about a year old and screamed so loud the monkeys fled into the neares tree

One December afternoon I hitched a ride with the Talamati game viewing vehicle from Orpen back to Talamati .The Nwatwitsontso river was in flood and I had arrived at Orpen as a guest of the Talamati camp manager .
Stopping for a leg stretch at dusk , I was walking back to the vehicle and saw a maned lion walking parallel and slightly ahead of me in the direction of the vehicle . I continued walking , now very silently , of course wanting to close the distance to the vehicle , fortunately the lion continued without hearing me .

Ndloti, mine was fake and I almost s&%$ myself! Don't want to know what I would have done if it was me in your shoes.....

my first trip began later in my life (my parents were/are beach goers) so it was about 7 years ago when i went on a holiday to hazeyview and managed to book one nyte at the lower sabie camp. on entering at the old paul kruger gate i was hooked. my first sighting was of a wild dog pack. those two days and one nyte have been imprinted in my mind and since then i have managed to get back to the park a lot more

not bad... not bad at all!!

Our first trip to Kruger was a day trip - 30 minutes into the park and the first animals (apart from impis) we saw, were two beautiful leopards. We were thrilled! I was hooked!!! ....
until dear SO told me the dinner plate sized 'prints' I saw were made by an elephant, and the funny 'zig-zag pattern' was made by its trunk I was a nervous wreck! Expected an elephant behind every bush (still do today)

Couldn't stay away, though. We were on holiday at Blydepoort at the time and I clearly remember our next trip ... the following day!!
We left VERY early and were one of the first cars at the gate. The birth of a long and happy relationship with the park..... 1987 - (hopefully for many years to come)

Next big Park discovery? The Forum! And Spotted Cat was 'born'
2007 - (hopefully many years to come)

It was definitely not my first visit, that being in 1950, but it was very funny at the time. It must have been around 1962 and wildlife in the camps were rife. One evening late my aunt, coming from the ablutions in her nightwear, was chatting to us through the screens on the stoep. Suddenly she cried "Voertsek, voertsek" (go away, go away) and tried to push the screen door open. There was an hyena sniffing at her feet and she was dancing and pushing alternately, never realising she should pull the door open. My mother helped her out of her misery by opening the door, but I do not think she went outside at night for the rest of the trip!
On that same trip my cousin ran after what he thought was an hyena to chase it away and it turned out to be a lioness.
If I think what a commotion the leopard in Tambotie caused, we must have been very brave!

I guess my first memory of Kruger was when I was about 4 or 5 years old (that would have been in 1961/62). I recall us (the entire family, mom, dad, four kids) in the family Kombi. It was a day trip, think we went in at Numbi (we used to travel from the Cape to visit family in Pretoria, then went on to stay on smallholding on the Nelspruit-Sabie road). Anyhow, it was a slightly rainy day, but in a single day trip we saw not only the big 5, but Cheetah as well! Memorable day, also remember getting smacked late in the afternoon when I had a fight with one of my brothers.
Then another memory, shortly thereafter (I think it was the same June/July period). My dad checked at Skukuza and found us accomodation in the park! Three whole nights in Lower Sabie. This was going to be the greatest event ever! We arrived at Lower Sabie, then discovered that they had basically ploughed up a section of bush to the upriver area of the camp as it was then. They had pitched tents for folks to use, in neat rows (but on a ploughed slope) We had two tents for the family, I shared the tent with my parents, while my brothers and sister shared the other tent. This was magic for a young kid. Then the thunderstorms started, and the rain. And it rained....at about 9 pm the water started flowing through the tent. Shortly thereafter the central tent pole started falling over...By this time my siblings' tent had collapsed, and we were all in one tent, with all our luggage piled onto the bed, us sitting on the camp beds with 10 cm of water flowing through the tent. The next few hours were spent like that, with my father and brothers sporadically rushing out into the rain to hammer in the tent pegs, to stop the tent from falling over.
For some or other reason, m parents decided to pack up the next morning....could not understand why, the sun was shining!

The first trip that can remember was July 1966. On a specific day we travelled from Skukuza to Nwanedzi to have a picnic there. (The S100 did not exist, so we took the S37) At that stage we lived on a farm and I took my 'kettie' with me wherever I went and thought that my trusted 'kettie' would be adequate protection if a lion decided to attack.

On the way my father stopped to look at something in the distance. It is then that I looked the to my right and saw this Francolin standing no more that 5 yards away from the car. I aimed at him and he looked at me as if he was saying "you can't shoot me because this a game reserve" I decided, bugger you and let loose with the 'kettie'

Frankie was no more but then all hell broke loose. Dad took a swipe at me, got out of the vehicle and gave me the hiding of my life. Back at Skukuza, my sister continued mocking me by saying "daddy hit you today-hay, daddy hit you today-hay" So I grabbed one of her shoes and threw it into the Sabie river. Guess what happened next?........

On a serious note, some of the best memories were when we approached camp at dusk and smelled all the camp fires, the communal braais, the last minute shopping and the night sounds. In some way, I wish I could relive those days. "Beam me back Scotty"