The Big 5

We had a fabulous weekend at Kruger National Park! Oli saw all of the "big 5" (pictured below). Unfortunately for me, I missed the leopard sighting, he was too fast for me. I did see one in captivity though. We visited a rehabilitation center in Blyde River Canyon that takes in injured animals and then, when able, releases them back into the wild. We learned a LOT of sad facts about poaching there, it's a huge problem in South Africa. The leopard in the photo is from the rehab center.

In Kruger we were able to go on a morning game drive and a sunset game drive, and also spent a lot of time driving around in our rental. Oli learned he's in love with giraffes, we saw a lot of those. I think the coolest experience was on the sunset drive. We saw a bunch of vultures circling in the sky which signals a kill in the area. When we got closer we watched lionesses start coming out of the bush and they all had little cubs with them. Our guide said there's 16 cubs in this one pride. Some were so small they were still nursing. We got right up next to them in the truck, it was surreal. On the drive out today we also saw a group of cubs from a different pride napping just off the road. Lion cubs are so cute you almost want to take one home, until you watch one of those animal planet shows where some moron does just that and later gets mauled by a full grown lion. Anyway, we saw too many animals to mention, lots of babies too. Obviously the lions but also a little giraffe, hyenas, elephants, and lots of antelopes.

Tomorrow we fly to India. We're going to New Delhi via Mumbai. South Africa turned out to be such an awesome experience and far exceeded any expectations, we will miss it!

Leopard in rehab

Water buffalo

Sleepy cub

Elephant parade

PS more photos on Facebook.
PPS Lina if you're reading this, I need your email!!
PPSS we're getting on skype when able so add us: kellystone83