Kruger National Park -South Africa

This may be the most exciting travel destination of them all. Although there are more awesome singular sites (Iguazu, Grand Canyon, and Great Wall), the diversity of excitement puts this at the top of the list for me. It seems every turn of the corner brings the opportunity of a new adventure.

Another reason this is the most exciting place is because of the uncertainty. Even though I was in a small car, I was no match for most these beasts. If they chose to attack, my car may afford some protection, but likely not enough.

I've visited this park on two separate occasions, something I only do for the most intriguing of destinations. What makes this park special is you can visit it numerous times and have unique experiences, unlike the 3 sites I mentioned earlier.

Both times I visited the park I did a self-drive. There are other options including group and individual tours by bus or Jeep, but that does not appeal to me. I enjoy keeping my own agenda and being alone with nature. Even though many tourists visit here, the park is huge and I had the experience of driving long times without encountering anyone. Especially on the more remote routes.

Here's what the road looks like:

Some of the animals I encountered on my second trip. I'll post pictures from the first trip on other posts. All these photos and videos are original. I do not use stock images in my posts. I hope you enjoy!

This big guy needs no introduction.

I think this is called a hornbill?

My least favorite African animal. Pesky thieves, cannot trust them. But they're fun to watch.

Twisted horn antelope

Zebras

The abundance of animals in these photos would lead you to believe there are animals everywhere in the park. Not so. It's possible to drive long distances without seeing anything. Like I said, this park is huge!

It's a bit of a fishing expedition. I could go 20 to 30 minutes without seeing anything significant, then .....bam! A big one!

Water buffalo. Unpredictable beast! I was a bit leary around him. But not as much as I was around this next one:

These guys always made me nervous up close. They're just so big and have a reputation for unpredictability.

Can you spot the leopard? (No pun intended)

Too many of these around.... boring.

The ugly wart hogs. Which one of you is Pumbaa?

Crocodile rock, where are you Elton?

My favorite, the hyena.

Of course, him.

Lucky photo of this Hippo.

There's more pictures but this is a good flavor. There's a lot to cover in detail of this wonderful park. I'll break it down in future posts over this seven part series with more detailed photos and videos of these beautiful residents of the park along with a travel story of my encounter with park police.

For now I leave you with these videos:

Travel Tip - Free Groceries with your Travel? Yes, Please!

Well, this is travel related anyway. It’s a bonus from other travel manufactred spending activities to generate points and miles from free travel. I kind of just stumbled on this one accidentally.

If you read my ten part series on How I Travel for Free starting here:

https://www.kirkstravelstories.com/post/how-i-travel-for-free-or-nearly-free

You know I generate much of my travel through manufactured spending. More specifically, through the purchasing of gift cards that can later be turned into money orders.

There is a cost to this as the gift cards can cost up to $7 in fees and then an additional $1 for the money order. So, on average, I figure about a 1.5% loss due to these fees. So, the miles generated by putting this spend on my credit cards must exceed this to make it worthwhile. I must find gift cards sold in places where bonus miles are given, which often is in grocery stores. Some cards give over 5% (in miles or points) in grocery stores which make it lucrative.

When I started to buy these gift cards in grocery stores I learned of the stores own rewards programs. I learned I could get back another half percent in groceries by buying these cards. Doesn’t sound like much, but if you’re buying $200,000 worth per year it represents $1,000 in groceries each year. Nothing to retire on but helpful.

But here is the kicker. I discovered one particular type of Visa gift card offered bonus grocery points when they offered bonus points once each month. Up to 6% in grocery money. So, when buying $20,000 worth of gift cards per month, that can represent $1,200 in free groceries in one month. That’s more than I spend each month on groceries.

After I filled my freezer with high end steaks, and overloaded my pantry, I came to the conclusion I needed to up my game on the groceries. I started buying lobsters and crab. The pantry was loaded with asparagus and canned oysters. I developed a strategy of buying the most expensive items per volume to consume this money. The steaks now are high end angus ribeyes too!

I even buy non grocery items there where I never would before. Cleaning supplies and even gifts are now purchased there.

But, this is not a transferable currency. Before any readers ask me to come there to buy their groceries, it’s not possible. Because this program is only with one particular grocery chain in the Southeast.

I expect this can be done at other grocery stores around the country, but you would have to get lucky and stumble upon that one particular gift card that works with the bonuses they offer(if they even have bonuses at that grocery store).

I’m sure many of you who read this to the end are bored to death by now, but if you can make this work for you, it can be quite lucrative. Imagine $1,000 per month of free groceries plus free travel (or free cash, I just choose point and miles instead of cash because I like to travel).

This is not a game for everyone, but if you take the time to learn it, it can be a profitable hobby. Something to do in retirement anyway.

To give you some perspective, I can easily do $20,000 worth of gift cards in a day at grocery stores. Now that’s a full day counting the liquidation of the cards, but easily doable. Now if I average 5% back in grocery money (bonuses are usually either 4 or 6% so I’ll use the average), and if I average another 4% on my credit cards (can offer even higher but I have one card I get a consistent 4% on), that comes out to 9% cashback in grocery money and other currencies combined ( I get 4% on my GM card to make over 100% of my car payments…in fact I’ll pay off my new Chevy Traverse in just 18 months using this cash back).

If I subtract out the 1.5% it cost in fees for the gift cards and money order, that leaves 7.5% net cash back (same as cash to me but not actual cash). So at 7.5% net of $20,000 in cards per day, I make $1,500.

Now do that just 4 days each month over 12 months and it comes out to $72,000 that is not taxable. If you’re in just the 10% bracket that’s the equivalent of $80,000 per year for working an average of about a day per week. Not many jobs out there paying that for a day’s work or even a full week. It certainly pays higher than my ex engineering job on an hourly basis, because if you did this 5 days per week every week, that comes out to $390,000 per year (after taxes!)!!!!!!

Coming up on a Year

I had committed to posting daily for a year. My first post was in early June but I didn’t start daily posting until July 1, so I’ll use that date. So in less than two months I’ll meet that milestone.

I haven’t posted my most interesting travel destinations yet, but I plan to do so over these next few months. After that, I will likely stop this blog or slow down to a post or two per week.

When I travel I often come across people who love to share their stories. Sometimes they’re interesting and sometimes they’re not. To me they’re only interesting if they’re unique. But regardless, their stories are always interesting to them.

I expect that is how it is with me, I find my travel experiences interesting but I expect they’re only interesting to me. I started this more as a story repository so I’ve met my goal. If anyone was interested in reading, well, that would be a bonus.

The readership here is diminishing. Now I only get a few readers per post. That’s down about 50% from just a few months ago. I appreciate the few that come here to read each day as well as the casual readers. But I think the overall lack of interest in these stories is apparent. As a result, after I finish documenting my most interesting stories I’ll likely either stop or seriously cut back.

Again, thanks so much to the few of you that have stayed with me this year. I know many of these posts are probably not to your liking, especially the science stuff, but I appreciate your encouragement.

If I do stick it out past the one year mark I’ll probably just stick with the fictional travel stories as those are the most popular. Maybe just a post or two per week and see how that goes. Anyway, I just thought I’d give you some advanced notice before I stop or cut back.

Thanks again for reading!