Feb 8, 2015 Sunday, Mjejane Lodge, Kruger National Park

Today is our all day game drive.  We were woken at 5:30 AM, breakfast, and off on safari at 6:00.  It was plenty light out and the temperature was just right.  We had overcast skies in the morning which kept us comfortable.  Kruger is home to 147 species of land animals, including the Big Five, thousands of zebra and more than a million impala.

Hippo.  They spend all day in the water and graze at night

We left our reserve and entered the Kruger Park through a gate and a bridge over the crocodile river.  We saw a crocodile on the way back in the river after I asked if there were any crocs in this river.

We saw Wildebeest, formerly known as gnu.  Kudu, a type of antelope, were also present.  The other hoofed animals we saw were the impala (everywhere in large family groups), bush buck, steenbuck, and even a small duiker.  The last two are small and travel alone mostly.

We came across several troops of baboon.  Once we saw babies on the backs of their mothers, enjoying the ride.

We saw giraffe, but they were usually in the distance.  We came across zebra as well, usually in a dazzle.  Hippopotomases were often near the water.  We saw two quite a way up the bank foraging for grasses. Near our camp we see Cape Buffalo.  In fact we hear them grunting across the river frequently.  Or maybe it is the warthog family who hang out in the yard here.  We met vervet monkeys peering at us just as curiously as we did them.

Elephants it seemed were around every corner.  We would be blocked until they lumbered across the road, but surprisingly, they were gone before I could get my camera out for the parade.  We saw one big family with some very small babies.  We had to position the caravan for a quick escape since some mothers and babies were on one side, and some on the other.

Thompson called the morning drive rhino time.  The white rhinos were quite common to see and up close to us.  The white rhino grazes and has a wide mouth.  It is supposed to be called wide rhino.  The black rhino brouses the bushes, so you can recognize it by how it keeps its head up.  Black rhinos are rarer, but both are being threatened by poachers.

No one is allowed to get out of the car in the park except rangers.  If someone is seen not in a vehicle, they are assumed to be a poacher.  There are curfews in the park and rangers patrol at night to catch rhino poachers,  

We had our picnic lunch at park headquarters north of our camp.  It is a very nice area with a conference center, food concessions, picnic areas, and a large gift shop.  I decided to wait to use the facilities.  As we were ready to leave they closed them because of a pipe break!  We had to make an extra stop along the way.

Tawny Eagle

The afternoon was sunny.  Thompson called it the elephant afternoon because these were the majority of the animals we saw.

We also saw a leopard turtle (crossing the road).  We also saw an elephant shrew scurry across.  I became enchanted with the various birds.  We saw an African fish eagle and a tawny eagle.  Red bee eater, knob billed duck, Egyptian goose, greyhornbill and the beautiful red beaked ground hornbill, a red billed oxpecker, a family of helmeted guineafowl, broad billed roller and a lilac breasted roller, and several different kinds of weaver nests. and pheasant. I didn't get the name of the large birds in the river.

After returning to the lodge at 6:00, I felt like the earth was wobbling for awhile, sort of like getting your land legs back after being at sea.  I went straight to our African Safari Journal and Field Guide to mark off the wildlife that we saw.  Wow.  Even though we are "cat less", we have seen a LOT of wildlife.  I think the most rare was the little duiker who peeped out at us from behind a tree.  The ones I enjoyed the most were the mother-riding baby baboons jouncing down the side of the road.

Internet availability is intermittent and I have to get the best photos off of our Canon powershot cameras that way.  Our Canon cameras with 18X zoom, are fantastic cameras for viewing wildlife.  However, the iPhone is the easiest to get and post photos.  Our son Andy got us wonderful binoculars.  I am juggling all three as we bounce along.