Our last day on safari was AWESOME!! We woke up nice and early and started our drive as the sun was coming up.
We first saw some zebra!
And there wasn't much at this particular water hole, but the sunrise was beautiful.
We saw some cape buffalo.
And then we saw the lioness. Can you see her back there walking the grass?
She was big and had her mouth slightly opened which made her look kind of mean.
Check out how big that paw is that she is lifting up. Huge!!
She was very pretty!
And she just walked right in front of us like no big deal.
We saw a decent size group of zebra but they refused to stand at a good angle for pictures. Rude :) That little guy was pretty dang cute.
Cute little steenbok.
Remains of the leopards dinner left up in the tree. We spent a good portion of the drive looking for the leopard, but we didn't have much luck.
We did see two giraffe's at the end of the drive. They were walking parallel with the truck and they were beautiful. I love watching these animals walk. They are so slow and graceful but their stride is so long that it looks like they are moving fast. It's pretty cool.
Head shot. Their heads are kind of funny looking if you stare at them long enough.
I think this is some type of roller.
The wings were gorgeous!
This is what the reception looks like when we pull up to the Bush House after a game drive.
Guinea fowls hang out at the Bush House.
The staff kept telling us how brainless they are. I think they're cool looking with their whit polka-dots and their blue and green faces.
The cold breakfast spread. We munched on some of this while they made our hot breakfast. The service here really was perfect!
Breakfast outside. All of our meals were outside and the weather was super cooperative which was nice.
After breakfast we packed up our things and took one last look at the waterhole where this little impala was getting a drink.
Eek!! We saw this friend right after our game drive.
And this crazy looking guy almost took me out walking to our car. Apparently he's some sort of funky locust.
Our guide, JR, was showing us how the locust excretes a smell from it's joints to ward off predators and that it is extremely poisonous if eaten. After that fun little interaction we were off.
We passed a group of goats taking a stroll int he middle of the road.
And this sweet lady waiting for a ride. It's hard to tell in the picture, but she is wearing a baby/toddler on her back. The mothers wear their babies (until they are pretty big) on their backs. They usually use a blanket or a towel to strap them on. It looks kind of uncomfortable and a little unsafe but apparently that's just what you do.
Donkey pulling a cart. Something you don't see everyday.
Just sitting on the right side of the car without a steering wheel. It was pretty crazy! I had a number of moments where I almost had a heart attack because I thought Frank was turing into oncoming traffic when really he was just driving on the left side of the road.
We made a pit-stop on our way pack to Johannesburg. We drove through another game park called Pilanesberg. This time we stayed in our own car because the roads were paved. It was pretty fantastic!
Some birds having a little meeting in their nests.
It may look like a smooth rock for a moment, but don't be fooled, that is a hippo in there and at this point I wanted nothing more than to see a hippo. Wish granted!!
We had just started to make our way down to a large reservoir when the following happened. If you listen closely you can get a small insight to how incredibly excited I was that this was happening.
Look at all of them. And it felt like they just kept coming. And they were all sizes which was the best part!
This little guy was MY FAVORITE!!
He'd stick close to his mom and then run away and then get close to her again.
He just seems so happy to be alive just swinging his trunk and wiggling his flappy ears.
I kinda wanted to go hug him. Don't worry, I resisted.
Such an amazing site to see in the wild.
After there little street march, they decided to start grazing in the grass and finally let us pass.
When we got down to the reservoir we were searching for Hippos and got to witness the giraffes and zebra hang out together (a little lion king moment if you will).
We also say a wildebeest. Another Lion King moment (are they the ones who trampled Mufasa??)
We drove around to the other side of the reservoir and got to watch the giraffes a little closer.
I was loving the tall grass photo shoot with this guy. He was workin' it.
And then he went and got a drink.
There is a nice little look out that jets out over the reservoir like a pier and we walked to the end of that and some some really great birds.
And then I heard some snorting and we saw hippos in the distance. We watched them for a while. They really do just look like rocks and they just sit there. But we were patient and this guy finally showed himself and his nasty teeth.
Hippos are the second deadliest animal in Africa just after misquotes.
Birds!
More Birds!
Cutest little baby zebra!
Clouds
I got scolded by a park ranger for sitting on the door of the car (out the window) trying to take this picture of the hippo and her calf. The driver said something like, "how would you feel if something jumped out of the bushes and got you? and then we'd have to kill that animal for injuring you." Fortunately nothing got me and my pride was only slightly wounded so we're good.
The drive through Pilanesberg was so FANTASTIC!! It exceeded my expectations! I would have to highly recommend it to anyone going to South Africa. You have to do that and a game drive. Two totally different and totally awesome experiences!
On our way back to Johannesberg we saw these guys loaded up headed home from work. Lets just say that I am pretty confident there is no OSHA in South Africa. We saw all sorts of crazy dangerous working environments.
On our way home we picked up dinner at a place called Rocco Mammas. It was a busy Friday night there, but it was fun to see the locals out and about.
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