We are lounging around a wonderful lodge near Krueger National Park -- just after seeing 4 of the big 5 African animals: giraffe, rhinos (seen a couple of times -- and CLOSE UP!!!), Cape Buffalo, the back end of a leopard in the distance (they are quite hard to track), and lions...not to mention the monkeys, wart hogs, wildebeests, kudus (which we have also had for dinner), many kinds of antelopes, dwarf mongooses, eagles and hawks -- you get the picture -- this has been so exciting, and we are only in the first day.
This is a five star resort -- and believe it or not, we are the only folks here -- we have had two private tracking expeditions -- in a few hours another couple will join us, but we have "owned" the place...as someone famous says, I have been poor and I've been rich -- believe me -- rich is better...I feel that way about "owning" my own five star resort in deepest South Africa. They feed us like we were on a cruise ship - often and lots. The accommodations are luxurious...as you will see in the pictures.
But let's tell you about the time we had today as we watched (on two occasions) three one year old lion cubs -- two gals and one guy -- stalking a Cape Buffalo. The first time, we had just come up out of the water as we were crossing a dam, when we looked up and BINGO!!! not ten feet away was a female lion, lying on the ground, seemingly totally unaware of us...or at least not caring that we were there. We pulled up even closer so we got some great closeups of her face, then crept along -- and discovered these cubs and the buffalo across the watering hole. They tentatively circled the buffalo -- then would retreat...then sit down like they were totally oblivious to the entire scene. Meanwhile, the buffalo sat down, or got up -- whatever seemed appropriate.
We meandered around in search of elephants (which we have not yet seen) and somehow through this maze of roads, came to an intersection -- where lo and behold, there was the cape buffalo lying next to the road. And just a bit away were these teenaged cubs -- still practicing their stalking skills. This time we did not see the buffalo ever arise, and it is our considered, if uninformed, opinion that the buffalo should make his peace with the lord, cause when yesterday's zebra gets low, the family will be after him again. It was most fascinating to watch these cubs as they rehearsed for adulthood by jockeying around for position, and advanced, retreated, and yawned -- and then yawned again. Meantime, Mom had not moved from her earlier perch, but she was watching all the time. At one point as they advanced rather boldly, our guide decided to put the car in reverse, just in case the huge buffalo decided to jump up in fear...we left them all at the intersection.
Monkeys are swinging from tree to tree -- but they are hard to see, and baboons are there too -- equally difficult for me to see at least...as you know, Vaughn/Dad has really sharp eyes, so he can see more than I -- besides, I'm looking through the viewfinder all the time.
We "rest up" -- write emails, take a shower and get ready for High Tea at 3 and another journey out at 3:30 -- hoping to see some elephants...trek around for 2-2.5 hours, have a bit of treat out in the bush -- cocktails and nibbles...then come back, shower again and have a late dinner -- then tomorrow -- up again at 5:30 and off again at 6 AM -- what a trip....
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