Fred & Coritha Botha, Pretoria

Total number of visits: 30 Favourite camp: Satara

FRED WRITES: Coritha and I are both 69, but we enjoy good health and make use of every opportunity we can to visit the Kruger. I can still recall my first visit in April 1965. Money was tight back then; as I got older and the trips became more affordable, I started visiting the park more and more.

We don’t go to the Kruger just to see lions. Everything is special, whether it’s watching two dung beetles battle it out for a ball of dung, or witnessing giraffe bulls having a go at each other.

We came across this scene one rainy morning between Skukuza and Berg-en-Dal. We watched for more than an hour as this baby hyena suckled until it looked as if its tummy would burst.

The grasslands and giant leadwood trees around Satara are enchanting, and once you go north towards Punda Maria and beyond, you see enormous herds of nyala. In winter, some of the trees shed their leaves en masse, giving the impression of red carpets on the ground.

In June 2012, one morning just after the camp gate opened, we drove from Berg-en-Dal towards the Matjulu viewpoint. We got there to find the parking lot packed with SUVs (it always reminds me of an old drive-in up there) and I had to wriggle into a tiny gap with my Citi Golf. Once we had a vantage point, we realised why there were so many cars: Two male lions were lying near the waterhole.

Next thing, a young, grumpy buffalo bull appeared out of the bush and chased the lions away. Satisfied with himself, the buffalo claimed the waterhole for himself and started drinking. The lions decided it was a good time to reappear, but the buffalo would have none of it – he chased them off again, and this time the lions only just made it back to the safety of the bush! Their egos were badly bruised and everyone watching burst out laughing at the sight of their fleeing bums.

We don’t go to the Kruger just to see lions. Everything is special.