The last time I was in Africa it was 2011 and the year of the big rain. We saw none of the big game and got very excited just to see giraffe and zebra. Already this trip has exceeded our expectations significantly & I feel incredibly lucky to have seen so many animals that we missed last time.
We didn't hurry out this morning and arrived at the park around 9am. In less than 5 minutes we saw today's gift: a Rhino. It was pretty far away and while I took a photo to prove I saw him, it's pretty crappy. But given the slaughter for Rhino horn I never thought I would actually see a live Rhino in the wild, in my life time. (I have now removed the photo. Apparently it's not cool to publish images of Rhino in case poachers use the information.) Half an hour later we spotted a whole bunch of cars parked up and hussled on over there... fast. Sure enough, a pride of lions were lazing around 20 metres away under the bushes. While award winning shots are impossible unless you have a 800+ lens and months to shoot the ideal image, we thought it was wonderful. It's one thing to see clubs nuzzling around Mum/Dad on tv and a whole different thing to see it in the wild. The plan was to drive out to the west side of the park this morning & have the afternoon off. On the way back towards the south gate we came across the elephants we saw yesterday. After a few minutes they began to move off. We reckoned we knew where they were going and raced ahead and got more shots of them coming towards us. When they crossed the road we thought they might be heading for the Okaukuejo waterhole, so we took off again and got there before them. Okaukuejo Camp is situated on the edge of a large waterhole where you can sit and watch the animals from behind the safety of a huge wall. There were other animals at the waterhole & few people sitting around watching them so it was really amusing to see their reactions when the elephants came lumbering around the corner. People began sprinting to the waterhole from all directions. After such a successful morning we headed back and we are now sitting around the pool in scorching heat drinking vodka tonics & writing blogs! (Even if we cannot actually post them at present.)
Ps: the accommodation here has a small piece of lawn out the front and every day there is a family of Warthogs come and nibble the grass. I thought oh how cute and asked the staff if I could pat them? Are they tame? No! no no no ….wild do not touch!
We didn't hurry out this morning and arrived at the park around 9am. In less than 5 minutes we saw today's gift: a Rhino. It was pretty far away and while I took a photo to prove I saw him, it's pretty crappy. But given the slaughter for Rhino horn I never thought I would actually see a live Rhino in the wild, in my life time. (I have now removed the photo. Apparently it's not cool to publish images of Rhino in case poachers use the information.) Half an hour later we spotted a whole bunch of cars parked up and hussled on over there... fast. Sure enough, a pride of lions were lazing around 20 metres away under the bushes. While award winning shots are impossible unless you have a 800+ lens and months to shoot the ideal image, we thought it was wonderful. It's one thing to see clubs nuzzling around Mum/Dad on tv and a whole different thing to see it in the wild. The plan was to drive out to the west side of the park this morning & have the afternoon off. On the way back towards the south gate we came across the elephants we saw yesterday. After a few minutes they began to move off. We reckoned we knew where they were going and raced ahead and got more shots of them coming towards us. When they crossed the road we thought they might be heading for the Okaukuejo waterhole, so we took off again and got there before them. Okaukuejo Camp is situated on the edge of a large waterhole where you can sit and watch the animals from behind the safety of a huge wall. There were other animals at the waterhole & few people sitting around watching them so it was really amusing to see their reactions when the elephants came lumbering around the corner. People began sprinting to the waterhole from all directions. After such a successful morning we headed back and we are now sitting around the pool in scorching heat drinking vodka tonics & writing blogs! (Even if we cannot actually post them at present.)
Ps: the accommodation here has a small piece of lawn out the front and every day there is a family of Warthogs come and nibble the grass. I thought oh how cute and asked the staff if I could pat them? Are they tame? No! no no no ….wild do not touch!
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