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Message: <blockquote data-quote="njlarsen" data-source="post: 3587088" data-attributes="member: 7427">I must not have been very good at describing what the area was like. The majority of what we saw were truly wild animals, with that cheetah as the closest to a captive that I know we saw. The animals just outside the lodge we stayed in could have freely chosen to cross the river and been in the true Kruger park, they were not bought in or anything like that. I am not sure where the guests that might have come with shooting in mind did that -- as I said none were present during our time there. The other place (called a private reserve): I do not know if they had any hunting, but they had a central area where people wanting to see wildlife came and stayed. We saw a couple of their lions but not all of them -- and the lions had young, so again not necessitating any to be brought in from elsewhere. The Antelopes we saw were about equally easy or difficult to approach as those living on the Kruger side of the river -- not excessively scared (as hunting could have led to) and also not excessively easy to approach (as captive bred animals would have been). So to reiterate: it did not feel like we visited a Zoo (I have been in wildlife parks elsewhere so have a feeling I would know). I only wrote about our experience because this is one of the ways you can visit without having your own vehicle. I don't think you can go and stay in the camps inside Kruger unless you either rent a vehicle (in the OP's case with a driver) or you go with one of the organized tours which probably means more people around and higher cost. Niels</blockquote>

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