Big Five!

What can I say – we saw all the Big Five on our very first game drive! An early start at 5.30 am sees us rugged up in layers of clothing; but our open safari vehicles, also provided blankets, which were put to good use. Within 30 minutes we spotted the first of our Big Five – buffalo, followed by lots of Impala grazing, and then the remains of an Impala that a leopard has just killed.

During the course of the morning we sighted Burchell zebras, chacma baboons, vervet monkeys, warthog, steenboks, gemsboks, guineafowl and a leopard, reclining in the branches of a sycamore tree.

Then a radioed sighting of a pride of lions saw us tearing off in another direction and en route we passed some very large Kudu antelope grazing close to the road. We then encountered hippos on the riverbank, crocodiles, waterbuck and also saw the quite rare Klipspringers on a small rocky outcrop.

Next to be ticked off our Big Five list was elephant, and sure enough, we got really close to several of these magnificent creatures – some with their babies, but we had to move on, as mother was getting a little anxious and our driver said she may have charged the vehicle.

Late afternoon saw us travelling down some very dusty tracks and we were soon to spot some white rhino close to the road edge – very exciting. This then completed the Big Five for us – leopard, lion, elephant, buffalo and rhino.