Well, I can check that one off my list! I had a SWEET first day of safari in Kruger Park, and saw all five of the "Big Five" hardest animals to hunt and/or kill.
First, the amazing elephant. They are pretty easy to spot, and very cool to watch. They are quite deliberate in their movements, and if they wanted could topple any of the vehicles that pass through.
Next, we came across lions and a cub crossing the road. The little cub gave out the teeniest tiny "rawr" as it ran past. (And in case anyone is wondering how this affected my fear of cats, well, the lions look a bit more like a cross between a bear and a dog if you ask me. Later in the day, when we saw a leopard (another of the Big Five) tearing apart an impala it had killed earlier in the day I was a little grossed out. Leopards are definitely creepy cats.
We also saw a HUGE herd of buffalo. As my fabulous guide Pasta said, "When the buffalo looks at you, he look at you like you just stole his money." Hilarious in its accuracy. I have a TON of photos of all these animals, but uploading them seems next to impossible, and the expense of the internet is preventing me from trying to solve this problem. I am not making this up though.
Finally, on our night drive, after seeing impala after impala after impala, suddenly right on the side of the road our spotlights found two white rhino! Rhinoceros are notoriously shy, so this was a very cool sighting. I took video as they chomped grass only about 20-30 feet away from us.
In addition to seeing the Big Five, I also got to see zebra, wildebeest, steenbok (which mate for life), giraffe (their coats are really beautiful), kudu, hyena (and one with little pups), jackal (another animal which mates for life), hare, many many bird species, hippos (from a long distance away), crocodiles, turtle, baboons, lizards, civit, bushbaby, waterbuck (they have a funny white ring on their bottoms that look like toilet seats), warthog, vervet monkeys, monitor lizards, dung beetle.
Some day I will prove this all to you with pictures. :)
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6 comments:
Aw yeah, dung beetles...no doubt the highlight of any safari. Hope they have those in Ngorongoro. Elephants sound pretty cool as well. Ab;e to crush you to death with one casual footstomp, yet some can paint better than your average junior high art teacher.
Bring on the pics...
...hoping you are able to resolve the camera/computer issues so we get to see some of these wild beasties.
I don't believe it until I see it. :) Glad you had such a good safari!
yay! for the wildebeest! your safari adventures sound awesome!
the dung beetle was actually kind of funny. he rolled along the road all happy with the poo like a good little dung beetle should!
I'm jealous! The rhino was the only one I missed!
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