South Africa - Kruger National Park Safari Day 3

Our final full day in Kruger National Park. Our final safari day. We didn't have to wake up and be ready till 7am. We would safari for a while and then have breakfast in the bush! It would also be a shorter day. We would finish at 4:30pm.

Our first animal sighting was kudu.

It was good to see giraffe again.

This is some sort of stork.

When Katelyn was about 2 years old, she and Nissa were living with us. Katelyn had a VHS movie about little creatures that live in the woods. They are afraid of the Yellow Dragons. This was heavy equipment used in construction. They are painted yellow so they were called yellow dragons. Claude and I named this yellow dragons. It was there every day. Sometimes it was moved a bit, but it was there everyday.

We found a couple of birds next. The first is a martial eagle. The second is a crowned hornbill.

Doesn't this impala look regal?

More elephants.

These bushes have been the dining plate of the elephants. Note how they have stripped the leaves and branches off them. The second bush is a thorn bush. Yike!

Back to the bird kingdom in Kruger we return. The first three pictures are a wahlberg eagle and their nest. The fourth picture is a tawny eagle. The fifth picture a vulture.

When we saw of first leopard, Thulani told us that it was not uncommon for a leopard to haul the carcass of the animal he caught into a tree so it could be saved and finished later. Amazingly, we saw a carcass hanging in a tree. Ugh. Circle of life my friends, circle of life.

Next we encounter more wildebeest who are friendly with the zebra. They don't mind roaming together.

Another beautiful landscape picture.

Now it was time for breakfast. Thulani drove us back to where we entered Kruger National Park on the first day. However, he did not go outside the park. Instead he took a little road into the bush that ran along the fence line. This picture is the fence that separates Kruger National Park from the rest of the world. Kruger is the size of Israel and completely surrounded by this fence. At least until the private game reserves adjoining Kruger agreed with Kruger to leave their outside fences in tack but take down the fences that join Kruger. This increased the area for the animals to live naturally.

After we got out of the Jeep and most headed to breakfast, I asked Thulani if I could get a picture of him. He cheerfully agreed. This is our most excellent guide and driver.

I found Claude walking to breakfast. I love these pictures of Claude walking and thinking and experiencing.

Now a few pictures of the breakfast in the bush place. The benches around the outside were decorated with animal footprints. I am pretty sure the third picture is a eucalyptus tree. And the last picture is the covered area from which the food was served. We were definitely in the bush but the place in which we were eating was also fenced so that animals would not enter. Whew!! Would not want to be a leopards meal-in-a-tree!!

Back to safari we go. First we find giraffe and cape buffalo together. So, they must be as friendly as the zebra are with other animals.

A Red-footed Falcon.

Cape Buffalo.

At this watering hole we found a baby and mother hippopotamus. Lots of oohs and ahhs at this scene.

We saw a giraffe eating from a tree. I zoomed in and it was the first time I realized what huge lips giraffes had! Whoa! Looks like botox is happening in the wilds of Kruger.

More wildebeest.

We spotted this beautiful yellow tree full of blooms. No idea what kind of tree it is.

Okay, back to a giraffe experience. This was an interesting tidbit to learn. We saw these three giraffe all hanging out together. One of them kept tilting its head up. It was almost like it was choking on something. Thulani explained that giraffe will find a bone and chew on it to get calcium. This giraffe is chewing on a bone. In the third picture you can see the bone sticking out of his mouth. I never knew that a giraffe would do this. While I was that zoomed in with the camera, I just had to do another head shot. Giraffe have the most amazing eyes. 

And here we have a brown snake eagle.

Thulani stopped on a bridge over what would eventually be a river. Under the bridge there was water. An elephant was there spraying water on his back and getting a nice drink. We watched for quite a while. Someone then said there were other elephants way ahead of us walking this way. We waited and watched them take their good ole time getting to this watering hole. They had to walk down the little embankment on the right side of the picture. They did this one at a time and then came to the watering hole to drink and spray water on their backs. The impala stayed away while the elephants did this. I did take a nice long video of this slow procession. True Africa at its best.

These are birds nests that hang in the tree. I loved them. Like Christmas ornaments throughout the year.

So, we came upon these elephants and zebra drinking. Ever wondered how that giraffe got a drink from out of a watering hole. Here is pictorial proof of how that is accomplished. If it was this hard, I would have invented a straw!! Oh my, oh my!!

The reasons leopards are so hard to find is that they sleep all day and hunt at night. Remember this for later.

Here is a great looking bird. It is a cape glossy starling.

Time for a lunch stop. One of the ladies in our group kept see a pink flower as we drove to Kruger. While at this lunch stop, there was the bush with the flowers on it. We learned she was searching for and found an impala lily. It is magnificent.

A beautiful landscape as we search for the rhinoceros.

Thulani's quest for this day, from the very first time we set foot in the Jeep this day, was to find another really good sighting of a rhinoceros. It is nearing the end of our final safari. Thulani and the other four drivers of the other four Jeeps in our group had to be back to Skukusa by 4:30pm. They had another group to be ready to drive. I am happy to report that Thulani was successful in his quest. We were able to get a really good picture of a rhinoceros sleeping.

Now to begin the drive back to Skukusa. We would say goodbye to animals along the road as we finished our safari. First the kudu.

Then the majestic impala.

One more elephant siting. 

Remember the leopard sleeping all day. Guess what? We passed him and he was still S L E E P I N G!! I do believe he may have rolled over a bit, but still sleeping.

Back we drove past that huge rock on which you hire a guide to take you p so you could get out of your vehicle and have a view over Kruger National Park.

Thulani drove us right to our little home away from home. He was an excellent guide and driver. We saw so much and learned so many things. 

When we got back the monkeys had invaded our area.

Claude and I went in and did our packing. This would be our last night at Skukusa and Kruger National Park. The next morning we would head back to Johannesburg and begin that long, long, trip home. So having as much ready to go as possible made our evening more relaxed. After packing and laying out what we needed for the next morning, we still had time before dinner. So we parked ourselves on our front porch and relaxed for a bit. A little visitor came creeping up the wall. 

We had a most pleasant dinner this evening. There is an outside dining space in Skukusa. It has a covering over the top and a grassy area outside that. There is a fire pit in the grassy area. We were to have dinner in this space. When Claude and I arrived, Alan McKay was sitting in a lawn chair outside the entrance to this space. He was stopping each of us as we entered and, with a laser pointer, showing us that we were in the southern hemisphere and that meant there were different stars in the sky. Somehow in all my reading and preparing for this South Africa experience, that fact had never entered my mind. Claude was in the same place as me. I was so grateful for Alan doing this. He pointed out the Southern Cross. We guide by the North Star. They have the Southern Cross. There was a planet visible. I believe it was Jupiter. It was beautiful to pause and look up at the sky and realize how different it would be to a true gazer of the stars. Alas, I forgot to take one single picture of this lovely dining venue. Silly Moi!!