Burchell's Bush Lodge Kruger National Park

... s completely loopy. As we began the descent from the Highvelt down into South Africa's lowlands through some of the most dramatic and beautiful landscape I had ever seen my belly was doing summersaults and swelling up to form a gaseus, noxious brew that was just dying to blast its way out of my sphincter. It got to a point where I had to stop the car and burst out, literally half a **** away from ******** myself and ran into the ...

... Klipspringer. This small antelope stood proud high on the rock, very difficult to spot. It's fun to see such a small animal stand so proudly on his domain, his castle. We've only seen one during our entire trip in South Africa, but it was a very beautiful sight!

We drove some more, encoutered a large group of Impala (the entire Kruger park holds over 100.000 Impala, so you get to see quite a lot of them driving around). And then ...

... cool. A big change from the past few days.

On our way from Letaba to Maorola we saw:

Impala, goliath heron, jacanas, guinea fowl, hippo, waterbuck, steenbok, squirrels, snake eagle, bataleurs, kudu, Egyptian geese, vulture, francolins, lioness & cubs, monkey, giraffe, eagle, zebra, hyena, nyala, wildebeest, wood hoopoe, grey duiker, elephant, spoonbill, crocodiles, vultures on nest, warthog, baboons, mongoose, bushbuck.

... and a few impala, all in the same (distant) view

- White Rhino (1)

- Steenbok (1)

- Mongoose (1)

- Waterbuck = 5 + 2

- Finches’ nests = hundreds of them

We got back to Timbavati around 4:30 pm and Sophia had done pretty well. She slept a couple of times in her car seat and hadn’t created too ...

... for a snack on some cliffs that had gorgeous views of the park. This 'park' that is bigger than some countries actually. I eyed the rangers rifle and asked if I could take a pic with it. I assumed that it wasn't loaded and he had no problem with my taking it. I took some funny pics of me looking all hard core and the view of the park behind me. I thought to myself how totally opposite I looked compared to when I dance. I like that I'm a walking contradiction ...

... big 5 - lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard. The leopard was the last one we saw and by accident! After searching every tree as we drive along, we stopped by a 'Sausage Tree' (the large sausage shaped fruit of this tree is cut and the juice used to help the local men grow big in the trouser department!) and there was a leopard! She was beautiful, sleeping in the tree. She was a bit trickier to take photos of. The other really ...

3/11 - I stayed up all night to finish off my packing as I didn't want to sleep in case I missed my plane! Anyway, the nuns very kindly woke up and took me to the airport with the taxi driver which was quite sad! I had to say goodbye to them! I checked in and I wanted to go to sleep but again didn't want to risk it in case I missed my plane! Finally, got on the plane and slept all the way to SOUTH AFRICA!!! But, it wasn't long enough because ...

... part of the family for the night. We again learned a lot about the views of the Africaaner people as to the state of their country. Political problems are huge right now, illegal immigration (read: cheap labor) and of course aids is a major concern. It was an evening of laughter and insite! Next day we left bright and early for our last drive to Johannesburg ...

... they do not run off. They know there is no threat of those rectangular metal things on wheels. You do not want to know how much pictures were taken. Long life the digital camera. We see our first cat: the cheetah. Although they are not part of the 'big 5', I think they are prettier than the leopard, which is a big 5. The cheetah looks made up, with the eyeliner going from its ...

... spotted a pack of lions lying in the shade of some trees. We could make out about 4 but there were more there we couldn't see properly. We watched them for a while then continued on and couldn't believe our luck again when a huge elephant emerged out of the bush right beside the car. We had to quickly reverse back as he wanted to cross the road right where we were. Its just as well we did too, as he was immediately followed by about 50 more of his ...