Today we had a fairly late start, as we didn’t need to be out of our accommodation at Berg-en-Dal until 10am. The four of us headed up to the restaurant and had a nice lazy breakfast. It was quite nice not having to rush anywhere and knowing that we had plenty of time to get ourselves organised before leaving.
After breakfast we went back to our room and started the usual mission of trying to get all of our possessions back into the same number of suitcases that they somehow came out of. We really don’t know how we manage it. Everything fits perfectly well when we arrive somewhere, but a few days later it always seems almost impossible to get it all back in again! Eventually though, we managed to get everything packed, loaded the car and said goodbye to Berg-en-Dal.
We didn’t need to be at our accommodation in Marloth Park until around midday, so rather than heading straight out of Kruger we spent our last couple of hours slowly driving around the southern part of the park. It was actually one of the nicest drives we had done. For the first time we weren’t really trying to find anything in particular. We had seen the Big Five and there was no list of animals that we desperately needed to tick off, so we could just drive slowly, stop when we wanted to and enjoy being in the park. We saw plenty of zebra, giraffes, buck and all sorts of other wildlife along the way. Instead of seeing something and then immediately wondering what we might find around the next corner, we could stop for a bit longer and just watch. It was a really nice way for the four of us to spend our last bit of time in Kruger.
Eventually it was time to leave, so we made our way out through Malelane Gate and started heading towards Marloth Park. The drive there was interesting in itself. Once we were on the N4 we started coming across trucks parked along the side of the road. Then there were more trucks. And more trucks. There were literally hundreds of them, all stationary along the side of the road. We assume they were waiting to head further towards the border, but whatever they were waiting for, it made for quite a sight. Thankfully we were able to get around them without too much trouble and continued on towards Marloth Park.
Before arriving we had been warned that the roads inside Marloth Park were in pretty bad condition. Apparently flooding and storms a few months ago had caused quite a bit of damage and washed out sections of the roads.
Being from Northland, we thought we knew what bad roads looked like.
It turns out we have finally found somewhere with worse roads than Northland! We were very pleased that the owner of our accommodation had sent us some very specific instructions on which way to come in. The directions took us on a particular route to avoid the worst of the damaged roads. Even with those instructions, and despite having a small SUV, there were still some pretty challenging sections to get through. Eventually we made it and arrived at our accommodation at around midday.
This accommodation is a little different to the places we would normally stay. It is more of a lodge setup, with a large communal kitchen and living area, but we have our own big private room with an ensuite bathroom and plenty of room for all four of us. The communal kitchen has pretty much everything we could possibly need, and we even have a full-sized fridge dedicated just to us, so the setup actually works really well. While the owner was showing us around, she explained a bit about the wildlife that wanders through the property. Apparently there had been zebra grazing around the lodge earlier in the day. There were already a few buck wandering around while we were there, which was a pretty good introduction to Marloth Park.
We spent most of the afternoon settling in and having a fairly quiet time. The rest of the family had travelled further north in Kruger for the day, so we knew they wouldn’t be arriving back in Marloth Park until quite a bit later. Before dinner we all went for a short walk down towards the river.
Marloth Park sits alongside the Crocodile River, with Kruger National Park on the other side, so you can stand on the Marloth Park side and look straight back across into Kruger. While we were down there we could hear hippos somewhere in the river. We couldn’t quite manage to see them, but there was absolutely no mistaking the noise, so we know they were down there somewhere!
After our walk we headed out for a quiet dinner at The Tin Shack. The food was good, although there was a bit of a wait for it to arrive. Waiting for dinner feels considerably longer when you have a one-year-old and a three-year-old sitting at the table with you! Eventually everyone was fed, and after what had been a fairly relaxed day we headed back to our accommodation for an early night.
So that was the end of our four nights inside Kruger.
We had an interesting time, saw far more wildlife than we could ever have hoped for, and it was really nice to finish our time there with one last slow drive rather than racing around trying to find something.
Now we get to see what living amongst the animals in Marloth Park is like!