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One final story
We did a late night drive at Orpen rest camp about 3 years ago.
Right behind me was a big huge guy with a long beard (biker kind of guy) and very brave...
We didn't see much that night until we were about to return to camp when we came across a massive lonely elephant in musht (dripping from glands etc)

The elephant was about 10 meters away from us when the ranger asked if we would like to go a bit closer.
The beard guy was the first one to shout Yes take us closer... the ranger drove down what seems to be a little 50 degree dip and turned of the engine.

We peacefully watched the elephant and it seemed not to care about us.
A few minutes later the elephant walked closer and closer and closer.
Finally being so close that if you really reached out you would have touched it.
The people became stressed and asked the ranger to rather go (keep in mind that the engine was turned off and that the truck had to reverse up a steep angle to get away as we couldn't drive any more forward)

The funny thing was the beard guy shouting in a lady like voice :''please go now!!!'' when the elephant about a meter away did a quick ear shake.

We drove away safely.
After the drive I asked the ranger why he was doing nothing with the elephant so close.
He told me that he could ''read'' the body language of the elephant and because it was still eating while being so close to us it was peaceful and we didn't bother the elephant.

Just read through the stories and wish to share the following with the mites:

I and Hilda’s “Groot skrik” (Big fright) happened during our stay at Biyamiti on the morning of the 14th of September 2011.
We left camp at gate opening time, turning left onto the S139 (private road) towards the S25.
The S139 is a very narrow road and passing can only take place by moving onto the shoulder of the road on each side.
We came across an elephant herd crossing the road at the top of a ridge.
There was a guy in a land rover about 30 meters behind me at that point in time when I stopped about 20 meters from the crossing herd.
Hilda was busy taking pictures of the Matriarch just off the road to the left.
The next moment she charged at full speed down the hill .
She was so fast that I only had a chance to react when she was approximately 8 meters from the bakkie.

The guy behind me was also caught off guard and did not reverse as fast as I was.
I remember asking Hilda which side of the bakkie she wanted damaged because we will be forced to leave the road to avoid an accident with the guy behind us and the ellie in front of us.
Must confess that I was at this point in time.

We did approximately 30 meters in reverse at that point, when as quickly as the charge started, the matriarch stopped in the middle of the road with ears still flapping .
I think the downhill let her think twice to keep on charging .
She went back to the top of the ridge and left the road on the right.
I waited for about 15 minutes and slowly moved forward to the top of the ridge.
As I reached the crest of the hill, she burst through the bush and charged us again.
Luckily I had the benefit of moving forward and could avert any confrontation.
Since that day we are not easy at all when crossing the path of ellies .

I really can vouch for these situations becoming a nightmare .
This ellie was really not a happy chappie .
Don't know why but the ellies down at Biyamiti has a tendency to be more aggressive than in other parts of the park .

Barry..............thanks for the tip, will be giving Biyamiti a wide berth!!!

Dr Phil is also quite correct ..............we spend most of our Kruger time in the north, and some of the ellies there, are VERY grumpy!!

On our first drive along the Tropic of Capricorn Loop and the S50, we saw about 30 huge ellies in groups of 2 or 3 all very unwelcoming!!!! It seemed that there was an ellie behind every other tree, and several of them advanced on us (at different times) with us reversing!!

We were never more relieved to get on to the main road!!

We then made the mistake of driving along the Tzendze loop..............say no more.

It put me off dirt roads for a long while, and I am only just starting to "test the waters" again.


My actual most scary experience however involved a much smaller critter, and most of you will probably think that it is a bit pathetic!!

We had called into Satara for a bathroom break, and as usual, before I entered the cubicle, I did an arachnid and reptile check.

All was well, so I did what I had gone in to do, and came out to wash my hands.

I happened to glance up and to my horror, saw that there was a humungous black spider over the entranceway (the one that I had walked through!!)
My problem was then, how was I going to exit without it dropping on me.

I was very relieved when someone pointed out that there are two entrance/exits in those toilets, and I was out of the other one like a bullet out of a gun!!!

My biggest fright in Kruger happened donkeys years ago when I was a kid.
I had washed my long hair and was sitting in the sun, leaning over forward, brushing it out to dry it.
A warthog was running through the camp and brushed right passed me.
I didn't see it coming and nearly died of fright.

Some years back we were camping at Skukuza.
My daughters was making pancakes after dinner one evening.
Suddenly a couple of nagaapies (bush babies) ran up the tree right next to her.
She heard their yowls and just saw their big eyes.
Gave her an adrenalin rush of note!!

