Having an open-air truck was nice because we had an unobstructed view. Every time I looked at our driver, Daan (the white one), I couldn't stop thinking about how much he looked like my uncle Dean! Our spotter (can't remember his name at the moment) was excellent and thanks to him we got to see some stuff that isn't normal... like a cirvil (sp?) which is like a mini cheetah.
The ostriches really liked to hang out on the airstrip. I thought they were funny to watch.
This is a sounder of warthogs... they were really cute and kept running in a pack along the road.
We thought we hit jackpot when we saw this jackal and the bird in the tree one morning. The bird looked like a vulture (but we found out it was a strangely colored Eagle) and we thought we were in for a kill... we could hear lions in the distance. That didn't turn out to be the case, but it was a neat sighting anyways.
There were tons of giraffes everywhere in the park. They're graceful and gorgeous and they were one of my favorite things to see. We were always able to get pretty close and they made me think of Trevon. One evening after our snack break, we were able to see several giraffes drinking from a waterhole... a very neat experience because they have to spread their legs out wide in order to be able to get low enough to drink -- unfortunately the lighting wasn't right for pictures.
Our elephant sighting was pretty neat as well, because we were able to drive right up in the middle of the herd. One of them put its trunk within a few inches of my face... it was a little scary. They're huge animals and I don't think pictures do them justice.
Our hippo sighting left something to be desired... they don't come out of the water much except for at night when they're feeding. They're massive animals though, and just watching them lounge in the water was quite entertaining.
We got to see this praying mantis spinning its cacoon... the guides said it's not a typical thing to get to spot.
The buffalo were amazing as well. We drove up really close to a whole herd of them on our first drive and it was cool to be so close to such huge animals.
The zebras were scattered throughout the reserve, always proving to be quite the eye candy. I never got tired of looking at them... they all look different and uniquely beautiful.
Wildebeest were also quite common, sometimes termed "poor man's buffalo" they're very skiddish and when we were on a walk one evening they ran away from us, as if we posed a real threat.
The lions were obviously one of the most exciting animals to see. We came across several of them napping in the afternoon (they're generally only active at night and in the morning) but they got up to play for a few minutes when one came closer to the other members of the pride.
We got really lucky with cheetah, having three separate sightings. This was the only one that was really suitable to pictures, and even still it was difficult to get good ones. They're amazingly beautiful and graceful animals. I could have watched them for hours.
It was definitely a million times different seeing all these animals in a reserve vs. a zoo. Yes, a reserve is still controlled somewhat and it's not like they're just living out in the wild, but it's pretty close. All of the animals there were self-sustaining and the ecosystem balances itself out. We did get to see rhinos, but it was at night with a spotlight so I didn't get any pictures. It was an absolutely amazing experience... hope you enjoyed the pictures. I have a couple hundred more, so I'm sure you'll be able to see more if you're interested!!
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