(Temporary Backup) South Africa #47

Up at 4:30 and on our way to Kruger! The lodge dining hall doesn't open that early so they supplied us with a box breakfast, but it was big enough for both breakfast and lunch. I was ridiculously pleased, it was like being a little kid again and looking to see what mom put in your lunch box.

We arrived there by 6:30 and got organized in our open top viewing vehicles. Our group was in two different vehicles with six of us in ours, so everyone had a “window seat”. The vehicle (a Toyota) had three back seats, three across, so we all had a seat between us (like the middle seat of an airplane) to put our water bottles, packs etc. Worked out perfectly...especially when we saw others drive by, scrunched in with strangers. Our driver’s name was Elvis. 

He gave us the lowdown of all the rules, basically all common sense; don’t yell and holler when you see something, never get out of the vehicle, no littering, let everyone have a chance to take a picture etc. Some animals are guaranteed to be seen....the impala, warthogs, all the “boks” (ie) springbok, gemsbok, blesbok, steenbok and so forth, but others are hit & miss. Kruger is not a zoo and is massive, a bit bigger than half the size of Switzerland, so you can imagine trying to find one specific animal in an area that big (2,000,000 hectares, more or less.) 

Right off the bat we saw elephants and zebras, which we had seen a lot of already, but I never tire of them. Elephants are just massive and silent and a bit intimidating,and zebras are just whimsical. We also, finally saw giraffes up close. They are amazing and how they don’t tip right over is beyond me. They look like they are walking carefully so that they don’t lose their balance. The names of the animals by my pictures are the proper names...not things that I’ve  made up.

A “tower”of giraffes (how awesomely appropriate!)

A “dazzle” of zebras. I love that!



A “parade” of elephants.

I was hoping to see hyenas, I find them creepy and intriguing, and while we didn’t see laughing adults, we did see a “cackle” of babies.

A “congress” of baboons, and I laugh out loud every time I look at this picture because I’m pretty sure the larger fellow up top is sitting there reading a book! 

A “gang” of Cape Buffalo, also called an “obstinacy”.

A “confusion” of guinea fowl.

A “leap” of leopards. It’s fairly hard to see a leopard, they are incredibly elusive. It was pretty amazing to see this one, she had a dead impala at the bottom of the tree and we were hoping to see her haul it up the tree and have some lunch, but she just glared at us.

Aaaannnd a “pride” of lions. They were on the other side of a narrow river, and while they weren’t Really close, they were still easy to watch. The females were walking around, either just back from hunting or getting ready to go, while the big old male just relaxed under a tree.

The weather was perfect for the drive, not super hot, and no mosquitoes at all. I had decided to not take malaria meds, so the lack of the mosquitos made me happy. 

I will post these pictures and then finish up the day in the next entry.