South African Safari

Rob and I went on a Safari in South Africa in May with our good friends, Steve and Ana. It was the experience of a lifetime. Here we are in the open air landrover that took us all over the place. We had a 21 year old guide and a local tracker who had amazing skills! We felt safer in the bush than we had in the city!

The landrover was pretty cool -- the ranger drove it up and down steep inclines and over trees and bushes without thinking. He explained, "don't worry about all the bushes and trees we take down, the elephants do it too!"

The safari reserve was private and adjacent to the Kruger National Park. Although there were no fences, the humans weren't allowed to cross over to the Kruger. But without fences, the animals sure didn't know the difference. Sometimes we tracked them right to the edge and then watched them cross the road, but we couldn't go any further.

Unfortunately, the posts throughout the next several pages are all out of order because I have not yet figured out how to post things in chronological order. Nevertheless, enjoy!

Following the Lionesses

We had a great time one morning just following a few mothers and their cubs around. Thank goodness we had a good tracker, as he spotted the cubs on a rock on the side of the river bed, and we very easily could have driven right by them! At one point, the cubs just crossed the road right in front of us. None of the animals ever appeared bothered by the humans. We were just part of the landscape to them . . . so long as we stayed in the jeep, that is!

Two by two

Doesn't Mom look like she's laughing at her kid?
These two females did everything in tandem -- it was very cute!

Is That Your Minkey?

The Monkeys were everywhere at our campsite, but too quick for me to get any decent shots of them.

Lion Food

Our ranger told us, "Whatever you do, don't run. The only thing that runs in Africa is food. Here, you can see how skittish these animals are. They were everywhere, but they also fit right into the food chain. We came upon a leopard kill on our last evening there. One less Impala for everyone else.

A vulture, more birds and a sleepy owl

This owl had been hunting all night, and was so tired, it couldn't be bothered by the people below snapping pictures.

Scariest Animals of All

The riverbed in the background behind Rob (aka Ernest Hemingway) is the former "Timbavati River", which, believe it or not, means "Everflowing." Now, the name should be changed to "Neverflowing" as it dried up completely (a result of human diversion) about 30 years ago. Now the riverbed is simply another road for the landrover and the animals.

Family Outing

A Beautiful Family Photograph

Buffalo Bulls, Wildebeast and Warthogs

Everything I knew about Africa, I learned from the Lion King!





Now I know where the phrase "hitailed it out of there" came from!

Hiding Hippos

They say that the most dangerous animals are the hippos, but these guys never came out of the water. We were fine with that.

Giraffes At Sunset

What African Safari can be complete without Giraffes at sunset? We also were fortunate enough to have a full moon all week and a harvest moon on the last night. The sky was just awesome!

Kory Bustard Taking Off

Rob caught this great sequence just as it was happening. What a huge, magnificent bird!

Colorful Birds

The birds were so colorful! We are not birdwatchers, so, unfortunately, I didn't keep track of all the different ones we saw. The ranger,of course, rattled of names and species without even thinking each time he spotted one. Believe it or not, this photo of the owl was taken at night time. You can see I was playing around with photo shop as well.

Leopards in Trees

And who can't help but be entranced by the leopards? It was just amazing to see how gracefully the leopards climbed the trees and walked around the branches looking for a comfortable place to relax. Once there, they were almost impossible to see -- they just blended right in.

Babies

Our favorite pictures were of all the babies we saw. Even though it was wintertime, there were still a lot of younguns around. The cubs below are the ones I referred to above as just sitting on a rock waiting for their mom to call them.



The baby elephant was just the cutest thing -- and it's amazing how big they grow. We saw a big daddy who was taller than most of the trees around. GINORMOUS!


The ranger told us that the zebras protect themselves by gathering in large groups. All their stripes blend together and the predators get confused, thinking it's one really large animal. You can see how well the stripes blend in this picture here.

Colonies and the First Day of Safari

The first two pictures are from outside Capetown, where there was an African Penguin Colony and an ostrich farm.




When we arrived for safari, we went out that very afternoon. The Lion below was just coming back for a nap. Pretty cool for our very first trip out!



These next two pictures are also from the first day. The vulture kind of looks like a heart to me! The sunset came out pretty well, too.