Kruger Day 2

Verreaux's eagle owl

One of the water holes from a blind.

African vistas of animals at water holes.

An oxpecker removing ticks from a giraffe.

Two female lions seen from a distance.

Another secretary bird displaying head feathers.

The rare Southern ground hornbill.

Hippo from one of the blinds we visited.

Elephants at the dam as seen from the Fish Eagle Terrace Restaurant.

Wildebeest on the move.

A young elephant scenting us.

The beautiful landscape of Kruger.

Sunday, May 7^th.

We were up and out of camp again by 6. This time we had some food as we’d bought a few things in the camp shop last night. Today we drove another long distance over another 12 hours. We visited a couple of water holes that gave us a few more panoramic views of the wildlife. One of them had a large water tank on a little hill. It is filled by the park and can only be accessed by adult elephants. In the 1950’s during some dry times the park installed about 50 of these artificial water holes to help the elephants, but after a while they realized that it allowed the elephant population to expand more than the park could handle. And it only helped elephants none of the other species. As a result, most of them have been removed since then. Another example of man trying to make things better only to make it worse. We also visited a couple of blinds where people can sit by a special spot and be hidden from the animals. Here we could see several water monitors, birds and other animals going about their business. We also saw about eight Southern ground hornbills, one of the rarest birds in Africa. The park asks people to report sightings so they can keep track of their numbers. We watched another secretary bird stalking around looking for reptiles; watched oxpeckers feeding on ticks on giraffes; saw two female lions laying in the grass a long way away; watched thousands of red birds by the dam at the same lunch spot and got yelled at by a female elephant who was protecting her baby. Another great day. 24 hours of game driving, thanks Andrew, (with lunch and pee breaks) in 48 hours...yikes.