Lower Sabie, Kruger
Trip Start
Mar 17, 2007
1
180
401
Trip End
Ongoing
Lower Sabie,
South Africa
Friday, December 7, 2007
We see a hyena, who is very pregnant or very full of zebra.
And the, and then: the leopard! The next of the big 5.
After seeing much more of the same (if I can be so disrespectful) we doubt, early afternoon, to take the long or the short way. 6 hours of game watching is very tiring. We decide on the long way and boy, are we happy about it.
An elephant, at the side of the road, reacts aggressive on our car. Maybe he has been teased by another car. We stay away from him as far as we can but he is standing on the road. He flaps his ears fast and then starts shaking his head: THE sign for 'p.ss off, I have had it with you.' We back off, wait till he moves away and drive through: fast ! The most fatal accidents in South Africa are caused by rhinos. They are heavy, muscled, surprisingly fast and their nose is lethal.
And, next thing we know: we find the rhino !!! Tick: number 4 of the big 5! We think it is a black rhino. Don't say: can't you tell the difference between a black and a white rhino, since one is black and the other one is white ! They both have the same color. The 'white' in the white rhino comes from the Dutch 'wijd' or wide. The white rhino indeed is heavier, but the wide refers to the lips: he rips off grass with his wide, square lips and weighs up to 2300kg. The black rhino holds his head up to feed off leaves with his upper lip.
We also find a gnu and ostriches.
A bit further: 3 cheetahs. Literally ON the street. One of them is very rowdy, he sounds much more like a dog than like a cat. His little 'barks' are interrupted by some kind of purr. It is unlikely that he is hunting like that, so we assume he is talking to his ladyfriends. The sun is starting to go down, when that wonderful creator, jumps in a tree, providing us with our best picture, so far.
We arrive in Lower Sabie to discover that ... the camp is a copy of the previous one. The same but not quite. We have late lunch on the terrace of the camp, with a view. With the rhino, the leopard, the cheetahs and so many other animals, we conclude this was a good day again.
