The Big Five:
Lion, Rhino, Buffalo, Leopard & Elephant.
Getting to see the Big Five was the main aim when we entered the Kruger Park from the Phubeni Gate at 9am on Wednesday morning. Although, in all honesty I would have settled for any one of them! The temperature was already soaring into the mid-twenties by the time the permits were signed and we had passed through the gate into the biggest game reserve in Southern Africa. To put things into perspective, the Kruger is bigger than Wales. I figured spotting a Lion would be pretty much like trying to find a needle in a haystack!
It didn't take long for us to spot our first wildllife when we entered the park although I bet you couldn't guess what we saw first.....trundling alongside the car as approached the first bridge was a tiny tortoise. Not the most ferocious of animals but it got us excited for the 9hr trek which lay ahead!
It's hard to put into words just how vast the Kruger Park is. You can drive for hours without seeing another car or any animals of note. However, the most common animal that you do come across is the Impala or the Kudu which graze on the savannah or in the shade of the small trees near the roads. We were lucky enough to spot a few males tussling with their long lyre shaped horns to battle for the affection of the nearby females. I'm pretty sure they would have needed a few nurofen afterwards for the battering that they took that's for sure.
The first member of the Big Five that we managed to spot was not far off in the distance as we had originally expected to see them. Driving round a bend slowly I saw a small tree being violently shaken. Thinking that it was monkeys or a large bird we slowed down. Luckily for us it turned out to be a small Bull Elephant having a spot of breakfast! He couldn't have been more than 5 metres from our car and I swear he was even posing for us when we got our cameras out!
After spotting Nellie we managed to get ona bit of a hot-streal for spotting the mammals in the park. Now I would like to take some credit for this and say that it was down to our expertise and judgement but I am reliably infomed that it is pretty much all down to luck and good timing. I always have been lucky!!
Giraffe
Crocodiles
Zebra
Baboons
Warthogs (Aka Pumba)
Water Buffalo
Hippos
& Even More Elephants...
So by this point the day was starting to close in; we had spotted 2 of the Big Five and figured we had done pretty well on our first viit to te park. However, as we were starting to make our way to the Satara Basecamp for the night we came across thre cars parked up on the side of the road with camera lenses all pointed towards a tree teeming with vulures. This could mean only one thing....a Kill!
The first animal we saw was a beautiful lioness slowly making her way towards the car before she decided to curl up in the long grass for a quick nap. A few metres away we finally noticed the two large males feasting on the ribs od what looked like a small giraffe.
We sat watching the two males for at least an hour. I couldn't peel my eyes away from them whilst they we licking the meat off the bones using their big pink tongues or crushing the bones completely with their huge jaws. The surprising part was how completely at ease they were with their audience as they finished their dinner (or tea depending on where you're from!) just metres from my position in the front seat of the car.
As soon as we mentioned the word hyena in the car we suddenly noticed a single small hyena emerge from the undergrowth. Not one to miss out on a free meal he circled round the cars to try and spot an opening. Unfortunately with 3 Lions in the way the poor guy didn't stand a chance!
With the night closing in further still and our memory cards almost full we decided to make a late dash for the camp. Our spotting list had already been shortened, with only two more suspects on the list. The rare white Rhino and the shy and evasive Leopard. Surely tomorrow would not be as lucky as today?!
It turned out that there was still another shock in store for us before we got back to the camp. Just a couple of kilometres from the camp entrance my brother pointed to what looked like a large grey boulder in the distance. I would point out that over the previous 9hrs we had developed a skill which consisted of our eyes convincing our brains that everything rock we saw was an elephant or every log a lion. However, as we got closer I began to share my brother's excitement. Stood just 30 metres or so away was the rare white Rhino standing proudly on its own whilst muching on a late evening snack! We couldn't believe our luc*......skill!
So with 4/5 spotted after just one day surely the early morning safari tomorrow can't bring any more surprises? A 4:45am start won't be the most fun but I'll let you know if it was worth it tomorrow....
RMC x
No comments:
Post a Comment