South Africa Day 5

Our last full day on safari was really a mixed bag. This boy up above was big and WILD, and very aggressive. I wouldn't want to run into him while on foot. He gave us one good stare down and then thundered off into the bush.

Above is my favorite little creature, a jackal. She wasn't scared of us at all, but perhaps irritated that we interrupted her sunrise nap.

Olaf wanted to see hippos, and luckily we did. Big, lazy ass hippos rolling around in the river.


The first hour or two of our evening drive was pretty uneventful. I had made the choice of where to go on our drive, so if we saw no wildlife it would be pinned on me. While the four of us were looking for leopards in the trees, Brett stopped the Cruiser and jumped out. Apparently we almost ran over a very important snake. I'm not sure of the name, but I know A. it is the fastest striking snake in Africa/ the world/ or whatever, and B. it is responsible for the highest percentage of fatal snake bites. Ick.

Brett, our snake-loving guide, jumped out of the car and pursued the dangerous snake with MY CAMERA. Actually, I was glad he did, because his pictures turned out great :) Looked like a total mad man laying on the ground, supposedly "just out of striking distance." Right.


The evening picked up nicely. We saw a few rhino and a brown hyena carrying an antelope head (awkwardly, uh, because of the big antlers).

We stopped for our sundowner in a nice little meadow, but our party was quickly crashed by two big, hungry rhino. We opted to take our beers in the car and watch while they mowed the grass.

South Africa Day 4, Wild Dogs and Elephants

We were so pleased after seeing the wild dogs the night before, we really didn't expect to see them again. Lucky for us, the pack killed an antelope on a road early in the morning. Because we were in the car, the dogs were very relaxed and didn't mind us observing them.

With what was left of the kill.

The dogs were gluttons- look at that big belly! They all were walking around like they were pregnant ;)

On our evening drive, we noticed a herd of elephants walking single file across the road. I thought it was cute and very organized- I knew I liked elephants. Thankfully we had our smart ranger with us who interpreted their movements much better than I- the elephants were headed to a waterhole!

The elephants picked up speed as they neared the waterhole. They were so excited! Lining up single file, they drank their fill before having a little play time :)

The baby elephants were having an absolute bawl, rolling around in the water and getting good and muddy.


This was definitely my favorite part of the week.

South Africa Day 3, Wild Dogs and More

Our third day at Madikwe was great! The reserve is known as the best place to see wild dogs, which are endangered. We were constantly looking for the dogs, while the rangers were trying to track them by looking for paw prints in the dust.

Finally, we ran into a ranger from a private lodge where the dogs were last spotted with a kill. Lucky for us! The lodge was kind enough to let us into one of their suites, where we could stand on the balcony to observe the dogs.

The wild dogs were very social with each other, but seeing us on our feet made them very nervous. We stayed for a good 30 minutes, just observing the dogs.




Babies babies! Our visit coincided with the beginning of the rainy season and the animals giving birth. We saw many mini's stumbling around, trying to stay upright and master the art of walking on four legs.