It's another amazing day. We come upon a large waterhole and see quite a lot of hippos in and across the water. Crocodiles are sunning themselves just a few feet away from the hippos. A few giraffes are munching on trees over to the right of them.
We stay there for about 45 minutes, just marveling at the sight of these animals. Then we notice that the giraffes are slowly making their way around the waterhole, towards where we are parked. Fred slowly moves our car to leave the little dirt parking area and we find one of the giraffes standing right in front of us. They are really incredible up close. She crosses in front of us and so do the others.
We finally pull ourselves away for lunch at the restcamp in Lower Sabie. The patio sits overlooking the river. There are even more hippos with their babies. More crocodiles, as well.
I should mention that Kruger National Park is not only known for its big animals but also for its birds. I am not a huge bird fan but they are gorgeous! Lots of beautiful yellow birds with black heads hop around our table as we eat. We have also seen big Kingfisher birds standing by the road as we pass.
After lunch, we drive on one of the dirt roads. It's so nice on these back roads. They are almost totally deserted and you never know what you'll find. About five minutes onto this road, we pass by two Cape water buffalos.
Another herd of elephants crosses the road in front of us. We see a lot more zebras as well. Zebras are so interesting to me. They resemble horses so closely, but at the same time, are so exotic. To see them in the wild is wonderful.
Next we see a warthog by the side of the road. Fred decides the best way to get its attention is to make kissing, smacking noises. The warthog doesn't like it one bit. He sits down on his haunches and has the most puzzled look on his face. Like he can't believe Fred didn't read the manual on animal harassment. Fred gamely continues with the kissing sounds, and the warthog takes off. Truly, I feel for this warthog.
We finally see monkeys in the trees, and Fred spots a turtle right on the side of the road. He is terribly upset that this turtle is in the road and he wants desperately to get out of the car, pick it up and put it off the road. I manage to talk sense into him, but he remained upset about the poor turtle for quite a while.
We see several eagles and learn that they are African Fisher Eagles. They have white heads and closely resemble our bald eagle.
We get back in time for our second night game drive. We are really hoping that we will have better luck this night than last.
We put on even more layers for tonight's drive as it is already chilly. We've only brought so much clothing and I'm pretty much wearing most of it. I say a silent prayer for no little old English ladies on our bus.
Our driver is a local young man, named Nicholas. He tells us that he will be getting quite close to the animals because they will not take much notice of this big truck. We're to make sure to tell him if we are uncomfortable with being so close.
I like this young man already.
Indeed, about 5 minutes into the drive, we come upon a large herd of elephants standing in the road, crossing to a waterhole. Across the road is a very upset white rhinoceros. It is being kept from crossing by the elephants. They hold it at bay for about 10 minutes. Then, as the elephants are all finally across the road, some fool driver puts his small car directly in the way of the rhino and the waterhole. Well, the rhino is really thirsty and has had about enough of this. It charges the small car, which hastily takes off. The rhino is then able to cross the road but it still cannot get close to the waterhole.
Nicholas drives our truck right up the the waterhole so we have a terrific view. The rhino arrives and the elephants are not happy about it. They post a very large elephant to keep it away from the water and the others. This goes on for a few more minutes. Eventually, the rhino and the elephant get into a dust up, with the rhino charging and retreating.
It's interesting as they are both vegetarians. But the elephants are taking no chances as they have their babies with them. The rhino is being careful as an elephant can crush a rhino.
The rhino is now able to get right up to the water, and then it stands still for about another five minutes, eyeing all the elephants close to it. It finally goes to drink and it drinks for a very long time.
The matriarch elephant then gives the signal that they're going. When that signal happens, it doesn't matter if you're still thirsty or not. Two elephants have been fooling around down in the lower bushes and they come trumpeting up, anxious at being left.
The elephants have left the waterhole but not the area. They're still standing next to the road and there are a few cars that need to pass to get back to camp. It's after 6pm and they'll be fined. So Nicholas puts our truck right next to the elephants blocking their view of the small cars inching past us to get on their way. He was totally risking our lives but as I was sitting on the other side of the truck I didn't mind.
After this exciting waterhole exchange, we don't see many more animals.
And it starts to rain.
So now it's dark, and cold, and raining.
Our head colds are in full bloom so we're blowing, and sneezing and sniffling.
Then, near the end of the drive, we see a hyena five feet from the road, nursing her baby. There are two more little cubs, curled up in balls, sleeping a few feet away. Nicholas shines his flashlight on her and many of us are taking flash pictures. This doesn't seem to bother the hyena at all. Finally, the little black hyena cub raises its head to see what all the commotion is about. I was never a fan of hyena but they...are...adorable.
We return to camp, wet, tired, hungry and chilled to the bone.
Another amazing day.
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