That famous Kruger video

If you haven’t seen this, you’ve been living under a rock for the last week. It’s been all over CNN, local radio stations, Facebook, and sits at 13 million views on YouTube. It’s the famous “Battle at Kruger”, featuring a large cast of predators and prey, with a twist in the tail Edgar Allan Poe would have been proud of.

I recall many hours as a child sitting in a hot stationwagon, in pre-aircon days, at the very same Transport Dam near Skukuza, where this was filmed. On our annual family vacation, it was one of our favourite stops to wait for things to happen. It rewarded us richly over the years, but these eight minutes would be a once-in-a-lifetime jackpot even for experienced guides:

Speaking of experienced guides, my brothers will remember those stationwagon days. They now run a safari company specialising in Kruger National Park trips. Here’s a gratuitous punt. They recently managed to show me the Big 5 in a single day. This may not be unusual for the small, upmarket game parks, which are heavily populated and set up for instant gratification by guides in radio contact, but it’s very rare in a park the size of Kruger, when you’re on your own. I can attest to their knowledge of the bush, their game spotting skill and their continued enthusiasm and love for Kruger. These days, they do it by airconditioned luxury bus. Much, much smarter. (Correction: they do it in one of those cool, open, shaded safari trucks. The luxury bus is just for getting there. Still beats the stationwagon, though.)