May 22 Kruger National Park South Africa
Fog--mountains--monkeys--sugar cane--banana trees
(That's all I wrote that day! We left early that morning, when it was still dark, and got to watch the sunrise as we drove. After we went through customs at the South African border, we saw beautiful mountains all around us, one of which had a blanket of fog that looked like it was pouring off of it. It was just gorgeous. Heath saw the first monkey, at the border crossing, and we passed acres and acres of sugar cane and banana trees. You could smell the sugar--mmmm!)
May 24
We spent all day Friday and Saturday in the truck driving around looking at animals.
(Charlie)
It was amazing. I made a list of all the animals we saw. (We started out giving points to people, but I lost track.) I saw the first giraffe. :)
It felt like Jurassic Park. Mike saw the first impala (of thousands),
baboon,
and rhino.
We drove to Bergen Dal and checked into our bungalows--they were awesome--and ate lunch, then drove again until supper back at Bergen Dal.
I was a little leery of the monkeys overhead in the dark--they gave me the creeps.
We ate at a nice restaurant--Mike and Charlie ate sprinkbok! I will never forget falling asleep listening to the lions, and waking up to the chattering of monkeys. And more lions.
We left again (after an awesome shower) around 7 and went looking for a lion & a leopard so we could complete our "big 5." (lion, leopard, Cape buffalo,
rhino,
and elephant)
(baby!)
And we found a male lion, walking down a hill on the horizon!!! Wow. (I promise he's in there...he's lying down now...the dark spot is his mane...if you zoom in you can see his ears sticking up.)
(Heath saw it, and I have no idea how, we were so far away. So cool.)
We had breakfast at Bergen Dal again, then drove to Lake Panic Hide. That was incredible. There were dozens of hippos, as well as crocodiles, turtles, kingfishers, ground hornbill, and reedbucks.
(In the picture above there are 2 crocodiles and a hippo with a turtle on its back...can you see them?)
(Turtles and hippos)
(reedbuck)
Once a mama hippo came out of the water, followed by her baby, right by a crocodile. The baby kept eyeing him and edging closer to mama, and then eventually went over and nudged the croc--when the croc jerked, the mama came running at him and the water, and all the hippos ran into the water, splashing and snorting and stomping. It was so exciting.
After that we had lunch at Skukuza,
(It was a little disconcerting to look up while eating and see this!!)
and had to hurry like crazy to get out before the gates were locked. We were zooming along, but made good time, so we were able to slow down again when we saw a group of people watching a lioness! They told us there were 5 cheetahs a couple kilometers down the road, which we saw,
and on the way we saw a hyena,
and after that another lioness!
It was so much fun. BUT I was in the middle front seat, over the shift & brake, and it was painfully uncomfortable & I fought claustrophobia at times. But it was worth it. We had supper at KFC in South Africa, then crossed the border & drove back home. We were so tired, but happy, and started showering and getting ready for bed. Carter was in the shower when all of a sudden... (Click to read the rest of the story)
More miscellaneous animal shots:
zebra and wildebeest
kudu, far away and close up
Bee-eaters (the beautiful green bird, bottom left)
hornbill (or Zazu...I think Charlie and Angie laughed at our Lion King references...)
warthog/Pumba :)
Acacia trees, the origin of my name!
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