Travelin' Road Show: May 5th - 4th and 5th Game drives

May 5th - 4th and 5th Game drives
MORNING:

OSTRICH

AWEOME SUNRISE

HUGE Cape Buffalo

Cape Buffalo and the Oxsuckers

Always getting up close and personal

Oxsucker convention

"hmmmm... nice butt!!!"

Boy 5am comes very quickly! Another quick cuppa and off we went ... Don was keen to track a herd of Cape Buffalo, which was quite a drive from the camp, so we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise as we drove... just after sunrise we had a surprise and rare sighting of an Ostrich.. probably the only one in the area... quite exciting... but the highlight of this drive was the enormous herd of Cape Buffalo, lazing in the grass... hundreds of magnificent beasts, crowned with massive heavy horns (called a boss). We got to drive right into the herd and watched them for 30 minutes at least... fabulous experience. The pictures just don't do them justice.. they are truly awesome animals. After we resumed our drive we came across more giraffe. Two young males were having a bit of a fight, which they do by using their massive necks to whack each other quite violently. One of the two looked like he had had a stroke, as one side of his face was droopy and a little deformed. Very strange sight. By far the most breathtaking sight that day... although they are all breathtaking, was to once again spot our grumpy, huge bull elephant as he literally pushed over a tall, live tree (20-30 feet high).. for his grazing pleasure. It was so quick and such a surprise that no-one managed to get a picture. But we did enjoy snapping pictures of him grazing on the fruits of his labour. (he breaks off large tree trunks and rolls them around in his mouth stripping the nutrient laden bark as if he were eating corn on the cob. We once again enjoyed some ranger coffee while watching a river lizard sunbathe on a log in a small pond with a lone rhino keeping a close eye on us. On our way back into camp we saw warthogs, a massive Kudu and a huge bird drying its wings.
By far the most breathtaking sight that ... although they are all breathtaking, was to once again spot our grumpy, huge bull elephant as he literally pushed over a tall, live tree (20-30 feet high).. for his grazing pleasure. It was so quick and such a surprise that no-one managed to get a picture. But we did enjoy snapping pictures of him grazing on the fruits of his labour. (he breaks off large tree trunks and rolls them around in his mouth stripping the nutrient laden bark as if he were eating corn on the cob. We once again enjoyed some ranger coffee while watching a river lizard sunbathe on a log in a small pond with a lone rhino keeping a close eye on us. On our way back into camp we saw warthogs, a massive Kudu and a large cormerant drying its wings in the sun.

Loving it!!

Giraffes

Cute!

Getting into a small brawl

Whoa.... a little disheveled!!!

LOVE ELEPHANTS!!!

Eating the tree he felled

Hippo... thinking we can't see him

Happiness in Africa

Wildebeest

Beautiful Warthog

Cormorant - Drying wings

Kudu

AFTERNOON

Spider by our room ... !!

Kindergarden child

Adorable smile

After breakfast we took the guided village walk. The village is for the employees of the 4 surrounding camps and many of the employees were born under the tree in the village, grow up here and then work here... they are a branch of Zulu (Shangaan), they were not aggressors, merely farmers that originated hundreds of years ago in Mozambique. We saw the kindergarden (where our guide had worked for 19 years) and snapped a few photos of the kids who sang for us. After lunch on the main deck we headed out on our last evening drive. Don was bound and determined to find big cats and he was quite disappointed that we did not manage to track any. We did see a rare sight of about six hippos out of the water in the dark... which made up for the disappointment... still a fun drive. Dinner in the Boma again and a well earned sleep.