So, last week, my family went to a game park called Kruger.. Well, we didn't go to the real park. There are private parks next to the real park, and we went to one of those! It was called Kapama, and we stayed in the Southern Camp. It was AMAZING!!!!! So here are some pictures and details of what we did! And what animals we saw, because they were awesome! :D Hope you like it! Oh, and if you don't know what a game park is, its basically like a zoo, so you go to see animals, except it is WAY WAY better because the animals are in their natural habitats and so they are more relaxed. Also, it kinda seems more real, because the animals aren't tamed, so you have to be pretty careful! But it is 100% safe because the rangers that drive you around know all about the animals and they keep you safe. And it is really cool because they tell you facts about the animals when you see them! Also, since you don't drive yourself, the rangers drive you, you go in an open-air 4x4 and the rangers drive you off the roads and right into the bush sometimes! Oh, and if I talk about the Big 5, it is: Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Elephant, and Buffalo
The Schedule
So, every day, they would call our rooms at 5:30am for the wakeup call. At 6:00am we would have tea, coffee, and a light breakfast, then at 6:30am we would go on the first game drive. It would still be dark out, and then around 7:30 it would start to get lighter and the sun would come up and it would be really warm and nice!! Also, they gave you ponchos if you got cold, and in the mornings, hot water bottles to put on your lap!! At around 9:15-9:30am we would come back. Breakfast was 9:30 to 10:30. Then you could just hang out, check email, swim in the pool, whatever you want, until Lunch at 1:00pm. High Tea was at 3:30pm, and the second game drive was at 4:00 until 7:00 or 7:30. It got pretty tiring, but it was really fun and we saw some AMAZING things! :D
Day 1
So, on the first day, we got there at around 1, so we had lunch, unpacked, had tea, and then went on the drive! We saw some pretty cool things that day... I was amazed!
Giraffes!!
BIG 5 SIGHTING #1!! Female mother lion... we saw about 10 lions that day but this was the only really good picture I had... It was a mother, another grown female lion, and then lots of teenager lions.. no babies that day D: but it was still amazing to see the lions, especially because I had never seen lions in a game park before, and suddenly we were 10 feet away from them! We tracked these lions, so we were in the bush, and we were about 10 feet away from this lion!
Day 2
MORNING DRIVE:
BIG 5 SIGHTING #2!! Rhinos :D So, I believe we saw three rhinos the first time..? I think.. :) So they were eating, very peaceful... I don't think there was a baby, but I don't remember... yeah! :)
AFTERNOON/NIGHT DRIVE:
BIG 5 SIGHTING #3!! So we saw this hippo, it was really cool because apparently it is really rare to see hippos out of the water, so it was exciting to see this one!
Then we saw some more giraffes, these ones were just crossing the road and eating.. haha :D
Day 3
MORNING DRIVE:
Then we saw two more lions, there was a male and a female and they were asleep... haha I know it looks like its dead but its not I promise!
So in the morning, we saw some more rhinos... nothing too exciting but it was really cool because there was a baby! Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture because it was in the back, but above are some adults.
AFTERNOON/NIGHT DRIVE:
OMG you guys this was so exciting!!!! Our ranger heard on his radio that there was a leopard close by, so we went to see that, and on the way, he heard that the dominant male and dominant female lions were next to the river, so we went to see those. Unfortunately, we couldn't get close because they were on the other side of the river, and it was getting dark, and he wanted to take us to the leopard because they only have a few leopards in the park so it was pretty rare to see one! Here are some pics:
Here are the male and female lion, the ranger said that they have been together since around 31 December, which is pretty unusual for a lion, I guess, because they normally don't stay together for a long time.
BIG 5 SIGHTING #4!!! AND THIS IS THE LEOPARD!!! Haha as you can tell I was SO excited to see this, I'm really sorry the picture is out of focus, it was moving pretty fast and it was also getting dark, but it was SO cool to see this, because as I said before, it is pretty rare to see a leopard! Also it would've been super fun even if we didn't see the leopard, because we went STRAIGHT into the bush... like seriously... running over trees and stuff so it was pretty cool!!
Day 4 (Last day) :'(
MORNING DRIVE:
So, as soon as we got out of the gates, we saw... BIG 5 SIGHTING #5!! :) We saw these buffalo, this one was trying to knock over the pole! Buffalo are pretty cool, they aren't the nicest looking.. our ranger said that they belonged in the Ugly 5 (haha) but I think that they are cool!
And then we saw three more lions (even though there is only one in this picture, the others were too far away) there was a mom, another female, and a baby (shown above) and the ranger said that they were running away from a male lion, because the baby wasn't the male's baby, so it wanted to kill it! D: but they were pretty far ahead of the male so hopefully the baby is OK!
So then, since it was our last day, we decided to take some pictures of everybody that was on our safari. This is me and my friend Inga, who's family was also on safari at Kapama and they were in our same 4x4, so we got to be friends... :D
So then these were all of the people on our 4x4: There is me, my mom and my dad, Inga and her family, and then our ranger and our scout. So basically the ranger drives and tells us about the animals, and the scout sits at the front of the vehicle (where me and Inga are sitting) and finds the animals for us!
So I hope you guys liked this blog, don't forget to comment below your favorite animal, AND... comment if you are excited that I'm coming home in 1 week from tomorrow!! I sure am haha ;) Love you LOTS,
XOXO,
Leah <3
