The Big Five

The Big Five
I flew into Nelspruit airport near Kruger National Park last Sunday.  The drive from the airport to the lodge was considerably longer than the time we spent in flight.  I'm here for 5 days, 4 nights at the Protea Kruger Gate Lodge – we are 100 meters from the gate into the park.  (There are however, multiple gates into the park.)  I arrived mid afternoon, in the heat of the day, got settled in and went on a night safari.
Kruger National Park is huge, almost 6 million acres and home to over 147 different types of mammals, 500+ species of birds and several thousand types of plants.  Kruger Park is very accessible because you can drive your own car through the park as long as you stay on the paved and dirt roads.  However, you cannot leave your car except when you are in a secured rest camp.  We are all here for the same reason – to see the Big Five.
Lions, Rhinos, Leopards, Cape Buffalo and Elephants.  These are called the Big 5 because they are the most dangerous and most likely to kill man.  So, on that cheery note we headed out into Kruger National Park to see how many of these we could find and just how close we can get to them.  Without being killed of course because that would spoil all the fun!
It is summer here in South Africa which means rain and thunderstorms.  This is the worst time of year to safari because the grass and vegetation is long making it difficult to see the game.  Secondly, because there has been lots of rain, the animals do not have to go to a watering hole so they are tougher to spot.
For those of us that don't have a car to drive in Kruger, we take a guided game drive. By the time this is posted, I will have taken 2 night safari's and 1 day-long safari.  I had a great time on safari and was fortunate enough to see 4 of the Big 5.  So far....Elephants, giraffes, zebras, black rhinos and white rhinos, hippos, wild dogs, hyenas, lions, Cape buffalo, baboons, monkeys, warthogs, impalas, steenbok, Kudu, waterbuck and bushbuck - these last five antelopes.  Even without seeing a leopard or a cheetah, I definitely had the time of my life.  However, it is really hard to get good pictures of animals in the wild (especially at night) but I will sort through my pictures and put some of them up over the next couple of days.
Shari


Impala



Lion

Rhino

Elephant