Kruger National Park showing a herd of elephants.

Over the lock-down periods, we have had a lot of interest in our Kruger Safaris from people living in Eswatini (Eswatini) who have never been to Kruger before. As soon as the borders open up again to leisure travel we are going to be offering special rates to Eswatini (Eswatini) residents who would like to go and experience a 2 – 5 day Kruger safari.

Kruger National Park showing two rhinos

Guests will be able to choose from a low-cost camping safari or a mid-range bungalow safari. All trips will be run in our open safari vehicles with our qualified and experienced wildlife safari guides, offering a true, authentic safari experience. Kruger is the best place in the whole of Africa to spot the famous Big 5 (lion, elephant, leopard, rhino and buffalo) but there is also so much more to see. 

Game drive in Kruger National Park.

All the camps are safe and comfortable with shops, restaurants, swimming pools and excellent ablution facilities. 

We offer private safaris for closed family units which means you can have the safari vehicles and your accommodation all to yourself, offering extra Covid safety and true exclusivity.

Game drive by the dam

If you would like to explore Kruger please send us an email tours@alloutafrica.com and we’ll get in touch to design the ultimate tailor-made Kruger experience for you and your group.

Where are you from?

I’m from Denmark.

What project did you sign up for?

I did sports development with kids in the age of 2-6 years old. We played games and did some sports with the kids at the Neighbourhood Care Points and they loved it.

What do you do for a living?

I’m currently on a gap year, so I worked in a Day Care in Denmark before I volunteered in Eswatini. I loved working with kids at home, so being able to volunteer in the NCP’s in Eswatini was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it.

What does volunteering mean to you?

Volunteering was an amazing experience. I loved meeting so many sweet kids and the fact that I was able to bring some smiles and happiness into their lives was amazing.

Reason for choosing All Out Africa?

I booked the program through a Danish agency and therefore I didn’t know about All Out Africa. But now that I do, I would definitely consider volunteering with All Out Africa again in the future.  It was an amazing experience.

Your experience as a volunteer, did it had any positive impact on your life?

Volunteering has given me the chance to meet new people, experience other cultures and to see the word from a new perspective. I enjoyed every moment of my stay.

Click here if you would like to know more about our SPORTS DEVELOPMENT

Today we are chatting to Adriaan Begemann, our Kruger Operational Manager, Adriaan love taking photos and an adventurous person, which is a great fit for what he does! Find out more below.

What is your favourite thing about your job?

Going to the Kruger National Park to do safaris.

Meeting new people and learning about their culture.

When was a time you thought to yourself “wow, I love what I do!”

Every time an animal, like lion, leopard, elephants or any animal walks by right next to my vehicle.

When I see a new place or experience something new and exciting.

Where is your favourite local hang out?

Home or Kruger National Park/ Lower Sabie.

What is your favourite wild animal and why?

Definitely LIONS!!!

They are the biggest cat in the Kruger National Park, and having one of these walks by your vehicle, where it is so close you could touch it, is the most incredible feeling and experience ever.

Their eyes are so intimidating and looks like it was made in hell, but the adrenaline rush you get is incredible.

When you’re not changing the world, what do you do for fun?

I love taking photos or travelling locally, doing all sorts of adventures.

When you wake up in the morning what do you look forward to most?

Seeing my dog Kruger and enjoying a cup of tea.

If you had a superpower what would it be?

Teleportation.

If you were on a tour with All Out Africa which tour would you sign up for? (and why?)

Kruger overnight safaris.

Because it is simply the best place in the world, with the best guides from All Out Africa (Adriaan & Ruben).

I love the Kruger National Park as I used to go to the Kruger with my grandparents and parents since I was a small kid. Reminds me of some great holidays.

Stingrays have had a bad reputation; Steve Irwin’s fateful interaction and the menacing barb on their tail does not comply with their docile, relatively quiet existence. It is actually the last resort for a stingray to use its barb, they would much prefer to take flight than fight.

Stingrays (in their current form) have been flapping around in the oceans for 150 million years. They are a close cousin to sharks, as they also have a skeleton made of cartilage instead of solid bone. You can see this close relationship with some species which have co-evolved with the stingray and shark families, such as the Guitarfish family, which looks like a shark’s tail has been stuck to a stingray’s head.

Stingrays are a valuable part of the marine ecosystem. They provide a link between apex predators, like the requiem sharks, and lower trophic levels, such as the crabs and shrimp they munch on just under the sand. Unfortunately, they face a threat operating at an unfathomable scale. Stingrays like to hang out on the sea floor, which is where some fishing methods, like trawling and gill nets, will entangle and drag them up by mistake.

The lack of baseline data for stingrays globally means it is impossible for effective conservation measures to be put in place. Some stingrays are more common than others, but herein lies the challenge for all marine researchers – how do we research things we rarely see? I can tell you it takes time, perseverance and patience. In Tofo, we see stingrays on approximately 1/3^rd of dives, and every dive is recorded in the hope that the secrets of stingrays may start to be unlocked.

Small eye stingray on Sherwood Forest diving reef. Photo credit: Arco de Man.

Bluespotted stingray on Clownfish diving reef. Photo credit: Jenny Keeping.

Written by Jenny keeping

Click here if you would like to know more about our Marine Research Project

Nhatofo Salva Vidas is a local lifesaving association based in Tofo, Inhambane province Mozambique. It is a voluntary non-profit association.  Tofo Lifesavers was established after concerned citizens decided Tofo beach needed lifeguards in order to maintain a safe environment for all people to enjoy the beach and water.

The goal is to advise people against dangerous beach activity and provide a safe, life-guarded area in which to swim to reduce the drownings on Tofo Beach each year.  The vast majority of people in Mozambique cannot swim and are not comfortable in the water resulting in a high number of drowning cases each year with peaks occurring on weekends and during holiday seasons when beach-use increases.  These drownings could often be avoided if someone were present on the beach to warn swimmers of dangerous conditions, point out rip currents and advise safer swim locations or could affect an on-water rescue.

All establishment, training, and fundraising for Nhatofo Salva Vidas have been the tireless work of a very small team of dedicated volunteers.  In order to make sure this initiative is sustainable, durable and ongoing into the future, the lifeguards trained were all from the local area and these lifeguards are now the solely paid workforce of Nhatofo Salva Vidas.

However despite this, running costs each month greatly exceed current monthly donations, currently, without financial support from the Mozambican government, Tofo Lifesavers is struggling to achieve the baseline monthly running costs.  We also seek contributions towards completion of the establishment of the association, which will make Nhatofo Salva Vidas a secure, registered and licensed part if Mozambican life, a key step in our mission to ensure this association exists not just to save lives today but into the future.

Lifesavers

If you would like to contribute and assist Katie in getting the lifesavers program firmly off the ground, you will directly result in more lives being saved and more people learning to safely enjoy their ocean.

Check out their go fund me page here.