Day 13 10/24/10

This morning we had another early start to our day! 5:00 tea and biscuits, the 5:30 we are loading the open air van and in a light morning drizzle we start off on our safari. We weren’t sure we would be successful since it was raining but boy were we wrong. First thing we see is a mother giraffe with a baby giraffe, very tall baby!!! We next come across a group of hyena, the young one was so curious about us he came right up to the van and started exploring. Around the next turn we come across three lions a male and two female just laying around relaxing along side the road. It was amazing how unaffected they were by our presence! They just watched us watching them and then all of a sudden got up and started making their exit. The most excitement came when we saw impala running through the thicket, they were being chased by a leopard which was being chased by hyena. The hyena eventually treed the leopard which allowed us to take some great pictures, the leopard then climbed down and we followed it through the bush! The most amazing surprise was the white rhino, he was magnificent! The white rhino is distinguished from the black rhino by their ears and mouth. The white rhino has a square wide mouth and pointed ears the black has a triangular mouth and rounded ears! The rhino was a bit skittish and didn’t hang around very long so we were off again, this time we heard some trees snapping and loud chewing, what to we find but two massive bull elephants. They wouldn’t turn around so all I could get were butt shots but they are massive. The morning safari was quite nice even though it rained well drizzled for most of the morning ride, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world! I can now say I have indeed seen the big five up close and personal. Cape buffalo, lion, leopard, elephant, and rhinoceros. After a great breakfast, gourmet French toast, delicious! We went out on a nature hike, the guide had a rifle with him just in case. He showed us a bit about how they track, they use not only paw or hoof prints but also dung, they listen for noises, flattened grass and broken branches, hair stuck to limbs, smell, birds making noise, all four senses are keen to being a good tracker. Lucky for us we had a good tracker this morning and on our hike, because Will finally got the shot he wanted a full grown male kudu, he was ecstatic. Right now I am sitting in the open air lounge typing this blog! Tonight we are going on another sunset safari, hopefully we will have more sightings! I cannot wait!