Royal Malewane, Kruger Private Reserve in South Africa Part Two

The Cape Buffalo can develop a beautiful patina on their "shield or boss" from rubbing against trees.  This is a male cape buffalo.  The  "boss" is part of the horns which go across the forehead.  Notice the birds hitching a ride and getting a free meal.  The birds remove biting and sucking insects.  Apart from humans, cape buffalo are hunted only by lions and crocodiles.

Most everyone who travels to Africa want to see the "Big Five."  They are the African Lion, African Elephant, Cape Buffalo, African Leopard and the Rhino both Black and White.  Members of the Big Five were chosen for their difficulty in hunting them and the degree of danger involved, rather than their size.  We were certainly hunting for the Big Five, but only to take their pictures.  We succeeded beyond our wildest dreams!  We had an amazing safari and brought home many memories and photo's that we will be enjoying for the rest of our lives.

We came across these Cape Buffalo  blocking the road.  No way were we going to argue with them.

 The Cape Buffalo have exceptional memories.  They have been known to attack people that have harmed them even years after the event.  The hide on a bull buffalo's neck can be as thick as 2 inches in places, which protects it during battles with other bulls for dominance.

Cape Buffalo have large ears that tend to droop.  This is a female.  She doesn't have the large "boss" over her head.

Cape buffalo enjoying a mud hole.

Do you know the difference between a White Rhinoceros and a Black Rhinoceros?  It isn't their color.  The White Rhinoceros has a wide mouth which is perfect for grazing.  They're like lawn mowers always with their enormous heads lowered to the ground eating the grasses.  The Black Rhinoceros has a pointed mouth.  They are browsers that get most of their sustenance from eating trees and bushes.   They use their lips to pluck leaves and fruit from the branches.

The extremely rare Black Rhinoceros.

Black Rhino

Black Rhino.

After a mud bath this Black Rhinoceros moved through the brush like he was on a mission.

This Black Rhino was moving fast.  We were lucky to snap a few pictures.

The White Rhino are always grazing.

Close up of the White Rhino.

Giraffe.

 The hippo is the world's third largest land animal after the elephant and the rhino.  Their predators are humans, lions and crocodiles.  They eat mostly grass.

A bloat of Hippopotamus.  

The hippo's look like stuffed sausage.  The hippo is considered one of the most dangerous animals in Africa.

Warthogs.

We had a night of entertainment in the bush after a fantastic day of hunting animals.  Jane Lee Winters (our intrepid leader/travel agent) is kicking up her heels with the rest of the troop.

The entrance to our  tent dining room in the bush.  The Royal Malewane treated us like royalty.

I loved the scenery of Africa.

Haunting

Royal Malewane trouble maker always trying to steal food.

The elephants came to visit our room.  I'm on the deck by our pool.

We enjoyed lunch on our patio/pool deck one day at the Royal Malewane.  This was after the elephants came to visit our camp.

We had a beautiful dinner at the Royal Malewane.  This dinner was at the camp.

This concludes the safari portion of our travels.  But I'm not done yet!  Next we headed to Cape Town for a completely different experience.

Royal Malewane, Kruger Private Reserve in South Africa

We had a visitor in our room.

After leaving Botswana we spent a night at Oliver's in Lowveld, South Africa.  We had an unexpected visitor in our room the next morning.  I was grateful that I hadn't seen our new "friend" before going to sleep. 

This is a rain spider.  They are completely harmless and appear when it rains.

Royal Malewane was the final camp and touted as the most luxurious of our accommodations.  We flew into Kruger International Airport.  Kruger National Park's western boundary is made up of private game reserves which combine with the Kruger to create one of the world's largest game reserves.  While in Botswana our driver was also our tracker, teacher and guide.  They carried no weapons.  Up to three vehicles could view an animal at a time.  In Kruger we always had a tracker seated in front of the jeep and a driver who explained everything to us as we drove along.  By law they were required to carry a high powered rifle that would only be used in case of an emergency. I don't believe that any of our guides had ever used their weapons while on a game drive. Only two vehicles were allowed to be around the animals at one time.

