Kruger Day Two
Day 245
We took full advantage of having a/c and a comfortable bed and slept in till the late hour of 9:30am today. We both felt refreshed and planned on doing some short drives around the camp today then a sunset safari drive through the park. We sat on our bungalows patio for breakfast, the heat once again was intense and I ate my cereal quickly so the milk wouldn’t get too warm.
Even though the chances of seeing animals were slim at this time of day, the heat just being too strong, we decided to go for a drive. Around Oliphants camp are small dirt roads that follow the river, we were headed there. We turned right off the tarred road and down a steep dirt track. The landscape was a bit greener here near the river and around some small streams. Mostly though they were dried up river beds. We spotted kudu, something that we didn’t see yesterday. A kudu is a large antelope with stripes on its side. We saw hippos in the river again and got closer to some giraffe than we did previously. Impala are everywhere here, there are over 200’000 in the park. We also spotted waterbuck near a waterhole and a steenbok. We drove for 2 hours and then returned to the camp. Its hard to get bored of driving around Kruger. You are pretty much guaranteed to see something every time you head out. Thing was we were happy about what wed seen but really wanted to see some big cats, yes we were getting greedy.
After an early dinner and a rest in our cool bungalow we were off on another safari drive with the park. This was a sunset drive and hopefully as the weather cooled we could spot some different wildlife. We drove off and for the first 20 minutes we saw nothing. The heat from the sun was still intense. Soon we came across a group of elephants with a very small baby. They were no more than 5 meters away and the baby was fascinating to watch. Always keeping very close to the mother and the mother always keeping a close eye on us. Our guide told us how you never get in between any elephants and a baby, they will charge you. Further on we spotted a wildebeest. A wildebeest is huge and has large horns, it was an impressive sight. On the other side of the road was a lone hyena at a watering hole. Being the first one we’ve seen it was exciting, the hyena just looks like a huge mangy mut, but could rip you apart. The hyena walked away from the water with his long neck slouched and head lowered. Moving on we stopped at a large watering hole where a waterbuck stood in the distance. We were about to leave and our driver pointed, “rhino”. Wow, this was one of the animals I just didn’t think we would see. A white rhino was far out just walking across the savanah. We took turns looking through our binoculars at the large horned animal.
We began to drive back as the sun went down and we spotted 2 more hyenas on opposite sides of the road. One was a bit in the distance but to our right was a hyena just off the road. He sat like a dog, leaning his head on his front paws and was literally on the shoulder of the road. So close to us I could have stretched out and almost touched him. We sat there just watching him, he never moved much and was un phased by our presence. Just as we were about to leave we heard a noise, lions in the distance. Our guide said he thought it was 2 or 3 but that they were far. Wow, even though we didn’t see them it was impressive to hear and know they were close. Our last sighting was easily the cutest. Sitting just off the road were 7 hyena cubs, small babies that looked just like puppy dogs. At this age hyenas are still cute. We may not have seen a big cat but it was a great drive and a beautiful sunset.
We returned to the camp as the wind began to gust. Strong blasts of wind that sounded like our roof was about to blow off. The heat from the day had tired us both out though and we quickly were asleep. We planned to be out of the camp by 5:30am for our last full day so a good sleep was in order.
Tags: Kruger, Oliphants, South Afica, South Africa
Michael Coroneos
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