Saturday, January 23rd - Kruger National Park, South Africa

5:15 wake-up call this morning but not to the sound of the drums.  Another group had arrived last night about 1:30 a.m. And they were still sleeping so someone had to walk around to all of our tents and make sure we were up instead of pounding the drums.  Because we were leaving at 6:30 we had a bagged breakfast and it was actually good, unlike many bagged breakfasts.  We had a juice box, hard boiled egg, yogurt, ham and cheese sandwich, cereal bar and an apple.  It served as both breakfast and lunch for me and for most of us.  I did have an ice cream at some point in the afternoon though.  

We left Shalati and drove for about an hour and a half to get to the closest entrance to Kruger National Park.  The area is very dry and desperately needs rain but the villages look prosperous.  The homes are made of brick and most of them are quite large and substantial.  Some of them are certainly bigger than my condo but the guide said there were probably several families or an extended family in each one.  The main money earners might work and live away most of the time so grandparents or aunts and uncles would be watching the children in the family while the others were away working.

The road was good as we drove along.  All of the South Africa roads were great.  As we drove along the first 1.5 hours we saw animals to our left, which was the direction of the park.  That surprised all of us but for for a while we were again driving beside one of the private reserves that ties on to Kruger so the animals were right there.  Going into the park was simple but then our guide had already gather our signatures and details so he was ready for the entrance.  I don't know what the entrance fee was but I'm sure it was worth it.  So far their parks have been wonderful.

The bus can only stay on the main road so we had to drive for many hours and expected that we wouldn't see much.  Boy were we wrong.  We saw four of the big five and a lot of others.  And they were close to the road for pictures and we saw lots of action and interaction.  We saw lions, zebras, warthogs, giraffes, bush bucks, kudus, impalas, elephants, wildebeest, Cape buffalo,  rhinos, hippos, vultures and lots of other birds birds whose names I can never remember, and no doubt a few other things that I am forgetting now. 

We drove past and over a lot of dry river beds in the park.  We also saw some rivers with water in them and small watering holes.  That's where we hoped to find many of the animals but in fact we didn't.  They all seemed to be along the roadside instead.  We got out of the bus and walked across the one bridge over a very large river bed.  It is apparently the only place where you are allowed to get out of your vehicles but you must stay within the yellow lines at each end of the bridge.  I guess the animals don't often come on the bridge so it is considered safe territory.  Anyway, we did see a bush buck and a hippo along that stream, and we also saw a lot of antelope.  The water flowed shallowly through several streams in the wide river bed and at one point when the impalas or antelope were leaving they were leaping over the one stream and it was beautiful to see them stretch up into the air to clear the distance.  They were very graceful and seemed to jump so easily.

Everyone in the park was trying to find shade.  Even under the smallest trees you would find an animal.  Here an elephant in the shade of a small tree.  There three elephants or a warthog family in some other shade.  There some impalas and zebras sharing the shade.  During the heat of the day all the animals take it easy and relax a bit.

As it is winter/spring in South Africa, there were lots of little ones around and they were cute to see.  The little impalas are so tiny you wonder how their match-like legs ever hold them up.  They turn and they literally disappear when you are not looking at them from the side.  There is just nothing there.  The baby warthogs are probably as ugly as their parents but they seem so cute as they run as fast as their little legs will carry them to keep up with mom and dad.  And all of the elephants help the baby elephants.  They are a true family unit and always stay together - except for the males who have to go off on their own and join with other males until it is time for them to have their own herd.

The cutest babies of all were the lion cubs we found sitting at the bottom of a thicket of trees int eh shade.  There were 4 or 5 of them but it was hard to know for sure when they were all in a heap.  They looked quite content and happy.  They would sometimes put their head up and look at us but generally they just seemed to ignore us.  We assumed their mother or mothers were off hunting or perhaps just nearby resting but they obviously felt the Cubs were safe on their own where they were.  We watched them for quite awhile but eventually we had to move on.  Besides, sleeping lions are really not that exciting to watch even if they are cute little cubs with adorable faces.

We later saw three female lions - probably not the mother(s) of the cubs given how far away they were - who looked like they were sleeping under a tree in the  shade, totally unconcerned about anything around them.  Occasionally one of them would lift their head or get up but then lay right back down.  We thought they were being very lazy but then we realized it was all a ploy and they were actually keeping a casual watch on the situation around them.  Suddenly two of them took of quietly in two different directions: one away from our vehicle and one straight for it.  It was obvious they were on a hunting expedition and there were lots of impalas in the area so we assumed they were the target.  The lion near us got really close to the vehicle and we had to close our windows.  He wasn't four feet away from us and he was definitely in the attack stance by the time he crossed the road.  The other lion took off running and so did the impalas.  I think the lions expected them to run towards us and then the lion at our end could cut them off.  However, the impalas had different plans and ran directly away from the road so the lions were left empty handed.  It was exciting to watch the hunt unfold but I think most of us were quite happy not to have a successful attack.  

  

We arrived at our hotel, a lodge within the park, about 3 p.m.  Some went off on an afternoon game drive with the park folks and some just on the bus with our driver.  We did not go on any drive but rather enjoyed the resort and got caught up on some pictures and blogging.  We were doing the night drive later in the day and the morning drive very early in the morning so we didn't think we needed any more than that.

We had dinner in the restaurant and it was fantastic.  The menu was huge with lots of choices for food and drink, and the prices were higher than what we have been paying but still reasonable.  The restaurant overlooks the river, which is very low right now, but there is still water in it and the animals do come to it.  We didn't see many but there were a few.  

At 8  we  went off on our night drive.  We saw some hippos, kudus, impalas and other large animals but mainly we were there to look at the smaller animals.   As we were in the dark we had to use spotlights and watch for the reflections of eyes in the dark.  We didn't do a great job of spotting things but our driver/guide did pretty well.  Of course we saw the usual groups of impalas and small antelopes but we also so a very small one whose name I have now forgotten.  We saw what they call the African kangaroo.  It's actually a spring hare and small but it really does hop like a kangaroo.  And we saw a badger as well but he moved out of our way very quickly.  Unfortunately I do not remember anything else we might have seen and I can't look at pictures to get an idea since it was too dark to take pictures.  However, I do know it was an interesting experience and well worth doing.    

By the time we got back to the hotel it was time for bed so that was the end of another great day.  We have been so lucky with seeing animals that we all wonder how long our luck will last.  I guess we'll find out tomorrow on our next drive.