Our tracker is perched on a seat in front of the jeep.  He gets up close and personal with the animals.  He will on occasion leave the vehicle to go tracking on foot.

Tom decided his next career is as a tracker.

The elephant has amazing dexterity with the end of his trunk.  He uses it like fingers.

Elephants love eating the bark off of trees.  Here the trunk is used to roll the branch around in his mouth as he chews off the nutritious outside bark.

Watering Hole.

 While observing a group of elephants, a couple of teenagers started acting like teenage boys do no matter what the species.  One kept playfully bumping the other.  The problem was one of the elephants almost landed in the jeep with us.

Tom was worried he was going to be squished by the playful elephant.  Our friend in the seat behind Tom almost landed in his wife's lap!

The roads throughout the reserve are continually being maintained.  This equipment was left near the elephant's watering hole.  Elephants are known to be very intelligent animals.  We watched with fascination as this matriarch carefully examined the tractor.  You would have thought her trunk was a third eye.  She moved her trunk carefully up and down the tractor learning about it and making sure it wouldn't harm her family.

The matriarch was learning about this new "thing" next to the watering hole.

She carefully examined the tractor from top to bottom.

Here are some pictures of the many types of antelope we saw.

Nursing baby.

Normally we returned to camp for lunch.  One drizzly chilly day we were surprised by lunch out in the "bush."

We were provided with ponchos which helped keep us warm.  While traveling around searching for animals we also had hot water bottles which were wonderful.

A feast was being prepared for us.

We were treated like royalty out in the bush.

There were a variety of birds which we enjoyed.

 

This bird lays her eggs in the sand!

With animals like this crocodile laying around it's a wonder the species of birds laying eggs in the sand has survived.

We were fortunate to see more young leopards.  A brother and sister practice their stalking skills on each other while waiting for their mother to return.

Waiting for mommy to return.

This leopard wasn't the least bit concerned that we were watching her.

Our visit to the Okavango Delta in the Kalahari Desert, Africa was coming to an end.

Time out from photographing the animals to have our picture taken.

One should never think that Africa is perfectly safe and no one ever gets hurt.  Or worse yet, killed.  If you follow the news you know that bad things can happen.  You must use good judgement, follow the rules and trust your guides.  One evening we had more excitement than we had bargained for.  Every afternoon we stop for what is called a Sundowner.  Our group of three jeeps come together in a lovely area, we're given time to stretch our legs and maybe "go behind a tree," if you know what I mean.  We are provided with all types of drinks and appetizers.  Everyone gets to catch up on what we've seen.  On this particular day when we stopped we could see a large family of elephants off in the distance.  We thought that was lovely and just added to the ambiance.  This time the elephants didn't follow the script.  They decided it was time for a drink.  We were between them and their watering hole.  It is impressive watching these huge animals coming towards us.  They  cover a large distance in a short period of time. 

We had some excitement during one of our Sundowners.

We were between a herd of elephants and their watering hole.  Maybe they thought they'd like to sample our drinks.

They went right by us.  They were very close.

At one point we were told to get near the jeeps.  I decided to get back into our jeep. Right near me an elephant decided to show us how annoyed he was.  They can communicate very well.  Fortunately he did his little dance, flapped his ears and then moved on to get his drink.  That was close!  Very close!

Beautiful birds.  Termite mound on the right.

Copperback.

The was the "road" to our camp.

Someone asked what our accommodations were like.  Our bedroom at Vumbura Plains.

Our living room at Vumbura Plains.

Our indoor shower behind our living room with curtains.  There was an outdoor shower as well.

Our private swimming pool.

Our private outdoor living room.

The scenery in the Okavango Delta was diverse.

More scenery with red tipped grass.

The roads we traveled were sometimes challenging.

When necessary we went off road to get a closer look at the animals.  Anything to get that perfect shot!

Hyenas strolling along the road.

Sables

Warthog.

A very relaxed leopard.

Here he is enjoying the view from his perch up in the tree.

Giraffes.

Our wonderful fellow travelers. 

An aerial view as we were leaving the Okavango Delta.  I was fortunate enough to fly in the copilot seat. 

Don't worry, just because we are leaving the Okavango Delta doesn't mean there isn't more to see.