If you ask a South African...
Do you know “the Kruger Park shop smell”?
How many little round soaps with their white waxy packaging and green SANParks sticker do you have in your toiletry bag?
Grant Beverley reckons one could bottle the smell, sell it overseas and make a small fortune from nostalgic expats. Andrew Briscoe describes his Kruger memories as “formative” and remembers a cheetah kill from 1994 like it was yesterday. Brett Horley’s favourite Kruger moments are the skottle breakfasts, and putting together the camping gear with his girls in the days leading up to a trip.
We loved recording this podcast episode right out of Orpen Camp in the Kruger National Park - there is no better place if you ask some people. Certainly if you ask our people! The good old KNP has never been knocked off our Top 3 list. No matter how far we go or how long we are gone, South Africa’s historic, sprawling national park stretching from the Crocodile River in the south to the Limpopo River in the north, holds a very special place in the hearts of most South Africans.
In this episode, Brett talks to two great friends who share this sentiment. Grant and Andrew join him around a fire at Orpen rest camp, with two honey badgers trying their luck sniffing around their campsite. These three discuss the best roads in Kruger, their favourite spots in the park, the most iconic sightings, and their nostalgic lifetime memories that we know so many in our audience will relate to.
Brett has a goal to stay at every camp and drive every road in the park, but will there be enough time? Grant tells us that we only see about 500m on either side of the road when we drive the expansive road network, and there are huge blocks that are nowhere near accessible. Out of nearly 20,000km2 of wilderness within the park boundaries, we see only a fraction. Imagine everything we don’t see, and the possibilities there are at any time to see free-roaming animals in this space.
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Tune in - whether you’re a Kruger die-hard, or have never been to KNP before - this campfire conversation is bound to get you dreaming about a self-drive getaway to Shingwedzi! (Shout out to our wonderful guests the Holtshausens who celebrated 42 years of marriage with a 42-day road trip in Kruger earlier this year!)
Listen now!
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We would love to hear your best Kruger stories, favourite roads, rest camps, and picnic sites. We all have our next Kruger trip already on the calendar… Do you?
Follow the legendary Kruger wild dog expert Grant Beverley and his incredible work with Contemplate Wild, and keep an eye out for some of our collaborations.
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