Monday, February 16, 2009

Early bird watches the animals

For the second morning I was up with the Sun - or more accurately up with the light and more of the showers responsible for the lush undergrowth hiding all the animals! Thankfully the wild life finds it easier travelling by road when they want to get somewhere and don't mind being seen - which is OK with me. First sighting of the morning a hyena...
Then a small groups of hippo enjoying the deep fast water - should really be in the big five - but maybe the clause about being dangerous when hunted by foot doesn't extend to needing a boat to get close to them....
Not all the interesting wild life has four legs - some had two legs and wings...

To make a change from Baboons the four legged kings of the trees where Vervet Monkeys. Presumably the over night rain cooled the tar making it a less attractive place for the troops of baboons to sleep....
Then my first good sighting of Elephants - and evidence of the reason it was so hard to spot any animals - if an Elephant can disappear into the long grass then anything can!

We came across several groups of Vultures - a sure sign of a kill nearby but we couldn't see the kill or predators from the road, and because Kruger is a National park you can't leave the marked tracks. Apparently in private reserves you can spot the circling vultures and drive right up to the kill. A tip for the next Safari - private reserves have less animals, but you can roam more freely...
A Southern Ground Hornbill, not living up to it name by roosting in a tree! It had been a great day for feathered wild life
It had been a great early drive - now it was time for a Lunch break. What would the afternoon bring - only one of the big five so far today, but the day was relatively young - even if I'd been up since dawn and the cloud cover meant that the heat wasn't driving the animals to under cover....

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