13 May 2019
I’ve read a few accounts recently and have really enjoyed reading the stories and experiences of The Kruger Trail. So I will share mine, day by day over a period of time. That’s if I can remember each day, they seem to blur, but I hope the photo albums we collected will jog my memory where needed. So much happens on the six legs of The Kruger Trail (TKT).
We started Monday the 13th of May 2019. The fourth group to ever start the adventure. While not the pioneers of 2018, it was still early days for TKT, and we felt a little like pioneers when we headed out from Crooks Corner that morning. The pictures tell the story. The brand new pack and excitement of not knowing what we were in for. Our guides were Mark Montgomery and Rob McGowan. Rob lead the entire trail as Mark had never walked the leg before. He was also under assessment by Mark, as we were to find out later!
After being dropped off by the rangers based out of Pafuri Border, we had our first briefing, obviously including toilet protocols. Rob told us not to play putt-putt as he always does.
After about 250m of walking through some fairly dense foliage, Lauren Booth , who was walking 4th in line (2nd trailist), froze in her tracks at the sight of an African Rock Python lying under a branch that our guides and myself had all confidently stepped over. At one point Lauren wondered if it was a “test”? But we were thrilled at our very first sighting on TKT, one could only imagine what was to come…..
We walked the Luvuvhu flood plain in the Pafuri that day through both the heavily wooded areas close to the river and dry open plains, just a little further away from the water. We saw elephant and buffalo, but never for long, they moved off quickly on detecting us. It was very dry, and hot, despite it being mid-May. Packs were still a little awkward, and although most of us were pretty fit, we were still settling in and discovering what the experience was about.
We settled down to lunch under a Nyala Tree. We hadn’t brought ground sheets, so we sat in the dust. Two of our group didn’t know what to do with themselves during this extended break, resulting in one of the strangest things on trail happening to date. Being runners, they asked if they were allowed to run a few loops around our tree. Being a fairly open area Mark agreed with the strange request and we watched them run a few loops around us in the lunchtime heat. It never happened again, and probably never will. We were definitely still finding our feet as Kruger Trailists.
In the afternoon, we crossed the main tar road and headed for the hills. Leg 1 Night 1 is now on the Luvuvhu River itself, but we headed for a tiny mountain spring that day, that dribbled fresh water out of the far eastern Soutpansberg, just off the Luvuvhu Floodplain, not far from the ancient site of Tulamela.
The day had only been 12km, and being very fit at the time had not really seemed strenuous. That could not be said for the entire group, but in general, we had walked well. Our attention to our packing and keeping things light had also paid off. Trail Running shoes+gaiters had also proven a great selection over hard boots.
We filled our bottles in fading light from a trickle that evening. It represented life to us and to the many animals we would here come and go that night. The sound of buffalo hooves clanking across the rocks as they descended to drink from the small pool that the trickle fed. This is what Kruger Trail was going to be about. Living wild, among and with the animals, covering a bit of distance each day, mainly in search of our next water, but also in search of animals, views and historic places. We had begun to cross the Kruger Park on foot.
We didn’t shower that night with such a slow trickle available. But that didn’t seem to matter as we nestled down early to the night sounds.
Leg 1 Day 1 of TKT was my very first taste of backpacking in Big5 spaces. Walking in the line that day, I felt a huge urge to be up front as part of the guiding team. A calling that I have followed.
