Day Fourteen/ Fifteen

Thursday afternoon we arrived at the Mfolozi Game Park. During the day we drove around in our own vehicle on the demarcated roads looking for thw wildlife. Luckily Booker and Krystal are talented spotters! While we were there we saw lots of rhinos, even one pooping. We saw wildebeest, impalas, warthogs, cape buffalos, giraffes, buck species, and zebra!

A giraffe- just for Kaytie!

 

Dung Beetle. It's endangered.

 

 

On a night drive we went wih a guide in a safari truck, and we saw a lion! I was responsible for the spotlight on my side of the safari truck (kinda a lot of pressure), we came around a corner and as I did the scan of a clearing I saw him, there he was just drinking. We proceeded to follow him until he disappeared behind a bush; luckily we caught sight of another lion for a few more minutes.

 

 



I got some video as proof,  but I promise that is a lion in this picture.

The entire time we were in the Game Park I was excitedly anticipating seeing an elephant. I kept being distracted by all of the amazing wildlife that we were seeing, but still I wanted to see one.  As we neared the end of our time in the park I had seen an elephant through the binoculars so technically I was satisfied, but it was so far away… Then as the exit of the park loomed ever closer and we were literally getting to mere minutes remaining there it was, I saw it on the side of the road eating. Success!

 

 

The animal’s ability to camouflage really is absolutely incredible. At one point we drove within two feet of a giraffe and only two of the four of us in the car saw it. The elephant took two steps behind a tree and all of the sudden it was invisible from the road.

After the park we arrived in St. Lucia, on our first evening as we drove to dinner we encountered a hippopotamus crossing the road.