South Africa – Kruger National Park – Mala Mala Lodge
The world-famous Kruger National Park, which is roughly the size of Belgium, is home to elephants, lions, leopards, hippos, buffaloes, zebras, giraffes, wildebeest and many other animal species. With a little luck, you can see the Big Five here.
The Kruger National Park was founded in 1898 to protect wildlife in the South African Lowveld. Today, the national park with almost 2 million hectares is unique in the world in its diversity of life forms. South Africa’s largest national park is home to an impressive variety of species: 336 trees, 49 fish species, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals can be found here.
The ideal time to visit the Kruger Park is from April to August, as the climate is temperate and dry, and the bush is thinned and the grass is still low.
In the rainy season from November to February, it gets hot and humid, and there is an increased risk of malaria because of the mosquitoes.
The Kruger National Park is often referred to as the pearl of South Africa. Adventure to the horizon: Here, where giraffes, elephants and lions are at home, people are only allowed to stay in a safe environment. We have chosen the Mala Mala Lodge as the location for our animal observations.
Mala Mala is one of the oldest and most famous lodges in the Sabi Sands area. The thatched rondavels are equipped with 2 bathrooms, air conditioning, telephone and terrace. The excellent cuisine and service are world-famous. There are also two pools and a bar. The best months for a stay are from June to September. That’s when the animal observations are at their best. The African “winter” is very dry, and so you meet many animals at the few waterholes. In addition, the grass of the savannahs is lower.
At this time of year, you can see further and better and observe the wild animals particularly well. With an area of almost 20,000 square kilometers, the park is about the size of Hesse. Almost 2,000 kilometres of road are available to guests for game drives. But if you want to discover the rhinoceros in the bush or the cheetah on the hunt, you should discover slowness.
In the evening, after the hunting stress of the day, we relax a little at the famous bar in the Mala Mala Lodge. Ernest Hemingway has already been here and of course many other famous “personalities”. Wherever the eye wanders, it always catches the countless trophies on the walls. The bar is an ideal meeting place for the evening Smaltalk, where you can chat about the experiences of the past safari.
The rooms consist of round bungalows, which are comfortable and generously equipped for the local conditions. However, this does not protect against the dangers of the wilderness. Despite “Autan and Co.”, Jürgen is bitten by a scorpion in the evening. The consequences: circulatory collapse, first aid, cancellation of dinner and nausea, dizziness until the next morning. But then everything is over. Jürgen has caught the “beast” under the blanket and killed it so that it can be identified. Thank God it was one of the non-lethal poisonous specimens.
