Mother of all Night Drives

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Animals still haven't seen: Leopard, Rhino

We left Talamati right when the gates opened at 6am, and drove our final leg of our Kruger circuit to Byamiti Bushveld camp in the very south (and game-rich) part of the park. Along the way we saw lots more of the same animals--giraffe, zebra, baboon, elephant, etc. After an early afternoon brai of chicken and farmer's spicy sausage, we went on our last night drive in the park. Little did we know that this was going to be the grand-daddy of them all.

Our guide Jerry (great name!) was a real nice guy, and the only other people on our drive that night was a very nice young South African family from Johannesburg. Within 45 minutes, we sawy two rhinos. And as soon as darkness fell, we saw the tiny gleaming red eyes of the very small monkey-like creature...the lesser bushbaby. This little guy was one of my favorites. Watching him jump from tree to tree, and from ground staight up to the tree branch was like watching a flying squirrel with a motor (sorry, thats the only thing that comes to mind). Later in the night, we also saw a porcupine, a mongose, a puff adder (poisonsous snake), 6 more rhino (2 that blocked the road and wouldn't let us pass -- Jerry turned off the car lights, faked right and went left, and still we almost got rammed), a Cerval and 7 lions. Our car stumbled upon the first lion, a male, which was just walking down the road. We followed him for a while and then moved on. However, abot ten minutes later was our real treat -- 4 female lions lying in the middle of the road with a little cub. We were able to get within about five feet of the lions, which was very exciting. The baby was as cute as can be (Erin's words, not mine). Next was the 7th lion of the night, another male, who came walking towards the females. The mother had to hide her cub for its safety. That night, seeing all of those animals, was truly special.

Our time in Kruger came to a close the next morning as we exited the Crocodile Bridge Gate -- not before seeing two more hyenas, a herd of elephants with a tiny baby and a family of about 20 baboons. I will definitely miss Kruger -- its beauty and its animals. I'm very thankful for the once-in-a-lifetime experience.

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Photos

Baby lion and mother
...i know this picture is bad, but if you cross your eyes a little, you can make out the baby cub on the left

Our trusty Megane
...some of the features of the car were a little quirky (it's French), but it has served us quite well