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Adventure to Awaken

The Wildlife of Kruger: A Photo Safari

By Clara Ritger,

Feb 28, 2025   —   6 min read

AfricaSafari
An elephant walks through green bushes and yellow grassland under a blue sky with white clouds.

Summary

Take a peek at the diverse landscape and wildlife that you can see while on safari in South Africa's Kruger National Park.

Watching animals exist is both endlessly entertaining and incredibly healing.

Why? What is it about a giant 💩 falling out the backside of an elephant that doesn't faze us, but instead, keeps us raptly watching to see what they'll do next?

It's not like we don't know the answer. The elephant will continue its digestive journey by curling its trunk around more tree branches and eviscerating the leaves in one bite. If we're lucky, maybe it will scratch an ear along the bark. These are objectively mundane actions. And yet, there are two entire U.S. cable TV channels devoted to this, a plethora of viral YouTube videos featuring this, and millions of dollars spent in the tourism each year to witness this in person.

I'm not going to pretend to know the answer. Instead, I'm going to say that when the world goes to hell – has the world already gone to hell? – and life gets hard – life is hard – animals are going to keep on doing these mundane animal things and there's something about that fact that makes me breathe a little easier.

Watching animals be animals isn't an escape from reality, but rather, a recognition that reality as humans have made it to be doesn't really matter.

It expands our narrowed, stressed out worldview to witness the other life we share this planet with, and it brings me hope – that maybe if we mess this all up, these creatures will continue on.

I'll leave you with that, as my introduction to this week's post: a photo and video safari through Kruger National Park in South Africa.

👉
Check out the first post in this series where I shared the story of how I visited the park for less than $200 by taking a self-drive safari.

All of the facts sprinkled throughout the captions are taken from the official site for South African National Parks: sanparks.org.

View of the Olifants River in Kruger National Park, South Africa.
A fox with a black and silver back stands in a yellow, grassy field. Behind are green trees and above is a blue sky.
The cape fox is the only true fox in South Africa. Except with cubs, they are known for traveling alone.
Four elephants, including one small elephant, walk through a clearing of green grass and tall green bushes under a blue sky and white clouds.
Two small antelope face away. Each has a white circle of fur around the butt, like a target. The grasses are tall and yellow.
One elephant eats in a clearing of green grasses under a blue sky and white clouds.
A dark brown wildebeest, which looks like a mule with horns, eats among yellow and green grasses. Behind him is a tree with flat shrubs.
A tan-colored antelope with white stripes and a long, pale neck walks into the bush next to a paved road.

Left to right, from top: (1) Four Elephants eating and walking, including a baby; (2) Two female Waterbuck, distinguished from the white circle around the rear; (3) another Elephant, Kruger has one of the largest elephant populations in Africa; (4) Male Wildebeest alone, rare due to vulnerability, but happens when sexually active and territorial; (5) female Kudu crossing the road. Click any image to view larger.

Ten brown wildebeest with small horns are scattered in the grass. They have white streaks and black manes.
A "bachelor" herd of young male wildebeest. They will eventually reach sexual maturity and separate to compete for space and females.
One giraffe sticks its head in a bush while another walks past in the background.
Giraffes are family oriented and stick together in small herds.
Two hyenas, which look like furry dogs, with auburn fur, dark brown spots, pointy ears, and black faces, lay in the dirt on all fours.
One hyena lays its head on its paws in the dirt. Sun shines on the fur, giving it a golden yellow and rust red color. Dark brown spots cover the body.

Spotted hyenas rest during the day and hunt at night. Most people think of them as scavengers, but they do also hunt, if there aren't enough predators around for them to steal from. Click the image to view larger.

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Hyena night call, recorded from camp
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A landscape of green and yellow grasses, with big boulders along a small river. The sky is grey.
A rainy morning in Kruger National Park.
A giraffe, with dark brown spots, and an orange face, peers over a tall bush with its neck at an angle. The body is mostly covered by the bush.
A giraffe stretches its neck to eat from the top of a bush.
The sky is overcast as a giraffe eats from the top of a bush. A bird is flying nearby.
The sky is overcast as a giraffe bends its neck to eat from the bottom of a bush.

