Feb 26 (Updated 3/8); 2nd Day at Kruger

We woke up at 5:00 AM to have a breakfast an depart on a Safari drive in a 4 wheel vehicle. This was an optional activity which cost 450 Rand ($65).We thought that we would be back by 11 AM; the safari drive lasted until 4PM; 10 hours of seek, find, photograph. Our driver's name was Ivan, a South African,who did  nice job of attempting to locate the hard to find;  rhino, lion, cheetah and leopard. although the day was long and we did not find all of our quarry, what we fond was the following (big and small):

• warthog eating nuts out of elephant dong. An elephant's digestive system is very  inefficient - I processes a small amount of what it consumes and discharges the rest, unprocessed.
• rhino -  2  separate sightings - a lone black rhino and a huge white rhino (white rhinos eat grass and are 2 - 3 time the size o a black rhino, black rhinos east brush...both are the same color; difference is the mouth an size).
• Water Buffalo  -  a loner near the river; probably a  young male.
• Tree full of vultures waiting for dinner.
• Elephant stripping a tree. Elephants are extremely destructive - stripping bark, pushing over larger trees.
• Bunch of grasshoppers - I told you we noticed the smallest.
• Little leopard turtles
• Grey Heron fishing
• Southern white-faced scops owl
• Little monkeys and baboons

Warthog Eating Nuts

Impala Herd

Birds + Baboons

Buzzard Lookouts

Large Male Giraffe

Large Black Rhino

Ivan dropped us off at a 2nd Kruger camp which was even better than the 1st. I  unpacked and went to the pool for  cooling dip. A nice dinner of chicken stew  and rice. Went back to the room, read until 9:30 PM and went to bed. After getting up a little after 5 AM, I was exhausted.

Cool Pool Dip

Nice Accommodations

Shadi, our guide, is disappointed that we did not see the lion or leopard. Suggests that we take an early morning drive safari before we depart Kruger. We all agree that 5:30 AM would be a good departure time.

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