Close Encounters of the Animal Kind

Enchanted as we were with our last visit, we traipsed back to Kruger twice last weekend...once on our way home from church. While we didn't see as many animals as the week before, we had some very interesting sightings. Quality over quantity. Even if you don't see a single animal, Kruger is still incredible. I mean, look at this place!





On Friday we drove for about 100 km without seeing a single animal. Admittedly, this was a bit disheartening until we remembered we weren't at work...good enough for us. Then on the side of the road we glimpsed this tortoise. Great! You wouldn't believe how excited we were. We tarried for quite awhile taking what probably amounted to too many pictures of a tortoise. People driving past us on the other side of road slowed down to see what all the fuss was about. But when they didn't see anything noteworthy, they sped off a bit bewildered and slightly annoyed.


After the tortoise sighting, we couldn't keep the animals away. From the Oliphants River Bridge you can usually spot lots of wildlife. It is one of the only places in the park (except, of course, rest spots and overnight camps) that you can get out of your car. Typically, we're a little embarrassed to get out and take pictures because everyone else has massive cameras with gargantuan telephoto lenses and tripods bigger than our kitchen stools. We have a hand-held Panasonic and another lesser camera that lasts about 3 minutes with new batteries. But we needed to stretch our legs.


Good thing we did too. Is this Wild Kingdom or what? In a single spot you find kudo, baboon, monkey, and impala....not to mention all of this set against a vast and beautiful background.


Then just move the camera about 60 degrees north and you see hippo and a crocodile co-existing nicely. Of course, these hippo aren't interested in eating the crocodile. And the poor croc just can't get his mouth open wide enough to eat those hippo. He was patiently waiting for something though...maybe that stork just a few steps away...


Turn to the other side of the bridge and you see elephant lounging in the river or walking along the riverbed.


C'mon, if these baby elephant don't make you smile then nothing will. What a place!

Speaking of elephant...this time we got pretty intimate with some. Yeah, this could be a postcard. But it's not! (Note: Those of you who detest elephant should stop reading this blog. Seriously.)


How's this for a close up? (Maybe too close.) Neil wants to drive next time so we don't ever get this close again.


We watched this one try to grab a tasty green leaf that was just out of its reach.


These elephant were taking turns drinking from a big water silo that fills up with rainwater during the springtime. The big one has perched its tusks on the ridge and plunged it trunk down inside. Incredible.


We think these two were playing with each other, but can't be sure. (We're thinking about becoming animal behaviorist just to make our blog reports more accurate.)


This one crossed the road behind our car to munch on some tasty greens. It was attempting to eat in peace, but finally gave up after a couple cars came whizzing by disturbing its snack time.

Of course, when you're with an entire herd of elephant you command the traffic. Which in this case meant: "Stop!"

Or you can be a lone elephant, but very large. That will also stop traffic.

Now, if this doesn't leave you speechless then...then you'd better come to Kruger and experience it firsthand.

We also happened upon a leopard this time. OK, "happened upon" is probably a mis-characterization since when we rounded the corner there were about 15 cars pulled off to the side of the road with people hanging out of the windows and popping through roofs armed to the hilt with cameras. Spotting a leopard in Kruger is rare, so people take it very seriously. Remember we mentioned "The Big Five"? Well, this is one of them.

This is what we saw:

This is what the leopard saw:


People here will ram your car just to get a better camera angle. You think we're joking. We're not. Sometimes we're more afraid of the people than the wild animals.

Then again, when you run across a pride of lion feasting on a hippo they've just killed you tend to take your chances with the people.


Since we went early in the morning, we glimpsed a hyena scavenging something that demanded most of its attention. We were glad it wasn't us.

We saw lots of buffalo this time around.



I think we may have mentioned already that you don't really want to mess with buffalo as they are quite unpredictable and tend to enjoy bashing things with their horn-helmet heads. But it gets a little tricky when one of them decides to take up most of the road during his afternoon stroll. We waited behind this big one for several minutes hoping that all the cars passing it on the other side of the road wouldn't irritate him enough to head-butt our car. We couldn't help but laugh when he seemed a bit bewildered by it all. Anything to ease the tension.

Wildebeest are...well, they're very much like cattle. But they look a little more exotic and have a much cooler name. But, so far, we have failed to muster up the same levels of excitement for these creatures as for others. If only they could grow to be three times their actual size and then threaten our lives by breathing fire or something...



There is nothing quite like spotting a baboon with her baby on the side of the road...even if it is true that it seems baboon are always on the side of the road. I wonder if they are looking for a lift somewhere. We watched these two for a few moments. And they, in turn, watched us...very intently. A nice, cordial encounter. Then Neil started munching on an apple and before we knew it the mother was headed straight for his open window. Yikes! No worries...I believe my ears have healed from the high-pitched scream that followed. Although, I will admit to some lingering aches from the whiplash I must have incurred as we peeled out of there.


To round out the journey, we spent some time gazing at the ever-mellow giraffe. No life-threatening encounters here. Just pure enjoyment.

And just before our way out of the park, we spotted one last elephant in the grass.

At a much safer distance this time.