May 30, 2015
While I've said repeatedly that ellies top my safari-sightings list, hippos are definitely M's. It's rare to get a close-ish shot of them, and to have one of them up on his feet!
In the midday heat, this watering hole near Lower Sabie was a popular spot for an array of herbivores.
BABY hippo.
These ducks were providing us with some entertainment; they did not care that there was a crock right there, and in fact, the crock started to come closer at one point, and the ducks started stomping their feet and squawking, until the crock backed off.
This little fellow was hanging out on the road for his photoshoot.
Junior trying to puff up his ears to make himself seem tough.
If ever there was a Big 5 safari, this was the one. It was a last minute impromptu weekend trip to the Kruger with R&C that we organized on the fly, and (at the risk of overselling it), it turned out to provide some of my absolute favourite wildlife sightings and photos, ever.
The sighting that warmed my heart the most on this particular trip was a mama and baby rhino, seen grazing quietly on their own, no other animals (or cars) around. Seeing rhinos in the wild always makes me happy, but to see a teeny tiny baby was incredible. Aside from cuteness overload, these creatures have a giant question mark hanging over their future, and it fills me with so much hope and possibility to see them thriving.
While generally lower in terms of excitement on the Big 5 list (in my opinion, anyway), seeing a mama and baby buffalo with their herd first thing in the morning proved to be an extremely special sighting. While the mama gave us the cold shoulder, the baby was just too curious to know that he was supposed to snub the onlookers, and he kept looking back at us to see what we were up to.
As with our previous visits, we were fortunate to have loads of incredible elephant sightings. They always seem to pop up when there's not much else going on in order to keep everyone's spirits up. It's like they're the Kruger's mascot (I'm definitely not opposed). We saw ellies in the bushes, on the road, at the watering holes, and in the river fishing for sweet grass. Always love the ellies.
Throughout the Saturday we repeatedly heard people claim there was a leopard in a particular area, although no one had actually spotted him. We joined the scores of other cars and safari trucks at several points during the day in an attempt to catch a glimpse, but still nothing. We finally decided to pack it in. The leopard hunt was fruitless. As we drove away we saw a huge troop of baboons coming along the road in our direction. Many of the cars in front and behind us stopped to take pictures of the baboons, but we'd had enough and are not big baboon fans, so we carried on towards the rest camp. As a side note, it is a known fact that baboons do not frequent leopard territory (as leopards are a huge threat for them), so our doubts were confirmed; there definitely was no leopard in this area. But then, not thirty seconds later, we face to face with a stunning young leopard standing on the side of the road. He looked as though we had startled him, and wasn't sure what to do next. He gave us a nice show as he crossed the road in front of our car, took a few pauses to review his surroundings, and then he was gone, disappearing into the thicket. As the cars came up behind us they saw nothing but a few rustling bushes; the leopard was clear out of sight.
The sighting that warmed my heart the most on this particular trip was a mama and baby rhino, seen grazing quietly on their own, no other animals (or cars) around. Seeing rhinos in the wild always makes me happy, but to see a teeny tiny baby was incredible. Aside from cuteness overload, these creatures have a giant question mark hanging over their future, and it fills me with so much hope and possibility to see them thriving.
We named the lil' guy Sunny.
Hey there, who are you?
Lone ellie searching for sweet grass.
Magic.
For the first hour of our (very early) morning game drive on Sunday we saw very little. So little, in fact, that all four of us seemed to be taking shifts napping in the bumpy safari truck. That came to an abrupt halt though, as our driver slammed on the breaks to avoid running into a male lion that was standing smack in the middle of the road. His brother was a few feet ahead of him. Yes, there were two male lions standing in the middle of the road. I had to fumble with my camera (I was sleeping, remember?), and given that I generally expect the animals to be a little further off in the distance, I had my telephoto lens on my camera. All this to say that they were so close to us that I actually couldn't even get them both in the same shot. Not initially. After a few moments they sauntered into the bushes, and I managed to sneak a shot of them together before they wondered off into the thick grass.
I wouldn't be doing the Kruger justice if I only shared the Big 5 though, so I have included a few of the other highlights from our trip (and I may have snuck in a few other shots of the Big 5, just for good measure). Bonus: we had another very special sighting on this visit- something that we haven't previously seen in the Kruger (scroll down to find out what we saw). This place never ceases to amaze.
Guarding the road.
What love looks like.
This guy was so curious and brave. He would take a few steps away from him mama, and then he'd trip over a tree branch or get spooked by a noise, and go running back to his mom's side.
lil' bum, big bum.
I couldn't get over how tiny the baby was, and how close he would be to the mama (when he was beside her he was literally pushed up against her).
After giving us an impressive amount of time to view them, the mama decided it was time to move a little further into the bush, out of sight.
This is probably one of the most surreal sightings we've ever had.
Trotting across the road, keeping an eye on our car.
Heading off into the bush.
Piercing stare.
I think she's still keeping an eye on us.
Post-game drive with R&C.
Tazz goes to the Kruger.
