Just before dinner tonight, while everyone was standing around the dinner area talking, a massive hyena ambled up to the door, looked us all over, and then moved on. Walking around outdoors after dark remains a bad idea in Africa.
Game drive #1 today was the first time I’ve hit the emergency brake on the safari vehicle (translated: I emphatically told the driver to stop) after I saw a leopard lounging behind some brush a few feet off the road. This leopard is apparently a famous resident named Rockfig, Jr., and she posed for us over several minutes, giving the best show of any leopard I’ve seen in Africa. She is a star, and clearly knows it. Following our time with the leopard we returned to the den of the wild dogs, where the puppies were less active than they were the other day, but still entertaining.
Game drive #2 started off slowly, with a couple of rhinos obscured by brush as the best find. However, after we had stopped for drinks at sunset a lion’s roar echoed across the landscape, and we were quickly back in the vehicle and off to view two big male lions by spotlight. Lions are impressive during the day, but seeing two big males scanning the horizon while illuminated only by a narrow beam of light takes things up a notch.
After nearly four weeks on safari, tomorrow morning is the last game drive of this adventure. I came to Kruger thinking it might be a letdown after the experiences further north, and have been very pleasantly surprised at just how utterly and completely wrong I was.
Sounds like this area might be a good one for your dad and I to visit.
What great pictures!
I feel like dad would probably be OK with that, and that’s without even knowing about the adventure on this morning’s drive yet 🙂
So freaking jealous!! You must submit that lion photo to every photography contest that ever existed.
I’ve had exceptional luck with the big cats on this trip (and the small cats, and the dogs, and the things with hoofs..). If karma is really a thing I did some extraordinary stuff in a past life, and need to start being better in this life so the next guy doesn’t come back as a tree fungus.