Once again, we scrambled into the front of a safari truck and headed out into the wild for a new adventure. Remember, we have a goal this year to see all of the big 5. Out of all the animals in the animal kingdom, Laleinia was yet to see her favorite, the elephant. Hopefully we would be able to get that accomplished.
Pilanesburg National Park is one of the best places to see animals in all of South Africa. Within about two minutes of entering the park, we came across six rhinos! It was interesting to learn that the father rhino has to keep its distance from the mother and children, because rhinos are territorial, and even a father's male offspring could threaten its dominance. Many father rhinos have killed their own sons!
How many giraffes can you spot in this picture?! If we were to have taken a panoramic picture, you would have been able to see twelve! We dubbed it "the great giraffe migration." Unfortunately, Alastair didn't get kissed by any of them this time.
About an hour and a half into the drive, we stopped for a break at a watering hole. We were hidden away in a little wooden structure that overlooked the water, and we were amazed to see two massive hippos really close to us. After taking a few pictures of them yawning and rolling around in the water, they wandered off into the bush. We headed back to the safari truck, only to realize that they reappeared on land! All that separated us from Africa's deadliest killer was a tiny piece of wire and a thin shanty fence made of scraps of wood. Of course we turned our backs on the animals and took a picture!
We spent quite a while watching the hippos through the fence. They can weigh up to three tons and can run almost 20 miles per hour! We were fascinated to see them yawning, or stretching their mouths, or whatever it was that they did. It seemed like they did this every three or four minutes. The hippos were not the prettiest things that reside in the animal kingdom, but they sure were impressive to behold.
We were lucky enough to spot a leopard high on some rocks, and we also got to see all of the antelope-type animals grazing. Laleinia spotted an elephant far off in the distance and alerted the group. It was really cool, but not cool enough to check off our list just yet. It was an amazing find though, as it was easily 400 meters away, and the sun was setting. In fact, she saw it after this sun-set picture was taken! Eagle eyes!
We should also mention that the Bakubung Bush Lodge was a really nice place to stay. We loved the food, architecture, leopard-print carpet, bed, and just about everything else there. We also got to chat with some really interesting people on the truck. That is one thing that we love about traveling; meeting adventurous people from all over the world. It is so fun to swap stories with people like that. Bakubung, you did not disappoint!