Kruger Day 3...

The above is one of my favourite photos from this trip. It was early in the morning and we re-visited the hyenas. This one was yawning, obviously exhausted from the night before.

Even though it's not perfectly clear, I also love this photo...

This is a Brown Hooded Kingfisher...Quizzy Giraffes out with the kids. They're so graceful. And big...An elephant skull...From the bush with love...

Zebras always look pretty in photos...

A kudu cow - don't you love those ears???

One of the great things about the Kruger, is chatting to drivers of passing cars. They let you in on what they've seen and where to go. You'd think that, since everyone there loves nature, that everyone would be friendly, but you get some serious grumps along the way too. Most people, however, are really friendly and are happy to tell you about what they've seen. We'd been driving for a little while and hadn't seen too much. We stopped a car and asked what they'd seen. The driver was so friendly, he literally gave us the co-ordinates to this...OK, I realise that the photos aren't fantastic, but those lions were probably about 300m away from us, if not further. We spoke to someone who'd seen the kill happen and they said the lions attacked, brought the buffalo down and the other buffalo then chased the lions off their kill, surrounded their injured/dead until they were 100% sure that it was in fact dead. Once that happened, they moved off and the lions moved in. There were 8 that we could see. Also, the gap we had from where we were sitting, looking down into the river bed was extremely small, so sorry for all the bush in the way...

They usually get started on the gut and head. In this picture, there's a lion lying across the buffalo's body to get to it's stomach. And there's a little lion eating up at the head...

Later in the day, we stopped off at a bird hide, very near to our camp site. We took sun downers with and enjoyed the passing parade...This is a saddle-billed stork. Question is, if you were that saddle-billed stork, would you stand in that water with those crocs swimming towards you? We counted 7 swimming almost straight for the poor bird, who didn't move and didn't get eaten...Sunset across the small patch of river we found at the hide...

Catch up with you all on Monday. Enjoy the weekend!!

Lots of love, Sue xxx

Kruger Day 2...

We awoke on our first morning in the park to one of the most gorgeous sunrises I've ever witnessed. My photographic skills (above) don't do it any justice. Oh and please excuse the pile of elephant poop on the road in the foreground.

The hyenas were out and about, although already getting ready to laze the day away. This is the mommy and she was lying literally within 2m away from me, with her body hidden in their den. I love the bite marks on her ears, shows how hard she's had to work to put food on the table for her kids...

There were two litters of pups with the group, which was about 9 or 10 strong. One litter was about 3 months old and the others, below, were about a year. A ranger told us that he didn't think the mother was hunting too well, the older pups were so hungry that they were still trying to suckle...

An early grazer...Kudu Cow and calf...

I took these photos in our campsite. They're of Impala Lillies The bushes are covered with these bright pink and white flowers, with no leaves. They're really pretty. I took these pictures at about 8:30am...We generally went out for an early morning game drive at 6 and then headed back to our campsite for breakfast before heading out again. The animals tend to take it easy during the midday heat, so we tried to do the same. Here's Jake feeding the birds in the campsite. This is a yellow-billed hornbill. They're everywhere in the park and are very cheeky...

That's my dad on the left and Jake with Kathy...

One of the highlights of our day were these elephant bulls at a waterfront. The guy on the right (bull 1) didn't want the guy on the left (bull 2) to get to the water and it resulted in a bit of a scuffle. I was just glad they ran in the opposite direction...

Run boy, run...

Once they'd sorted out their differences, bull 1 headed back to the water hole...but bull 2 snuck around the back of the bushes and came to the waterhole from the opposite direction...Bull 1 (now on the left) wasn't impressed...Bull 2 whipped it out and laid down the law. Sorry, this is crude, but, never mind being hung like a horse, can you see that thing!!

Bull 1 was obviously intimidated, bull 2 packed it away and they lived happily ever after...

Because the Eastern part of South Africa has a summer rainfall, a lot of the rivers were totally dry...To end our day off, we did a sunset drive, and what a sunset it was...

Kruger Day 1...

Finally, I'm wading my way through all my photos. There are so many and I have no idea how I'm going to chose which ones to print and which to leave buried on my hardrive. All I know is that as I look through my pictures, I relive my holiday. I can remember the sights and sounds (and smells) so clearly and it was just the most amazing experience ever. Besides not knowing which pictures to print, I don't know which to share with all of you. I know that I can't possibly limit myself to just one or two favourites, so I think I'm going to do a post per day of our time in the park. If you hate the bush and hate me for posting animal photos, I'm really sorry. Please come back in about a week's time when I'm finished publishing them all here. It just gives me a good opportunity to share my journey...

We left Graskop early in the morning on the 30th of August (I'm more then a month behind!!) and headed up to Phalaborwa to do our grocery shopping before heading into the park just before lunch time. In the picture above, he's with my mom at the Palaborwa Gate, where we signed in before entering the park. Exciting...

Our first big sighting of the day was a herd of Cape Buffalo. Since it was the middle of the day, they were relaxing, trying to find some shade in the 30+ degree sunshine (oh, how I miss the bush veld weather!)...

And because it's spring time, there are lots and lots of babies. Everywhere. I came home very broody... Our next big encounter, were elephants. I love baby elephants. Those of you who have visited the Kruger before will know that animals often cross/run across the road right in front of you. Initially it's scary, some of these beasts are huge. Jake was particularly frightened of the elephants and whenever we saw some close to or in the road, he'd say "just go now". After about 4 or 5 days, he told my mom that she mustn't tell anyone that he was scared of the elephants, because they're actually his favourite. I can't pick my favourite animal, I love them all, even the vultures... Look at all the weenie ones. Look how close they come to the cars...Jake spotted this hippo getting some relief from the midday sun...Giraffes are really cute. Can I call such a huge animal cute? They're the most inquisitive animals you could ever meet and I'm sure that if you sat in your car, quietly enough for long enough, they'd stroll on over and stick their head through the window to see what's inside your car. Again, note how close they are to the cars...This was the view from our lunch time picnic spot. There's an ellie coming up the river on the far bank...There are often buck walking around the picnic sites. They're very used to people and while you're not allowed to feed any of the animals, I'm sure they get the odd snack...This is a Bateleur. It's one of the Big 5 raptors and Jake's favourite bird. They often fly with the vultures, looking for kills. Vultures have sharper beaks and Bateleurs have sharper vision...Another herd of Buffalo at a water hole...The highlight of our day was this sighting of hyenas with their pups...The gates to our camp, Shingwedtzi...

More pictures tomorrow...

Sue x