Game drive in the Kruger

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 buy 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 low, a gnu (or wildebeest), so up to four 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

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!)