South Africa - Day 3

Kruger Park.

Woke at 3 , carrying everything to the truck from the campsite was a good workout.
Into open vehicles for the game drive. Initially froze and then burnt as the sun appeared.

Kruger is 22,000 sq km, great roads and quite busy. Our guide communicated continuously with the other guides through the radio to spot animals. We thought we had missed the cheetah the others saw on the road but it reappeared. Fearless, sleek, beautiful, walked by us confidently. He could have jumped into the jeep had he wanted to , glad he didn't .

Next stop a dead elephant, a vultures feast. As per our guide , likely cause for the death was a lightening strike, hmmm.

Impalas galore, they have a "M" on their bottoms and for that as well as their huge numbers they are the Mcdonald's of a park.

Saw a hippo out of water for the first time, after lunch they all trudged out , huge group, looked like piglets blown up.

Elephants and giraffes as usual but each time there is something new. Baby elephant breastfeeding, loved the way our guide - look at the mammary glands(!), very human like. The elephants are a bit more aggressive too, maybe due to the number of cars, saw one charge at a car ,the car moved away quite quickly.

Drove around, the sun was making us all drowsy but on seeing a leopard relaxing at the side of the road our hearts were pumping. They are quite difficult to sight so was lovely to see one so close. Unlike the cheetah he was not happy to be seen and looked scared and trapped. We moved aside so it could cross the road and it moved away quite quickly.

Saw two rhinos, sleeping under a tree, looked like a huge rock, impressive that the guide spotted them. Next in the scrubs was a large herd of buffaloes. Four out of the big five in one day, good one.

Water hogs, water bucks, zebras, Marshall eagle, European rollers, Southern Ground hornbills(endangered species, lay eggs every 10 years!),crocodiles, Blue Wildebeest, baboons and the variety of plants kept us entertained for the rest of the day.

Camped in the park. The high end restaurants , Internet cafe,shops and ATMs seem a little out of place here.During dinner there was an impressive show of lightening, maybe it did kill the elephant.

Fingers crossed that we see a lion tomorrow, all this time in Africa and not seen one.

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