Unless you have experienced the Kruger for yourself, nobody can truly understand how it gets right into your soul, how your whole life revolves around planning your next visit as that is the only way you can cope with the sadness of leaving.
United Kingdom (26 February 2018) – Wendy Pfeiffer, a UK resident has visited the Kruger National Park 9 times in just 3 years and she’s already planning her next visit.
Pfeiffer took to the SANParks Facebook group after a few negative posts started trending and her beautifully written piece has since had hundreds of views and comments from proudly South African residents and tourists alike.
Her only objective was to explain why the South African community mattered so much to her.
“There have been a few negative comments recently about this group. In life there will always be people who want to spoil what other enjoy, sadly that is human nature. However to you, the people who I know I shall never meet but who I call my ‘friends’, I want to tell you why this group is so important to me.”
Her first ever visit to the Kruger was in February 2014, Pfeiffer visited with her daughter who now lives in South Africa.
“My daughter had previously been to the Kruger and since then had been trying to persuade me to visit with her.”
At the age of 53 as Pfeiffer had not been out of the UK much and actually had no real yearning to travel. She described herself as a home bird, happy in the rolling countryside of Kent where she lived. However, a change in personal circumstances promoted her to do something quite out of character and she made a spur of the moment decision four years ago to finally visit this place her daughter had been begging her to visit.
Pfeiffer has been blessed to have been able to visit the Kruger nine times since then and as she explains, it has not been easy, as the mother works full time and had taken two additional jobs just to be able to afford it!
“After the first few visits I would return home full of excitement as I tried to recount my experiences, the animals I had seen, the fact that I am happy to drive for hours on end and maybe not see even one animal but just to be there, the anticipation of what might be round the next bend, the sights, the sounds, everything that only you will understand.”
“I don’t blame them for not understanding, for unless you have experienced the Kruger for yourself, nobody can truly understand how it gets right into your soul, how your whole life revolves around planning your next visit as that is the only way you can cope with the sadness of leaving.”
When Pfeiffer returns home now, she rarely bothers to show her friends in the UK any of her pictures and doesn’t try to put into words how she feels about South Africa, the place she actually now feels most at home at…
“Why… because just like me when my daughter used to beg me to visit, they just do not understand.”
However, Pfeiffer went on to explain what does help in the days, weeks and months in between each visit.
“This group. The knowledge that you all just get how I feel and that in itself helps me feel not quite so alone when I sit here yearning for the sunrise, the sunsets, the stirring of my senses that I only feel when I am in the Kruger.
So thank you to the Admin team, thank you too all of you who understand how I feel. For those people who might try to cause trouble on here, I just scroll past you and I urge everyone to do the same.
I’ll be looking out for those yellow ribbons again soon, meanwhile keep those pictures and posts coming won’t you.”
It’s so beautiful to see a tourist enjoying South Africa’s wonderful National Parks.
You can ask to be a member of the SANParks group by clicking here and also enjoy the sharing of photos and stories from visitors to South Africa’s National Parks.
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Such a beautiful letter Wendy- it brought tears to my eyes. Yes we understand completely what you are saying and feeling.Hope you can keep coming out to KNP!!