Welcome to Kruger National Park!
I am very excited 
to be here in South Africa,
I was in Kruger about five six years ago now
so I feel very fortunate to be back.
Kruger has some of the highest diversity 
in all of Africa
so the chances of seeing the Big Five 
and more are very great.
I just arrived 
and already I see a swimming elephant.
He's quite cheeky and has been chasing birds 
and throwing sticks
and splashing around in the water, 
so it's been quite entertaining already.
The term the Big Five 
was originally coined by Big Game Hunters
and referred to the five most difficult 
and dangerous animals in Africa to hunt.
Today with wildlife populations 
being severely threatened
we would hunt the same Big Five,
but of course with camera and lens in hand 
and not a rifle.
Now having seen the great, 
yet slightly grumpy African elephant
we will continue our search 
for the remaining four.
So this is my campsite for the evening.
One of the really nice things about Kruger
is you can drive your own car in the park 
and find your own campsite.
Which makes it really affordable for everybody.
You can just pull up, they have campsites
they are electric wired around 
so no animals get in.
You can BBQ, they've got laundromats, 
they've got toilets
the whole nine yards.
So it's really set up really good 
for independent travelers.
The word huge does not really give credit 
to the immense size of Kruger National Park.
With more than two million acres,
the park is about the same size 
as the country of Israel.
Right on this rock pile over in the distance 
is a leopard
which I'm super stoked about, 
because it's my first leopard ever.
And I even spotted it myself.
She's the color of the rocks 
and she's quite far off and she's not looking at me.
Let's see if she gets up 
and I get a good shot.
We had been on quite a few safaris 
in both South Africa and Tanzania
but we never managed to spot all the Big Five.
The leopard had always remained elusive, 
which had landed it on the top of our wish list
and made this encounter even more special.
Kruger National Park has 
an exceptional variety of species,
There are an impressive 147 different mammals 
and more than 500 bird species.
Prior to the park being declared 
a national reserve in 1884,
the wild game had almost been wiped out 
by hunters.
Today it is thriving, but poaching 
still remains a major concern.
Get ready for a lot of driving, 
if you're headed to Kruger National Park.
The camps that are the furthest from each other 
can take a full day to reach
or a lot longer when taking the many 
exciting stops into account.
The African Buffalo are prevalent 
throughout the park
and would be another of the Big Five 
to check off our list.
We're on a back dirt road 
and I spotted a lion and nobody else is around
so that's kind of amazing.
She's in the sun and it's midday 
which was a little strange behavior
and then finally I just realized there's another lion 
under the trees in the distance.
I can't really see her but she's under the bushes
and some thicket.
But pretty amazing spot,
she's probably 50 to 100 feet away from me
and right in the sun, good lighting
and I'm just gonna camp out here for a bit 
and see what happens.
With the lion in the bag 
as the fourth member of the Big Five
it was time to get serious 
about completing our list.
We had driven thousands of miles 
in the last week
and still had not come across 
the hefty white Rhino.
we were getting a little worried, 
as our time in the park was coming to an end.
Little did we know at that point, 
that we were about to luck out big time.
Not only one, but three Rhinos.
A mother and her large calf 
and a large male Rhino
who also wanted to get lucky it seemed.
The female Rhino was however not amused.
Eventually the mother and calf 
managed to get away
and the male would continue his search 
for another thick-skinned lady friend.
The sun is setting on my final day 
at Kruger National Park.
It has been absolutely incredible, 
so many animals
so many different sights 
I've never seen before.
Really sad to leave.
But yeah I feel so fortunate to have been able 
to come to South Africa
and see all these amazing animals.
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