01
Jun 26

Fourteen minutes with a cheetah

At some point earlier in the trip our guide, Simon, asked everyone what they wanted to see. Of the six people on the safari two are longtime safari goers and they had some specific thoughts. This is the first safari for the rest of us, and I think we all settled on the logical, “this will all be new and exciting for me.” And it will! It was! It is! But somewhere in there I blurted out, without thinking, “Cheetah!”

Without thinking because I didn’t even know if they lived in this region. And, of course, this is not like zoo. You can’t just stroll over to a certain place to see what strikes your fancy today. Sometimes you do well, sometimes it’s slow. And we had a slow start to our morning. Finally, Simon said “That’s the way it goes sometimes; you can’t be lucky all of the time.” He was starting to soften the blow of a slow morning. About that time we ran across another group and our guide’s counterpart told him what was up ahead, and over on the next road. The safari guides are all in constant communication with one another, all sharing information and sightings, all trying to give their guests the best possible experience.

That’s how we got to spend 14 minutes with a cheetah. Here are all the photos.


31
May 26

Kruger National Park safari, part two of day three

This is day three of five of this serving as a photo blog. We’ve moved, this afternoon, from one base camp in the park (which is almost the size of New Jersey) to another camp this afternoon. In each we’ve had a little hut that had showers, AC and a kitchenette. We’ve not used those because our guide, Simon, has been making our meals for us. Our job is simply show up on time for a meal or a safari. Then we ride around and see all of these incredible animals and the beautiful scenery they live in. It’s peaceful — perhaps not contemplative, but certainly unhurried — but also exciting. And they say every safari is different. That’s the draw. This morning’s (incredible experience with a leopard continued with even more great sightings, and another visit with that leopard, and his recent meal.

Some of what we saw on our third day in Kruger National Park included:

Baboons
Waterbuck
Nyala
Guinea fowl (not pictured)
Impala
Giraffes
Hippos
Egyptian fowl (not pictured)
Leopard
Buffalo
Elephant
Burchell’s Starling
Zebra
Wildebeest


31
May 26

Kruger National Park safari, part one of day three

This is day three of five of this serving as a photo blog. And it started out with an amazing experience, but the amazing experiences just kept going throughout the day, as you will see.

Some of what we saw on our third day in Kruger National Park included:

Leopard
Lion
Waterbuck (not pictured)
Klipspringer (not pictured)
Baboon
Grand hornbill
Oxpecker (not pictured)
Burchell’s coucal
Samango monkey
Guinea fowl (not pictured)
Rhinoceros (not pictured)


30
May 26

Kruger National Park safari, part two of day two

This is day two of five of this serving as a photo blog. And today got out of hand, photographically speaking. Of the 260 photos I shot today, I have uploaded 36 (a 14 percent success rate!). Obviously that’s too many amazing images for one post, so I’ve broken it up into three. (See part one.) This is also the day I started kicking myself for not bringing a long lens. Nevertheless, this was a lovely day.

Some of what we saw on our second day in Kruger National Park included:

Lion
Impala
Zebra
Giraffe
Lilac-breasted Rollers
Burchell’s Starling
Elephants
Kudu


30
May 26

Kruger National Park safari, part one of day two

This is day two of five of this serving as a photo blog. Today got out of hand, photographically speaking. Of the 260 photos I shot today, I have uploaded 36 (a 14 percent success rate!). So I’m splitting up day two into two posts, because why not. (See part two.) This is also the day I started kicking myself for not bringing a long lens. They cost thousands of dollars, for some reason. You can rent them, but you may as well be buying them. So I don’t have a long lens, and my photos reflect that sometimes. Nevertheless, this was a lovely day.

Some of what we saw on our second day in Kruger National Park included:

Hyena (not pictured)
Giraffe
Elephant
Bateleur eagle
Cape Starling (not pictured)
Hornbill
Leopard
Saddle billed stork
Impala
Zebra
Warthog
Ostriches (not pictured)
Wildebeest
Grand hornbill