Giraffes rarely drink, obtaining about 70% of the required moisture from food, so they particularly love eating after a fresh rain. Click any image to view larger.

A zebra looks directly at the camera while standing in the middle of yellow and green grasses. More zebras are behind it, along with tall green shrubs.
There are three kinds of zebras, and this is the Mountain Zebra.
An African Buffalo faces the camera. Tall yellow grasses and green bushes surround it.
An exciting Big Five Sighting! (See the previous post if you don't know what I'm talking about. 😉)
Patches of land interrupt a blue river, like islands. The river reflects the blue sky and white clouds.
A rainbow colored bird sits at the top of a tree on an overcast day.
A baboon on all fours brings its hand to its mouth. More baboons can be seen in the distance. They are in a clearing of green grass, with tall bushes surrounding them.
A black bird with a red neck, like a duck, sits in a patch of yellow grasses.
Six buffalo, including a baby, stand among tall green grasses on a cloudy day. They have curved horns, and dark reddish brown bodies, like cows.
A zebra stands in tall green grasses at profile so that its tall mane, like a mohawk, can be seen. More zebra can be seen hidden among the bushes behind.

Left to right, from top: (1) The Olifants River; (2) A Lilac-Breasted Roller, which is really worth a click to view larger; (3) Baboons grazing; (4) A Southern Ground Hornbill; (5) more African Buffalo; (6) Mountain Zebra again, showing the full mane.

Blue water cuts through a brown and green landscape, leaving little islands of dirt and grasses in the midst.
The Olifants River is where I did my guided bush walk, mostly for the unique topography that set it apart from the rest of my safari in Kruger.
A man in uniform with a bucket hat and rifle walks along a yellow path. Around him is water and green bushes. The sky is blue and clouds are white.
The blue sky and white clouds are reflected in the river. Rocky islands interrupt the flow, which is slow and smooth.
A pond in the foreground, rocks and green grasses behind.
Two men in uniform with rifles walk up a rocky bank. The sky is blue and clouds are white.

Unfortunately, the rangers carry guns not just in case of animal predators. Poaching, especially rhinos, is a huge issue in many parks across Africa, and encounters with illegal poachers pose just as much of a threat to your safety as disturbed animals.

The silhouette of a ranger with a gun looking over a riverbed.
👀 Searching for wildlife.
A young man with a backpack follows a man in uniform across the rocky waters. Green lily pads are visible in the distance.
A close up view of green lily pads on the water.
Red and neon green mosses cover one section of the river so that no water can be seen. The sky is blue and clouds are white.
A beautiful white flower with a trumpet-like opening sits among big green leaves.

The unique flora of the Olifants River includes the poisonous thorn apple flower, bottom right.

A ranger looks out over tall grasses under a blue sky.
Most of your safari is spent searching for wildlife.
Lumps appear in the surface of a river.
Wildlife found! Hippos enjoying a morning cool-down in the Olifants River.
From a vantage point, pink and tan islands nearly cover the flow of the river. Another hill can be seen across the way.
More water is visible, showing how the low river flows around pockets of land.

An almost-panorama view of the Olifants River.

Two giraffes in black and white with their necks intertwined standing on a dirt road.
Two giraffes in black and white side-by-side standing on a dirt road.
Two giraffes in black and white standing on a dirt road. One giraffe is peeing.
Three giraffes in black and white on a dirt road at a distance.

I wound up on a rare dirt road trying to leave Kruger at the end of the day, and ran into these three male giraffes who took their sweet time clearing the road for me. And no, they're not gay, they "neck" to determine who is the alpha and gets to mate with females (likely somewhere nearby). Because I was shooting into the sun, the color quality was terrible, but it looks kind of dreamy in black and white. Bottom left you'll see one taking a pee. I thought it was interesting. 😆

If you want to see most of these animals "in action," here's a 4.5 minute video set to soothing music. Just imagine you're in my little air-conditioned car playing the same track, and you're basically on safari! 🚗

Let me know what your favorite images or facts were in the comments – and if you have any more questions about Kruger, I'd be happy to answer!

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Author profile

Clara Ritger

Clara is the author of the forthcoming New York Times Bestselling memoir Object in Motion. She is a writer and documentary filmmaker whose work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal and NBC News.

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