Kruger Park

     I took a few days last week to vacation with my friend Janna in South Africa. We rented a car in Nelspruit and drove to and all through Kruger Park. A) Driving was SO much fun! I didn't realize I actually missed that! and B) Kruger Park is bigger than all of Swaziland, so we had quite a trip!

    We couldn't find the park entrance gate (don't judge. I just told you neither of us have driven in 15 months, and we are not used to cities and paved roads, and we were in a new area, and... shut up) so we spent our first night in a B&B just across the river from Kruger. Oh my gosh. It was SO nice. It was SUCH a first class experience, and the breakfast was de-lish! The proprietor, Johan was so interesting, and guess what. He went to school on an exchange program in Iowa when he was young!!! Now how small world is that?! I asked, and I was the first Iowan to ever visit the B&B. I should have asked for a certificate or a ribbon or something for that... huh. shoot.

    Anyway, we had a fabulous time at the park. We camped out and listened to the wildlife all night and ate tasty meals at the park restaurants. Our first morning there we went on a sunrise hike. For 3.5 hours we hiked through the bush with two armed guides. They didn't use their guns, but at one point they may have contemplated it! We hiked up toward some white rhino who were sleeping on a hill. We got close to take pictures, but (white rhino are pretty blind) the papa was curious what was going on when he heard us and came to check things out. We were cool at first if the guide threw rocks at him to scare him back, but then he got more curious/angry and we had to get out of there. One guide stayed back throwing rocks and sticks and making noises and movements to try and keep him away, but it got to a point where they flat out screamed "RUN!" and we took off down a slope and across a creek bed... good adrenaline rush! 

    We saw some pretty cool things over the days and we also went on a sunset safari which was pretty cool. We saw all of the "Big 5" many times over except for a leopard. We didn't see a that, but we saw a CHEETAH so, I really didn't mind missing the leopard.

Now. Pictures.

Johan, the B&B owner working hard behind the bar

EIGHT giraffes were eating off of one tree!

How many times have you heeded this warning during a gourmet breakfast?

Peaking Through the Trees

Totally Zazu from Lion King, yes?

Impalla grazing

The Key To Mother Nature

Why is this the only decent picture I got out of 10 minutes in the middle of a herd of buffalo?!

Kruger Sunset 

Momma and baby!

One of our guides for the walking safari scanning the area where we parked

I know this bird is slightly ugly, but they are very endangered, and I thought it was a really cool picture of him throwing his food up in the air to catch it.

The momma was just about to pull down the better part of this tree to feed her baby when I took this

Maybe I posted too many giraffe pictures. But they are just so beautiful!

This elephant was so clever! He dug little holes in which he stuck his trunk to get water from the underground stream to wash himself (it was a half&half sand water mix)!

ARGH! We saw a lion hide itself behind a rock, so we figured we'd sit a while and wait it out to get better pictures of it when it reemerged. Naturally, since the car was in park, we were obligated to make ourselves some tasty granola/honey/whatever-food-was-in-the-car snacks. When I looked up from my sticky bowl of mishmash, this mother lion was walking right in front of our car! I was hardly able to get out my camera and snap this before she disappeared again. Moral of the story: Don't eat sticky granola around hidden lions.

Momma lion guarding her mini-cave full of baby cubs

CHEETAH!!!!!! This mother cheetah had just finished sharing an impala with her cubs. We couldn't see the little ones as we were at quite a distance, but I was just SO stoked to see one! Most people who live down here and frequent Kruger only see one or two cheetahs in their lifetimes, but I was determined to find one for Alex Neswold (my BFF from childhood whom I promised a cheetah picture), and I did!! 

I just really liked the perspective of this guy through the windshield. Such cool animals!

This picture (and ALL pictures posted on here) is not edited in any way (that is a lie - I cropped it along with a few others, but besides cropping, nothing is edited at all). This bird actually has 16 colors!
(You can't see a lot of them - under wings)

On our sunset safari our vehicle became surrounded in nearly a dozen hyenas! 

Holy cow, Janna and I were on a walk (in a fenced in area where you can get out of your car and walk/camp/whatever safely) and came by at least 50 of these guys!! I'll be honest, I find them just a bit creepy.

These little guys were so cute! I liked them from a short distance, but Janna full-on befriended them!

So you should use the passing lane

Oh, yes, PS: My birthday (this Wednesday) was pretty great, and I am celebrating properly this weekend with all of my Peace Corps buddies in town! Thank you to everyone who sent such nice birthday wishes!