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.