We drove east throught the sizzling African heat towards Kruger National Park, the grandaddy of them all. Within minutes of entering the Park gate, we added number 4 to our big 5 - Cape Buffalo - and lots of them.
We continued on to our camp, which as we expected, was just fantastic. Very dry setting with thorn trees, very clean facilities, and the usual swimming pool and bar.
We went out for an evening/night open air drive. As we were in a Kruger vehicle, we could stay one hour after everyone else had left. There was tons of game to be seen, many of the same animals as in Pilanesburg, but in a different setting. We came upon a pride of lions just as it was getting dark, and watched them for a while. Unlike TV, lions usually just sit there resting all the time, but we did get quite close.
After a while we drove off to see what else we could see. As we move ahead, we noticed the lions had stirred behind us, and were lumbering off to hunt. They caught up to our now stopped vehicle, and about 6 of them passed right by our open truck. If you were foolish enough to reach out, you could have almost touched them -they were that close. They walked ahead of us, we now were moving, cameras snapping aways. After a couple of hundred metres, they wandered off the roadway, and into the bush. You cannot imagine how elated we all were - what a thrill!
The only other hightlight after that, was an African Wood Python by our truck which reared up right by our Australian friend Andrea, who is deathly afraid of snakes. The sound she made and the height she jumped was almost as exciting as seeing the lions.
Back at camp, we entertained ourselves by drinking by our campsite, and chasing a poisonous scorpion into our tent area (not my idea!).
And yes, we did sleep well.
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