We were up bright (well the sun hadn’t come up yet) and early in anticipation of our first game drive. We had a quick breakfast and met Clayton who would be our guide for the day in the parking lot with his open air vehicle. There was room for 9 so our entire group was able to fit on one. Muscles, Gimpy and I chose the highest row in the back row.
Clayton was nice enough to stock each seat with a bottle of water and a blanket. It wasn’t super cold temperature wise, however when the vehicle got going, the wind would drop the temperature and that’s when the blankets came in handy. As we headed out of camp the first animals we saw were Kudu and Impala, they are a part of the antelope family and are quite numerous all over the park. Over the course of the day we would be less and less interested in these guys, but being that it was our first sighting we were all snapping pictures like crazy thinking we may never see them again.
After Clayton was able to get us to move on we drove through Kruger stopping at a watering hole where we were able to see Hippos in the water. We were a fair distance from them, but we snapped several pictures of them as well.
While we were doing this one of our travel companions discovered half a pair of dentures on the ground next to our vehicle. We all started to concoct stories as to how it ended up there, anything from a rough game drive bump to it being the only thing left of a predator victim. Unfortunately for Clayton, he had to pick it up (being a foreign object in the park) and would have to hold onto it until we got back to camp so he could turn it in. It was possibility the rarest find in the park that day, or so we thought (more on that later).
Moving on from there, we continued down the road until ran into a single elephant a ways away. I was quickly learning that animals at a distance would be the norm for these game drives and so I was thankful that I brought the camera that I did with the zoom that it had. Clayton spent some time teaching us about Elephants and some safety when around them. They’re magnificent animals but also extremely dangerous!
After the Elephant had crossed behind a hill we caught sight of some wildebeest so we took a turn down a dirt road only find that we had stumbled upon a small group of Zebras and Giraffes. We ended up pretty close to both so we had some great photo opportunities.
We had lost the group of wildebeest we had tracked into this bunch, but on our way out we were lucky enough to pick them up again!
After failing to find a leopard we made our way back to camp feeling pretty excited for what the afternoon drive would bring. We returned to our lodge at 9 and a few of us decided to take a short nap before meeting back again for lunch and then an afternoon game drive. We didn’t do an all day game drive because mid day is often too hot for many of the animals to have much activity so we would return in the afternoon when there would be more activity.
We were excited for this afternoon drive. Clayton was determined to get us a sighting of the big five in one day. He had heard of some sightings of leopard and lion from other guides so we made a B-line for a deeper part of the park. On the way we spotted a a few water buffalo (2/5)
and then we were amazed when 20 minutes down the road we saw Rhino in the trees (3/5).
Clayton was really making good on his promise. We continued down the main road in Kruger with spotting’s of Elephant, Impala, Zebras and a few different bird species.
We finally arrived at the dam/watering hole where lion was last spotted and we were thrilled to see two female lions lounging by the water. I think Clayton may have been as excited as we were! (4/5).
We stayed at the watering hole for a while to admire these cats. Not only were there lions, there were also Impala, a crocodile and a hippo hanging out. It was getting late and we still had one of the big five to see. We also had to be out of the park before 5:30 or else Clayton might have found himself in a bit of trouble.
As we were driving back along the main road, Clayton got super excited jumping up and down in his seat. We had come across a group of three wild dogs. They were an endangered species and there are only a few hundred them in all of Kruger, so a spotting was rare. At this point Clayton really didn’t care about getting back late anymore, and we were all game for following these dogs for a while. We followed them snapping as many pics as we could, realizing this was a pretty rare opportunity.
Eventually the pack moved into the bushes out of view and we had to make our way back home, but what an experience. Our final encounter was one with a rhino when we stopped to do one final bathroom break before exiting the park. It was out in the open and we got some great pictures before the sun set.
Gimpy was really looking forward to he African Sunsets and I had been trying to snap a few for her. Hopefully one of the several I took will work! These were my faves.
All in all it was an amazing day of wildlife, excitement and perhaps a once in a lifetime sighting of a rare animal. We were super excited for what else Africa would have to offer!
Galleries (Click on the thumbnail for a larger view)
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❤️? thanks!
Spectacular pictures of the sunset! Great shots!