Elephants, Lions and Rhinos oh My!

As our cook (muma Flo) said...this is an adventure not a holiday!  At 4:15 am I was awake and at 5:15 am we were starting to take down tents and help with breakfast.  We were excited to begin the day as this was the day we were hoping to find some animals.  Apparently Kruger National Park has a lot of animals so we were hoping we would be lucky enough to see a few.  Our guide really pushed the private game drives (extra cost) which made us unsure if we would see much at all but we remained optimistic.

Our truck was limited to the main road throughout the park but we were not disappointed!  Our first sighting was a heard of Zebras and the fun started.  All the kids were running from window to window yelling “Zebra” trying to get a good look.  Next we came across a couple of cheetahs next to the road marking their territory.  Not too much further we saw lions checking out a heard of buffalo..  The buffalo are different than those in Canada and apparently they can be extremely dangerous especially if they are old males.  Before we stopped for lunch we saw Elephants and some White Rhinos.  Kruger has two types of Rhinos, the White Rhino and the Black Rhino.  The White Rhinos tend to travel in groups and are more docile than the Black Rhinos.  We still need to find a black one. 

We stopped for lunch in a

Lions stalking buffalo.

large complex within the park that had some pretty nice accommodation and a number of shops and restaurants.  While we were there we saw a warthog hanging about that Alyssa and her new friend Amelia named “Pumba” (off of the Lion King movie).  We also saw some fruit bats hanging under the eaves of a building close to where we sat to eat.  Jenna spotted a very colourful bird which we were told was common in the area.  After a few minutes looking in the gift shop the girls found a couple of souvenirs and it was time to head back on the truck. 

We continued our journey through the park and were happy to see giraffe and some more Elephants.  I am hoping we will get more opportunities to see giraffes as the one we saw was by itself and a little ways away from the truck.  The Elephants are so majestic and Jenna’s favourite animal so far.  Long tailed monkeys, Impala, Bushbuck, and Steenbok also made their presence known.  What an incredible day and it is only day one! It was a little quieter on the way home as everyone was a little tired from the early morning and from eating lunch. 

Once we were back at camp the kids were anxious to go for a swim in the pool so off we went.  The pool was quite cold so they didn’t stay too long in there but they still had a lot of fun.   A few of us parents sat and chatted for awhile before it was time to head back to the camp.  Later that evening everyone shared stories and photos of what we saw as a number of people went on the private game drives.  I think we were all on a bit of a high from the excitement of the day!  With another early day ahead we all headed to bed after a great day!