KR night 1

Here's the list of animals we saw today:

Elephants

White Rhino

Lion

Leopard

Giraffe

Kudu

Hippo

Croc

Waterbuck

Water buffalo

Warthog

Impala (these are like the squirrels or pigeons of the park)

Baboon

Vervet monkey

Steenbok

Honey badger

As you can see, Kruger is full of wildlife. After we got off the plane and into the rental car, we started looking for animals in our self-drive safari. There were quite a few deftly spotted animals, but the showcase had to be the herd of elephants resting roadside -- they couldn't be missed. They stood under the trees from the hot sun, flapping ears to cool off. 

It's hard to describe the majesty of these animals. Their skin has a velvety rolling softness that doesn't show up in the videos or pictures I've seen. I got this one shot of the peaceful expression on an elephant's face:

The obvious thrill is seeing wildlife face to face, but I think the one I enjoy more is sensing what kind of sentience lies beneath each animal's surface. With the baboons, you can tell their near-sapience in the subtlety of their every movement and action. With the elephants, the family dynamics are obviously so strong. 

A few more animals we ran into on the self-drive:

That vignetting is real -- sometimes animals wee far enough away that I had to shoot with the phone through a binocular lens. The effect would be really cheesy if it weren't simply what I could get. 

After we arrived at the Lower Sabie camp, we immediately turned around and hopped onto a guided tour from sunset into night. 

We saw quite a few new animals. The driver/guide, Lunga, said that animals really don't react to the bus as a unit, even when flashes of light are coming out of it. 

Only lions can be so relaxed sleeping out in the middle of the road. We passed this pair later in the night, driving past them and then following them for a few minutes. The lions truly were indifferent to our presence, doing their thing as we spotlit them and snapped away. It's strange to see an apex predator capable of killing from merely 10ft away. I felt the same when an elephant crossed the road in front of us and regarded us slightly before continuing. These two lionesses were sitting like Sphinxes before lolling like house cats:

I enjoyed the guided tour mostly for the driver's expert experience in spotting and explaining the animals' behavior. 

We ran suddenly upon some rhinos, 2 female and 1 male. The male was trying to herd the two females in estrus to territory away from other males. They would frequently pause and have deliberations about what to do. It was fascinating to hear the driver explain the grunts and feinted charges. I sadly don't have a great picture of this chase:

Matt and I noticed that Lunga greeted another employee with "jambo" before chatting. I should have asked him what language it was, since that's a greeting in Swahili. Lunga seemed at least familiar with Zulu, but it was beyond me what tribe he might be.