On Safari With Karen 28 April 2015

28 April 2015

We started this new day with a clear sky and we had a great day out in the park. As we spend quite some time at each sighting, all of them were a highlight, so to speak. 

Our first sighting however started just as we had begun our day. In the distance we spotted an elephant. As it was our first elephant of this safari it was a great find. And he was coming closer and closer. So we decided to hang around as he walked for about 2km in the background right past our car. While munching on grass, bushes and trees. 

Once he had past us he stopped again and munched on another bush. We then noticed a hyena coming up the road behind us. And so did the elephant who instantly had gotten rigid and made himself look even bigger as he was. Ears out and tusks up high, he watched the hyena pass. 

The hyena however didn't even look at the elephant and passed without looking up. He had found something in the air that was worth investigating. He kept on walking up and down the road sniffing the air and the ground trying to locate... it. Not sure if he found it but when it got a bit busier with cars trying to pass him, he gave up and disappeared into the long grass. 

And let's not forget that after we hadn't moved all this time, some kudus and impalas had also joined this sighting. 

Our second giraffe sighting today we almost missed! He was standing only a few meters from the road but completely obscured by the bush he was eating. Until his curiosity got the better of him and he stuck his head around the bush to say hello. 

What made this sighting extra funny was the impala ram that was fighting a bush next to the giraffe. At first we thought he was just having an itch, but no, upon closer inspection that wasn't the case. Then maybe he was thrashing the bush to impress some females, but we didn't see any in sight at all. Neither did we see any other males, so he wasn't impressing those either. Nor was he stuck as he managed to pull himself out quite easily. But he kept at it over and over again, so either he is practicing his new moves on the bush or he is sight impaired and thinks it is an enemy... Either way, we had a good laugh!

Other interesting sightings: lots of impalas, yellow and red-billed hornbills, leopard tortoise, slender mongoose, white rhinos, hippos, water monitor, blacksmith lapwings, waterbucks, blooming impala lilies, pretty kudu bulls with nice horns, buffalos, lilac breasted roller, grey louries, zebras, bateleurs, warthogs, forktailed drongos, white-backed vultures, candelabra trees as well as many marula trees and giraffes.