Teeming with life...

So I don't really know where to start. Ian already posted about our trip to Kruger Park, but there are literally hundreds of pictures that we took. There's no way to post all of them, or even all of our favorites, but I wanted to at least get a few up here to give you a taste of what we experienced. 

I will say I don't think there is anything coming close to the experience at Kruger Park in the states. I could be wrong. I think I was just mostly shocked at how many animals we actually saw. The park itself is enormous, and we really only covered a small fraction of it. Yet in that small fraction and in that small amount of time, we saw soooooo many animals! When I considered that, it made me realize how huge the population of animals must be in this park. Mind blowing actually!


Anyway... here is a sampling of what we saw...

The first animal we saw just seconds after crossing the bridge were Impala. We were very excited to see these beautiful animals, but our tour guides were slightly less impressed. I guess Impala are to Kruger what squirrels are to Elm Park hahahaha. Still, we found them very beautiful and probably about 1/5 of our pictures are of Impala.

Not long after, we had a real treat when we saw a rhino crossing the road. These are one of the less common animals, so we were really excited to see him. And he was BIG. I don't think I realized how big these animals actually are. But especially just 20 feet or less from your car, you realize how big they really are! 


We went on for a little while not seeing anything but more Impala... but finally we got our first of many looks at elephants!

Not long after and we saw the iconic giraffe! In fact, on the second day we came across about 20 giraffes all along the edge of the road feasting on some sort of tree/bush. Whatever it was, they were really enjoying it!

Once again, its crazy the awe you feel when they're walking right past your car. In fact, when they crossed the street I think my jaw just about hit the floor. Talk about grace and elegance!

And here's some of the other animals we encountered...

Probably one of the most frightening sites I saw all day :)

We came across a herd of literally hundreds of water buffalo crossing from the river.
It took several minutes for them all to get across!

Slightly rarer antelope called the Kudu

A mongoose. I'm surprised we actually saw him. We think they were dwarf variety.
They weren't much bigger than a chipmunk.

Right before we left the park, we even got a glimpse of 3 lions and lioness. Mostly we saw their tails wagging in the grass, but the lion stood up long enough to get a picture.

On our way to camp the first night, we also discovered the favorite place of one of the leopards. This was a really rare site. We were able to see him just off to the side of the road, but hidden under a tree among leaves and branches and tall grass. One of the other cars let us know that this was a favorite place for the leopard. So we gawked as much as we could that night. On our way out of the camp the next morning, we figured we'd give it another try to see the leopard better. On our way down the road, there he was, in the middle of the road! Sadly he hurried to the other side of the road before we got there, but we were again able to see him in his favorite spot. We had some technical issues with the camera, but we were able to get a couple of fairly close shots of him.

We caught just the very last bit of the sunset that night... 

 so that was a lot of pictures I ended up posting, and yet hundreds more that I didn't! :)


Love to everyone. And thanks so much for your comments and e-mails. We love getting them, so keep them coming!