More captions to come ....
It was two very weary travellers who dragged themselves out of
bed and met their group for the 15 minute drive to Kruger National Park where
we were soon on our jeeps ready for our safari.
We had been advised to wear layers and we were grateful for our hoodies, beanie
hat, scarf and gloves and also for the rugs that the driver provided as it was
very cold.
We had hopes of seeing the Big 5 but had no expectations. As soon as we
arrived in the park we saw a herd of cape buffalo so that was 1 of the Big 5
ticked off. We had been told that the guides would do everything they
could to get sightings for us but we could never have dreamed that we would see
so much.
As the safari went on we saw wildebeest, elephants, zebras, loads of giraffes,
groups of hippos and hundreds of impalas. We heard that there had been a
sighting of a male lion, but, by the time we got there, he had moved away into
the distance but we were able to get some photos.
The Kruger is massive - about the size of Wales - and our safari lasted around
7 hours. We had been given a packed breakfast which we ate outdoors. We had
been warned that monkeys would come and pinch our food. Luckily we didn't see
any but someone had an apple stolen.
We carried on with our tour and suddenly our driver pressed the accelerator and
whizzed us off as there had been a sighting of a leopard. Sure enough
there he was prowling by the side of the river quite close to us. We
realise how incredibly lucky we were. The chances of seeing a leopard are
very slim and our guide told us that they often see no giraffes. We must
have seen 20 and they were really close to us.
As the day wore on, the temperature rose to 30 degrees and we peeled off our
layers. It's amazing how cold it was when we left the hotel and how hot it was
when we returned.
We were really tired when we got back so had a chilled afternoon round the
hotel and then got ourselves organised for the next day's adventure.
 |
A leopard in broad daylight - very rare |
