| | on friday, we had the opportunity to go and visit kruger national park
the park is about the size of israel, and this place is as lion king as it gets
wild animals in their natural environs, no fences, no gates, you are not allowed to get out of your car
we got there at the crack of dawn, witnessed a south african sunrise in all it's color and splendor
you can hire a paid tour guide in an suv like the one pictured below, but we roamed the park in our own vehicles, at our own pace
the first animal to greet us was this african elephant
throughout the park you could tell where an elephant had been, everything is just trampled in a path
glad this one was at quite a distance, as we were warned that they sometimes charge vehicles
little bird hitches a ride on this roan antelope
in africa, there is what is known as the "big 5"
known for their size and difficulty to hunt, the 5 most prized animals that trophy hunters back in the hey day would hunt - lion, cape buffalo, elephant, rhino, & leopard
we saw the leopard!
due to it's nocturnal and reclusive behavior, it's the hardest of the big 5 to see in the wild
many native south africans have never seen a leopard even after mutliple park visits
a kudu checks us out from the bushes
trying to avoid mufasa, this hyena hides out in the thicket
vervet monkey eats a late morning snack
kudu crosses the road
usually found in trees, to avoid predators, this baboon roams the grounds and got pretty near our cars
it tried to introduce itself to henry, but henry would have none of it 
baboons in nearby trees
there are roughly 170,000 impalas in kruger, and i think we saw just about all 170,000
they were pretty much everywhere
hungry hungry hippos take a nap at the watering hole
don't mess with hippos, apparently they kill more people annually than lions
as noah so eloquently sang for us ...... "when i was a young warthoooooog!"
we had to slam on the brakes after this one jumped right in front of the car as it crossed the road
the kruger guidebook pointed out that warthogs have very bad eyesight ....... eesh, no kidding!
there were a few gated visitor centers within the park where we could get out of the car
here we stopped for lunch, stephen and samp set up the grill for some hotdogs we never ended up eating
after lunch, we headed over to the posh visitor center patio cafe
cheers, the team enjoys their afternoon tea (or trader joe's soymilk in calvin's case)
mr and mrs pak discussing stuff
stephen shoots some hippos in the distance
we got back in our cars and followed the road that runs along the river, hoping to see more animals near the water
we spotted this herd of elephants heading towards the river
noah spots something approaching....
a lioness! she was stalking a group of impala and made a charge at them right in front of us!
unfortunately (for her), they scattered in time
my, what long eyelashes you have
as we exited the park, we got out to stretch our legs a bit
psam catches the last drops of sunlight with his camera
during the week, we were usually split up throughout the community, so it was nice to spend a day together as a team
what a privelege it was to see so much of God's creation in their natural habitat
the team (sans me) at the numbi gate exit
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| | Posted 8/17/2007 5:20 AM - 29 Views - 6 eProps - 5 comments
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