African Safari

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We toured the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve on two occassions while we were in South Africa.  It is the oldest game park in Africa and was established in 1895.  All of the "Big Five"  can be found on the 96,000 hectares (over 237,000 acres!)

The "Big Five" are all potential man killers and include elephant, buffalo, rhino, lion & leopard.  We saw them all! We might have gotten a bit close to this big elephant while  he was wallowing in the mud.

The big guy above slung mud all over the van we were touring in on our first visit.  As a matter of fact the window was open and Pam got a bit of elephant mud on her!  

This bull buffalo dared us to mess with his gals.  They have a dangerous reputation and his whole head looks like a battering ram.  To see what these animals can do, check out this free You Tube video of the "Battle at Kruger".  It was filmed by some folks on safari up in Kruger National Park, just to the north of here!  An amazing MUST SEE!

In the words of Peter Hathaway Capstick, "The rhino has a very simple philosophy:  If anything gets in your way, knock it down and gore it." 

This old girl looked like she had been around a long time.  Lions are pretty near the top of the food chain as long as they stay out of the way of charging buffalos!

This meadow to the left looks like a nice place to take a stroll.  Forget it!  Two leopards have commanding positions on a couple grassy mounds.  Nothing enters this meadow without their knowledge.

We could see them with binoculars but had to borrow this picture for you to see...

We never got tired of seeing the many zebras that were all around.  We were told that unlike the horse, zebras can not be trained for any domestic purpose.  These animals were designed to run free.

Giraffes are always a hoot to watch.  They look like they are moving in slow motion.  Can you imagine carrying that big neck around all the time?

This beetle is called a "dung beetle."  I don't think we need to go into any more detail on what he is rolling around in front of him.

Located around the game reserve were "hides" where you could view the animals from a safe vantage point.

The entrance to the "hide" is a long "protected" (ha!) path that was about 100 yards long so you could sneak up on the animals.

Waterbuck.

Pretty poor picture of this Nyala but it was the best we could do.

Spring time means baby warthogs!