On our first full day on safari, we were told to be ready at 5:30 a.m. for our morning game drive. We thought that we misunderstood what the guide had said, so we repeated the time and made sure that we were hearing things properly. We asked, “isn’t that a bit early?” We generally wake up at the crack of dawn when we’re in the states, but we were on vacation and vacations are meant for rest and relaxation. We thought that we could control the schedule and go on leisurely game drives through the park. That obviously wasn’t going to happen, but it didn’t matter. When morning broke, our adrenalin was running and we were rearing to go well in advance of our wake up call. The possibility; the suspense; the drama; the unknown. It was an exciting and exhilarating feeling. Further, since most of the predators are nocturnal, we understood the need to go on these game drives at the crack of dawn.
Driving through the park as early as we did, we were able to capture the beauty of the African sunrise and to take a few mysterious photos of the Kruger landscape. Although the drive was considered ‘quiet’ as to predator sightings, Kruger is known for its diversity of wildlife, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Having spent six days in the fields, we are now able to identify a number of birds that are indigenous to the area as well as other wildlife, including the water buck and kudu. We felt as though we were on a scavenger hunt every time we went on a game drive, knowing that we had to find a few animals, but not knowing which ones would be lurking in the bush and the adjoining rivers. These drives would last anywhere from two to four hours, but as far as we were concerned, the drives could go on forever and we’d never get tired of them. Every drive is a different adventure, one that would open our eyes to a new frontier and one that would teach us how the animals exist and co-exist in the wild.
While crossing a bridge overlooking the river, we happened upon a hungry crocodile, lying in wait. Along came a family of baboons that assessed the situation and with a hop, skip and jump, with a baby in tow, crossed the river without incident. The baboons were definitely not shy about showing their ‘stuff’, as you can see from the pictures that we’ve included – they let it all hang out! Within seconds of seeing the baboons, we were fortunate to see two nearly extinct Southern Ground Hornbill crossing the road, one with a kill (s-q-u-e-a-k!!) in his mouth. At the same time, we saw a dung beetle extracting the nutrients from an elephant’s poop. Unsuspecting visitors to the park would kill the wildlife by running over the poop along the roads. The dung beetle is also a part of the eco-system that makes Kruger so rich in wildlife.
We then made our way back to camp to get a bite to eat and the rest up for our afternoon drive, during which we saw a carcass of a giraffe that was killed by the lion pride a few weeks prior. Normally, there would have been nothing left, except the skeletal structure. However, because the kill happened so close to one of the main roads into Kruger, the exposure was too great for the predators, including the savage hyena, which in our opinion, is a shadowy, heinous creature that we saw crossing the road later that evening. About an hour into our drive, we saw an incredible number of white-headed and white-backed vultures perched high on a dead tree to be able to assess the landscape clearly. At that moment, we knew that there was a nearby kill, for which they were waiting to get a piece of the action. Although you constantly refer to those who want something as vultures, you don’t fully comprehend the meaning of the word until you’re in the bush and these vultures are chomping at the bit. We traversed back and forth along a quarter mile stretch of the terrain, trying to see what these vultures were looking at. Finally, two lionesses emerged in the distance and we knew then, that the vultures wanted a piece of their kill. Unfortunately, when you’re on safari in Kruger, you have to stay on the paved roads, so we saw the lioness’ at a distance and couldn’t get any closer. This is in contrast to being on safari at a private game reserve, which we were fortunate to experience, where the guides are allowed to off-road and follow the animals into the bush. Nevertheless, for us, it was a thrill….yet another lion sighting…
More to come…
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