Thursday, December 28, 2017
Up at 5:30am for a 6:00 game drive. I could only say that it had better be worth it. It was!
There were several herds of impala up and moving. We saw many young ones who had been born recently. The strategy is to have many born together – several will become prey, but many will survive to adulthood. We also saw many birds, far more than last night. I will need to do some research to try to identify them.
We saw a group of three zebras, then a couple of klipspringers on high rocks. Klipspringer means cliff jumper. There were a male and female taking turns as lookouts.
When we came across a large pile of dung, someone asked Tim what animal might be large enough to have made it. He got out of the vehicle, picked up a piece and determined that is was made by a grass eating large animal, not long before. So, off we went to find it, and came upon a white rhinoceros. We followed it for quite a while, to a water hole, until it became too agitated. The white rhino is endangered – there are only about 11,000 left in the wild.
Next, we moved to a larger body of water, which was being visited by many impalas, a grey herons, some Egyptian geese, and a mostly submerged hippopotamus. Mark spotted a large vulture in its nest in a far away tree.
Then, Tim heard from another guide about some wild dogs. There are about 450 located in this game reserve, and only a few thousand left in the wild. We found a group of three resting in the shade. A few hundred feet away was a hyena.
On our way back to the camp, we spotted a kudu, the largest of the antelopes. Then, to our delight, we came upon a group of five elephants, including two young ones.
And that was just the morning.
So Many Exciting and Beautiful Places! 