Breakfast at 7, safari at 8. Either that or breakfast at 6 and safari at 7. Either way, it's becoming the norm and we're getting more and more anxious to see the elusive cheetah and leopard - only a select few of us have seen either this trip.
This time, it was 9 people in a safari vehicle leading us and 5 of our trucks with the usual suspects. It was a fairly long drive to get to the entrance and then a lot of driving through the park to see wildlife. The watering holes are always a good bet but this time, we were out of luck. We kept trying for what seemed like ages and finally started to see some animals but they were very shy and didn't stick around as soon as they "made us".
Saw elephants, impala and a few zebra but not much more so came back a little disappointed.
That afternoon, we headed out at 4:30 pm for a little sunset cruise on a pontoon boat to hopefully catch some hippos and crocodiles along with the gorgeous African sunset. It was a hot, balmy night but, thank heaven, very few mosquitoes. We saw beautiful birds like the lilac-breasted roller, ibis, pied crows, hawks and eagles.
We turned a bend and it was Linda who asked the guide, "Is that a hippo?" as she pointed to what appeared to be some dark round floating pieces of wood in the water. "Yes!" answered the guide and everyone scrambled to get their cameras ready! We got a few good pics of gimongous hippo eyes peering at us just above the water line before they sunk below the surface and disappeared.
Then our guide picked a safe spot to moor (at least we assumed it was fairly safe!) and opened up the cooler to offer us some cold drinks and snacks as we watched the beautiful African sunset - always different, stunning, red and blazing!
Back in time for dinner and an early night......
Until tomorrow.......:)......JT
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