The ellies on that Biyamiti road are very aggressive!!three times I have been there and been charged.
thankfully with no serious consequences.
the road is very narrow and there a are lot of ellies coming and going from the river, I personally think its just a matter of time before something serious happens on that stretch of road.
in my opinion I earnestly think the authorities should either widen the road or close it before we have a serious incident.
I know I might be overreacting here but I honestly believe that the aggression of those ellies towards cars can turn out to be fatal!!
The problem I think is that its a narrow road and quite windy so when you come around a bend the elephants suddenly appear in front of you and become startled at the sudden arrival of a vehicle.
It really doesn't matter what speed the vehicle is doing -its an element of surprise and this affects both the ellies as well as the drivers and its not easy to reverse quietly away as there are a lot of bends and slopes to contend with and a turn is not possible due to the width of the road.
If they did widen the road at least the elephants grazing at the roadside would not be directly next to the vehicle and it would also give drivers an opportunity to do an about turn.

yeh im serious !!!!
it was in my last trip in 2011 (april i think)...

It was a huge scary bug - during driving - i didnt knew what was it - just that it was huge (at leat 12-15 cm long) jumping all over the car and making scary sounds...

i was really happy when it left...

How did you react, DP, and get out of the place; or did the cat move off of its own accord?

OK firstly this is an incident that happened outside the Park, but only 2.5km, and secondly it starts out very funny...
We were chilling one afternoon at Sabie Park on the stoep checking out the hyenas, there are no fences in Sabie Park but we did put up a 1m gate at the entrance of the stoep to keep us safe.
when one of my friends just mentioned that one of the hyenas are wearing a reflector jacket
WHAAAAT!!!! We grab the torches and started shining in the direction of Mr. Police hyena.
And after a lot of ????????? we saw that he was actually chewing on my numberplate!!!
The okes went after him to save my poor numberplate and 3 hyenas chased after them, one of them was so drunk he ran into the bush barefoot
I went outside to keep the gate open for them and 2 hyenas advanced towards me, I picked up a rock and threw it in their direction to scare them off but they thought I was throwing food towards them and came even closer, you have never seen a person get on a stoep as quick as I did that night.
The men came back after 5 minutes without my number plate
The next morning we went in the bush to try to find what was left of my number plate and found 5 pieces as big as 50 cents

That is why I hate it when people feed animals.
They get used to us and then they get cheeky...

Yesterday was one of the scariest days that I have had in the park in a long time...after reading all of your scary elephant stories (especially about the aggro Biyamiti elephants!)....
we drove down Timfenene and it was very overcast and the bush was very overgrown and I just imagined turning every bend and finding a mad elephant intent on overturning the car!
My heart was pounding for quite a while!
Thankfully we never found one and saw a leopard instead!
We then spent the night at Malelane camp and at around 7 or 8 pm we heard a helluva bellowing sound coming from the riverside so, of course, we all rushed down to see what it was only to discover that the fence was broken down (maybe the floods?) and not electrified!!
We then got back to our hut a lot quicker than you can imagine with the torch swivelling from side to side to see what was going to eat us!
A man told us that it was hippos but I have never heard hippos making that kind of noise! It was amazing!

The same happened to my family a few years back. My two children were still small.

We were traveling on a sand road near Letaba. A bug flew into the car. I screamed for my husband to stop!

I jumped out the car and my two children jumped into the front with my husband.

Of course the bug flew out. As we were all laughing, comming around the next bend a pride of lions were right next to the road.

My scariest moment in the Kruger was in 1994 when I just finished Std 7!
I went to my friend Stefan for a couple of days who stayed in Skukuza Personal Camp!
His dad used to be be Principal at the Primary School.
One night we went on a game drive to look for animals, 3 youngsters in a golf!
On our way out we saw a huge Hyena walking into the garden of somebody who had left the gate opened!
So we decided to walk in the yard and chase it out!
As we where about halfway in the hyena came running towards me and I ran to the gate to get back to the car!
That's when the hyena bumped me out of the way to get out of the yard at such a speed!
I got in that Golf and refused to get out again until we where in the Stefan's yard!

I was fortunate enough to be staying in the Honorary Rangers hut in Skukuza and had gone for a walk up to the golf course and back in the early evening.
For those who don't know, there are not many fences in the staff village at Skukuza so the road I was walking down ended and the bush began.

A little boy was playing in his garden with the driveway gate open when his mother came outside and yelled at him about leaving the gate open while we was outside alone.
She tried to impress upon him the danger but being a typical indestructible 8 or 9 year old boy he made it clear that nothing at all was going to happen and she had nothing to worry about.
He did close the gate though.

During the entire exchange there was a hyena, which neither of them could see, standing about 10 - 15 meters from the open gate.

This of course meant that I needed to walk towards the hyena in order to get back to the hut which was more than a little unnerving but it moved off quickly back into the bushes so it was an uneventful meeting.
I didn't go out for a walk alone after that though.

Hallo everyone!

I know of two people that got stung by Scorpions in the Kruger Park in two different camps and the same night.

It was the 17th of December 2010 on a Friday night. One was my brother Francois at Shingwedzi camp at about 7 o'clock at night and the other was my one employees brother Peter at Tsendze camp at about 9 o' clock at night.

Lucky not dangerous Scorpions!!