Undoubtedly one of the world’ greatest and largest game parks in Africa. The park is nearly 2 million hectares of unbelievable diversity of life forms, landscapes, and mixes historical & archaeological sights to see. I could not believe that one moment you are surrounded by mopani forests and the next minute you are in large savannah landscapes. The rivers meander throughout the park, large rock outcroppings where you can sight Klipspringers, leopards or the occasional baboon with babies. The Big 5 is usually sighted by the time you leave the park.
When searching for the Big 5, many have no idea what or how that started. The Big 5 are: Cape buffalo, Elephant, Rhinoceros (black & white), Lion & Leopard. It got that name many years ago for the top 5 most dangerous animals to hunt on foot. Today, it is used as a great marketing tool to attract people to safari.
Red-Billed Hornbill with a snack.
The Orchestra
One of my favorite things about safari – well, there are a lot of reasons, but what I call the “orchestra”. On safari, you are woken up around 5:30 – 6:00 am depending on the time of year, by your guide. A quick coffee, tea and rusk is taken and off you go. During the night you might be lucky enough to hear the sounds of the lions, leopards or hyenas. When the first light is rising in the distance, you begin to hear the beautiful sounds of the birds. To me, that is what Africa is all about – sounds, smells of the bush and the excitement of looking for wild animals.
Adorable lion cubs waiting for mom to return with food.
Our first day was amazing with so many animal sightings. The cubs above were out in the middle of a dry river bed sitting on the rocks.
First day was a fantastic way to start the safari! So much more to come – Leopards, Baboons, Birds, Lions, Elephants, Bugs and many more surprises.
Beautiful photography!!