Kruger National Park, Day 2

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I didn't think anything could top yesterday, but boy was I wrong. Again, my bewitching hour seems to be 2:30 am however, I did sleep until I got a phone call at that time. Not quite sure how that happened as I was on airplane mode. I fiddled around until 4:30 when I got up and dressed as I was being given my personal wake up call at 5:00 and we were leaving at 5:30.

Right off the bat, we went back to the lions. This time it was the male and a female in estrus. She got very upset when other young male lions came around.

From there we saw 3 more giraffes. Johan said he was going to take us to see a surprise so when we headed toward the water the first thing I thought was hippo. We had the morning equivalent of a sundowner only this time it was coffee and muffins. There was a hippo in the distance but I didn't bring my big lens to get it.

From here is where the surprise was. We passed an empty safari vehicle, which was odd then our tracker got out and ran into the bush. It was then Johan said Eddie, our tracker, was going out with the other guests from the empty vehicle to track, on foot, 3 cheetah brothers. I didn't think it could get any better than that.

When we found the right spot, we met up with Eddie and walked into the bush. They were absolutely beautiful. I couldn't get a decent shot because those suckers were fast walkers. They didn't see us a prey as these three were hand raised after their mother was killed. It was an incredible experience and definitely one I wasn't expecting.

We passed the same rhinos we saw the night before. When we came back, breakfast was waiting for us. I had another omelette which again was delicious. Andre came to the table and asked if we would be interested in a bush walk this morning. We all said yes and then he says, "Okay, now I'll go look for the guy with the gun". We all noticed he said that after we agreed to go and not before.

We met up again and went for an hour long walk. Gilbert with his gun and Johan with his backpack for water bottles. It was so interesting to hear about the different plants and how the different villages use them.

On our way back we finally saw a zebra that didn't run away from us.

Next, the evening drive.

After a short nap this afternoon we headed out for our 2nd game drive. This time we saw hippos, a huge herd along with a mom and baby. From there we saw Cape buffalo and those suckers were big, They never really came out into the open.

Next came the rhinos. First there were just 3 walking right towards us then as they went past, and might I add very close to our vehicle.

I love my Chubby Unicorns.

We came across 2 Zebras that for once, didn't run away from us. We were with them for a good 10 minutes.

We had our nightly sundowner and headed back to camp for dinner. The menu included Butternut Squash soup, Springbok Carpaccio Salad, Lamb Chops with roasted potatoes and a creamy mushroom sauce and a dessert that I'm not sure what it was but someone said a bread pudding with a custard sauce. All were incredibly delicious.

Today/tomorrow is out last full day at the lodge and then one last drive on Friday before we fly back to Johannesburg to meet up with the rest of the tour group and head to Zimbabwe.