We slept in yesterday then took down the tent and drove 90 kilometers to Satara in the central region of Kruger. Kruger is the size of New Jersey but that is all they have in common. Parts of this area look like Serengeti with vast stretches of savannah. Today was a day of herds – zebra by the dozens, wildebeest by the score, several large groups of giraffes and our first elephant herd – not to be confused with ‘elephant turd’ of which we have seen many. We took a drive north towards Olifants, where there is a nice lodge but unfortunately no camping but there were great views and dozens of hippos. On the way we saw hundreds of Marabou storks sitting in trees and soaring in the sky. Also saw other storks, wading birds and our favorites, European rollers and carmine bee-eaters.
We made it back to camp just in time for curfew at 6:00pm, had wine coolers and made dinner. In a place this large they can’t lock the animals up at night so they lock up the people. It was a good day; a rain storm to cool things off, large groups of animals and our first hyenas.
Today is another ‘official’ South African holiday, hence the week-end crowd. As I write this evening, they are all gone and it is very quiet. The sky is filled with more stars than I have ever seen and from here it seems like you get a new perspective on the Milky Way. We set out at 6:00 this morning on our quest to see the rest of the “Big Five”. We have already logged elephants and lions and need cape buffalo, rhino, and the elusive leopard. We decided to head to rhino habitat today but on the way we were treated to three lions, mother, cub and juvenile.
Unfortunately we never found any rhinos – there are fewer than 900 in the park and they prefer dense thickets rather than open savannah. As large as they are, you could be only meters away and never see them – at least we never did! We did see more of the usual suspects plus two kinds of mongoose and lots of birds. On the way back to camp we decided to see if the lions were still around. Luck was with us – not only were they where we left them, they even approached the car and followed it at a slow trot. They stare at you with unblinking yellow eyes that seem to be sizing you up only as a meal. They have no fear and little concern.
