Kruger National Park

- A Different Side To My South Africa -

Commended Entry: Kruger National Park essay by Sheridan Kuhn from South Africa

This article was submitted in the Kids World Travel Guide Essay Competition 2023 in the Junior Category 8 - 11 years.

Kruger National Park

I went to Kruger National Park in South Africa in August this year. I went with my family and friends for our family camping trip for 10 days. I would like to share with you my trip to the Kruger National Park and how different it is to my home - a small farm town on the east coast of South Africa.

When I arrived in Kruger Park, I was taken aback because it was so dry and yellow. I come from KwaZulu-Natal, so it is very green and near our farm I am surrounded by gorges and rivers. Kruger Park is only green by the Crocodile River, and we drove along this for a while from our camp, Berg-en-Dal. I soon found out that Kruger Park has lots of thorn trees which was new for me, and there are also a lot of thorns on the ground - I found this out the hard way! There are short trees with few leaves, which was new too because by us the trees are tall and leafy. Kruger has very red and soft sand which gets hot quickly. I know, I burnt my feet. Here at my home, we have yellow soil with small stones.

The first animal we saw was the Impala antelope. Kruger Park has so many different types of animals. I think God blessed us for we saw the South African Big 5 in 2 days - the lion, rhinoceros, leopard, buffalo and elephant - and the cheetah on the third day. I thought that was amazing. We were driving to our next camp, Satara, when I saw a Nile Crocodile. We also saw a few other reptiles like the rhombic puffadder and Southern Agama. A dream come true was to see the African wild dog in the wild. I had seen a wild dog before, but it was in a small enclosure at a rehabilitation center. I have always loved the African wild dog because they are shy, beautiful and smart.

In the first few days we saw most things we wanted, which was a wonderful surprise for me, so we decided to look for birds. Kruger Park is well known for its birds. We looked and saw some that we see at home and saw a lot that I have never seen before like the Saddled-billed Stork, Lilac-Breasted roller, Southern Ground-Hornbill. Most of the birds that live in Kruger are birds that love dry grass and can live with little water. Birds near us need lots of water. We saw the Cori Bustard more than once and my brother and his friend went crazy when we saw it.

Now I know what a big part of South Africa looks like (I did think it was greener), I think people must go to the Kruger National Park if they are looking for new animals and an adventure.

Congratulations on your essay about Kruger National Park, Sheridan! This is must have been such a wonderful family trip. I trust you and your brothers have many fabulous stories to share!

Sheridan Kuhn is homeschooled and lives in KwaZulu-Natal/ South Africa. English is her first language.