K&S
30th May 2007, 19:28
http://s111.photobucket.com/albums/n141/SeriesIIa/Kruger%20Park%20May%202007/
Shirley and I took four days away to chill in the Kruger Park. Even though it's winter, chilling there does not relate in any way to the temperature. There had been a HUGE cold front which really chilled the country. Day time temperatures in the Kruger however were a pleasant 24 degrees celsius (that's 75 F for all the imperial bods).
We stopped off en route to see our daughter whose doing part of her Occupational Therapy training in a very rural hospital in the middle of nowhere. She greeted us like David Livingstone would have greeted Henry Stanley because we were the only white people she had laid eyes on for ages. Part of the problem of being the only white person there is not so much to do with skin colour but language. None of the black people speak English amongst themselves and they even speak Sotho to her and receive a blank stare and a shrug from her as answer.
The game viewing in the park was absolutley great. We saw all sorts of game from tiny birds to huge elephants to huge birds and tiny buck.
On the link above you'll see an elephant that we met head on coming around the corner and he was in a bad mood of note. One Golf driving forawrd slowly and one elephant charging forward at pace :eek: . I don't know if he had sniffed up a bee in his trunk or what but he was in a rage. The photos don't do the scene justice because we had to come to an abrupt stop and reverse as fast as we could with him bearing down on us. We were in a small VW Golf (MkI) and it would have been no match for 5 tons of elephant. Photos at this stage were very low on the list of priorities.
Eventually he stopped and glared at us with his head waving from side to side and ears flapping and feet shifting from side to side. Then he came at us again and again one little Golf in reverse and backing up as fast as possible. There was unfotunately no time to try and turn around. Then he stopped again and stood on the side of the road and waited for us. A VW Combi came along eventually and after warning them of what had happened they took a chance to go past and after some ten minutes made it through without being chased.
They say that many charges made by elephants are only mock charges but my contention is you only know it's a mock charge IF he stops ;) . I treat every charge as the real McCoy.
Another highlight was watching two impala male buck fighting for supremecy. Much clashing of horns and dust flying. The loser had some battle scars with cuts on his flanks and face from his opponent.
The picture of the Kori Bustard is South Africa's largest flying bird. It's a bit bigger than a turkey.
I've included a picture of an anthill where the average height is anywhere between 10 and 20 feet.
Nice break and we are ready for the next one :) .
BTW I hope the above link works as I'm hopeless at adding these links and some of the pics are too large to upload here.
Shirley and I took four days away to chill in the Kruger Park. Even though it's winter, chilling there does not relate in any way to the temperature. There had been a HUGE cold front which really chilled the country. Day time temperatures in the Kruger however were a pleasant 24 degrees celsius (that's 75 F for all the imperial bods).
We stopped off en route to see our daughter whose doing part of her Occupational Therapy training in a very rural hospital in the middle of nowhere. She greeted us like David Livingstone would have greeted Henry Stanley because we were the only white people she had laid eyes on for ages. Part of the problem of being the only white person there is not so much to do with skin colour but language. None of the black people speak English amongst themselves and they even speak Sotho to her and receive a blank stare and a shrug from her as answer.
The game viewing in the park was absolutley great. We saw all sorts of game from tiny birds to huge elephants to huge birds and tiny buck.
On the link above you'll see an elephant that we met head on coming around the corner and he was in a bad mood of note. One Golf driving forawrd slowly and one elephant charging forward at pace :eek: . I don't know if he had sniffed up a bee in his trunk or what but he was in a rage. The photos don't do the scene justice because we had to come to an abrupt stop and reverse as fast as we could with him bearing down on us. We were in a small VW Golf (MkI) and it would have been no match for 5 tons of elephant. Photos at this stage were very low on the list of priorities.
Eventually he stopped and glared at us with his head waving from side to side and ears flapping and feet shifting from side to side. Then he came at us again and again one little Golf in reverse and backing up as fast as possible. There was unfotunately no time to try and turn around. Then he stopped again and stood on the side of the road and waited for us. A VW Combi came along eventually and after warning them of what had happened they took a chance to go past and after some ten minutes made it through without being chased.
They say that many charges made by elephants are only mock charges but my contention is you only know it's a mock charge IF he stops ;) . I treat every charge as the real McCoy.
Another highlight was watching two impala male buck fighting for supremecy. Much clashing of horns and dust flying. The loser had some battle scars with cuts on his flanks and face from his opponent.
The picture of the Kori Bustard is South Africa's largest flying bird. It's a bit bigger than a turkey.
I've included a picture of an anthill where the average height is anywhere between 10 and 20 feet.
Nice break and we are ready for the next one :) .
BTW I hope the above link works as I'm hopeless at adding these links and some of the pics are too large to upload here.