Kruger Mammals

Photo dump time! 

Our four full days in Kruger National Park was the best concentrated safari experience we have had in a single Park ever. The variety of wildlife and the quality of the sightings was just incredible. There was so much to see and other than maybe one or two times in the late morning / early afternoon when we started to feel that 5:15 a.m. departure time, we were engaged every minute of every day. The wildlife sightings were pretty much continuous.

I've covered some of our Kruger highlights in the past few weeks with posts about our number one species target (painted dogs), the Big Five (or four, as it turned out) and the amazing amount of birdlife we encountered in the Park. I'm done with lengthy written posts about what we saw there. 

But...I do think there is room for one more photo post showing off some of the looks we got at Kruger's mammals which are not painted dogs, elephants, buffalo, lions or leopards. So here goes. With minimal commentary. At least I've tried to make it minimal.

These photos do not show every species we saw in Kruger. Go out there and explore for yourself if you want that.

Giraffes

The first time I saw a giraffe in Botswana I was thrilled. This was was safari was all about. Tallest mammal on the planet! A few years later, we got an incredibly intimate look at these animals at Lake Manyara in Tanzania. They are still amazing to behold. So huge with a kick that can kill a lion. Our guide, Gareth said that he hated giraffes. We were shocked and asked why. "They are always looking down on me" was the response. Dad jokes. Who knew we would get these on safari?

Hippos

My former favorite African species. Their lack of social interaction has them way down on the list in 2025 but any time I get a chance to see them with their tusks showing, I want to take a picture. Still terrifying to me to be chased by one of these things in a small boat (Chobe River, 2015). Thankfully none of that in Kruger.

Impala

Impala are everywhere in Kruger. When we asked Gareth what we were going to see in the afternoon every day after lunch, his response was inevitably "impala!" and sometimes that declaration was amended with a guarantee. We DID see a ton of impala all over the place. We learned to call these animals "McDonald's of the bush" in Botswana in 2015 for their abundance and M-shaped markings on their hind quarters.

Shocker of the trip: who knew that impala smooched? At one of our impala stop, we watched a couple of these antelope alternately lick each other repeatedly on the neck. I have new respect for impala based on the smooching. Smooching is good.

Vervet Monkeys

Vervets are my favorite monkeys ever. They are just the most straightforward-looking, typical monkeys and I love that. As someone born in June 1968 (year of the monkey), I have an affinity for monkeys as a personal mascot. I have a monkey charm we picked up in Japan that goes on my backpack everywhere I go. The charm isn't exactly a vervet but in my mind's eye it is. If I had a spirit animal, it would be the vervet monkey.

Monkeys are mischievous and will steal stuff, especially food. Vervets are very adept at swiping grub. We saw it in Botswana in 2015 and again this year. Keep an eye on EVERYTHING you own around all kinds of monkeys but probably especially vervets.

Baboons

On the opposite end of the favorite monkeys spectrum...baboons. Just don't like them. I think it's the fangs and the fact that while vervets are mischievous, baboons look vicious. Baby baboons, however, are excessively cute.

Hyenas / Black-Backed Jackals

Shall we continue with the less-than-favorite African animals? Let's! 

Hyenas. Not good. Sneaky. Hunter-scavengers. Trying to steal from a lion or painted dog kill one minute but strong enough and organized enough to take down something big the next. And those faces. Ugh! UG-LEE! We did manage to see an almost newborn hyena playing with a stick on this trip but no pics. I just missed it with the camera and the moment was gone quickly.

I've included the black-backed jackal in this section not because there are loathsome to me (they are not) but because in the lineup at a kill, they slot right behind the hyenas. There's always one hanging around it seems looking for some scraps ahead of the vultures.

Warthogs

Done with ugly creatures for this post? Umm...nope. One more. Warthogs. Not pretty. But I do think if you are looking for a good picture of a warthog, these two are pretty darned good.

Zebra

When we first saw zebras in Kenya in 2018, we were thrilled. These animals are more impressive in the hundreds than in ones and twos and fives or so. The group below may have been the largest we saw on this trip. For a black and white animal, they really do blend in with the beige bush pretty well. This camouflage thing is amazing.

Kudu

Of all the antelope out there, kudu may be my favorite. It's the horns. I love these horns and these antelopes so much that I picked up a shirt from SENQU on our way back from safari one day. These are spectacularly gorgeous animals. Always excited to see kudu. We've only ever seen these animals in Southern Africa. It had been a full ten years since we'd seen any kudu I believe.

Wildebeest 

Excited about wildebeest? Not me. Not usually. But we were stopped in Kruger when these four wildebeest below started walking towards our vehicle. I waited until they got close enough to take a good picture and then waited a bit more for as many of the four as possible to hold their heads up. I got three. I like this picture. It's one of my favorites from this trip. And it's of a typically un-exciting subject. For me. I'm glad I watched and waited here. Sometimes it's cool when a species you are not necessarily always focused on surprises you with a cool moment.

Photo dump done! I feel better now. I'm glad these photographs can see the light of day.

My last picture note is about the cover photo of this post. It was taken at a rest area within Kruger. We stopped at a series of these during our four days in the Park. They were welcome because they had snacks, hot drinks, lunch (at mid-day) and most importantly...toilets. Way better to use the toilet in a rest area than just out in the bush. Most of the rest areas we stopped at were completely fenced with a heavy-duty gate at the entrance with daily opening and closing times prominently displayed. But on Kruger Day Four, we stopped at an un-fenced rest area and found the sign at the top of this post. Yeah...there's no way I want to be ordering a cup of coffee or tea and look over to find a hyena standing close to me with nothing between it and me. Nothing happened. Not on our stop. I need to see wildlife when I'm in the car, not on foot. 

That's all I have for this post. Apologies to the klipspringers, bush bucks, water bucks, nyala and everything else that we saw that didn't make it into this post. That's a wrap on safari posts for this year, but not for Africa posts. A couple of more of those to go.