April 13th - We saw the usual assortment of animals including a dazzle of zebras, kudu, wildebeests and impalas. After a short drive we went off trail and I do mean off trail. We were mowing down trees and bushes, going over rocks and logs but we came upon a large herd of elephants. There must have been a dozen of them, eating to their hearts content and having dirt baths. They throw dirt all over themselves to control parasites. It took us a while to find our way back to the trail and have our sundowners. There was a great lightning display as we were having our gin & tonics.
On our way back to camp Sydney spotted a puff adder - a snake that is quite dangerous and is responsible for most of the snake bites in S Africa. He then spotted a scorpion on a tree trunk. This is all in the dark with his powerful lantern but they are 6-10 feet off the trail and he can still pick them out. It baffles the mind how he can do that.
We sat down for dinner and had the first course before the storm clouds we had seen earlier made good on their promise. A strong wind came up forcing us indoors. We barely made it inside before the rain poured down. The rain, thunder and lightning continued for most of the night but we were assured by Terry that only lightning would cancel our last morning drive.
APRIL 14th - Due to the amount of rain, Terry told us he would not be allowed off trail this morning so we weren't sure what we would see. Our last drive got exciting before we were 5 minutes from the camp. We heard the raucous noise of hyenas, rounded a corner towards a dry river bed. Here were 2 hyenas with a kill. They were fighting over what was left of an impala and almost ended up under our jeep. They keep bashing into the door. We looked forward and here was a mother leopard who was probably responsible for the kill. She and her cub had a good feast prior to the hyenas arriving and stealing their food. They were up in a tree and stayed there or in the deep grass until the hyenas left the area. We have now seen what the guides refer to as the Royal Family of leopards. The female leopard in the mating scenes is the daughter of the male we saw yesterday and her mother was there this morning with her younger sister.
We drove south to the Sabi river which is the border of Kruger National Park. Along the way we saw another herd of elephants including some very small ones. After a break for tea and hot chocolate we made our way back to camp, coming across kudu, impalas, our second duiker which was again too fast to capture on film and several different birds.
We are now packing up for the long flight back to Arizona.
Pictures - 1 - hyenas with their stolen kill
2 & 3 - the beautiful leopards
4 - one of the many monkeys around Selati
I couldn't include the videos we have of the leopards and lions. If anyone is interested in seeing and hearing them just email us and we'll email them to you.
There will be another posting after we get home - just a variety of things we forgot to put in the blogs.
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