The area in front of the lodge restaurant has effectively a feeder station. Usually therefore one would see birds feeding at breakfast. But sometimes something larger comes along for the free fruit....
So today I had my first trip into the Kruger itself which is quite a lengthy drive from the lodge. Although one can see game along the road before reaching the park, like these motley scavengers - hyenas and vultures
This is what they were scavenging on. Not everything is pretty in nature.
So eventually we got into the enormous Kruger national park through the Orpen gate.
And immediately found warthogs. The beauty with safaris is that you never what you will find. Most people feel a successful safari is if you get to see the Big Five (Lion, leopard, buffalo, elephants and rhino, their status not being size (or would include giraffe) but the degree of danger in hunting them). But there is also the five uglies to chase, and by this stage we had come across three of them in vulture, hyena and now warthogs - leaving just gnus and maribou storks)
And another vulture
And lone, a gnu (or wildebeest), so up to four uglies already!
Herd of buffalo
Just some landscape shots in case you are straining your eyes looking for a creature.
I rather like taking photos of animals with more landscape than animal in the shot. Yes, great to get the odd close up, but its the landscape that distinguishes this from a zoo.
Steenbok. Unlike the impala, a solitary antelope.
Largely submerged crocodile
Greater Kudu
That's not blood. He is munching on a red flower
And finally a big cat sighting. Although not a very active one
We didn't exactly slum it for lunch either. There was a large camp with extensive restaurant. Steak very much the speciality
Giraffe covered in oxpeckers
You may notice that while the rhinos are shorn of their horns, the elephants get to keep their long ivory tusks. Apparently ivory poaching is not much of a thing in South Africa anymore
A waterbuck
A tree full of vultures - at end of my zoom range
Another buffalo. You wouldn't want one of those charging at you
A good but long day. Saw a lot of animals but not any rarities. (One can be hard to please!)
