Although clear now, it is cold. In the 30’s in the morning, probably 60’s during the day, but only warm if you are in the sun. Our first game drive was at 6am. I wore two pairs of pants, four shirts, my fleece I bought in Cape Town, and my thin gortex jacket with hood cinched tight. I borrowed a pair of liner gloves from Kathy and still froze. When you are racing around in an open safari jeep, it gets real windy!
Early morning game drive game-face
Not as productive this morning. We did stumble upon a leopard crossing the road, but were too late to get a good photo. Came across some wild dogs, again, the timing wasn’t real good. Most of the sightings are luck. And, if one of the four safari jeeps is at a good sighting, the word goes out to the rest by radio. The lucky ones are in the first jeep, if not, it is a quick u-turn and a hell-bent charge to the sighting. We know it is coming when our driver yells “hold on!”. Once we get to the view, then you get to play chicken and bumper pool with 5-10 other vehicles to get the best view. Half are commercial vehicles, half are private cars. The private cars usually follow the pros. It gets pretty crazy when everyone is trying to get the best view as the animals amble around.
Sunrise on the savannah
Afternoon was much better and warmer. Lots of great sightings of rhinoceros, African buffalo, elephants, hippopotamus, wild dogs, zebras, crocodiles, kudus, impalas, hyenas, monkeys and baboons. But the home run with the bases loaded was the leopard in the tree, (see the last pictures). Our driver was as excited as we were, a very rare sight.
Wild dogs are ugly, smelly, run in packs but have a really cool pure white tail
One thing you see in the wild and not in zoos are families
The leopard is on the left, the impala on the right, a close up of the prey is not pleasant
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