5 September 2013 Thursday
Our guides told us some animals come out only at night. We were to set off early in hope to see them. After very early breakfast, we were off in safari vehicle. The time was just before 0700 hrs. It was quiet and light misty.
It was not that early after all.
First encounter of the day…No 3 of the Big 5.
Our jeep came near a group of deer. The driver off the engine and we watched.
A birdie chipping loudly and the deer turned back…
further ahead….a bigger group of zebras…
zoomed in on zebra
another cousin of deer… has a white round ring around the tail…
We had tea break at handicraft center. Varieties of handicraft works
We had some hot coffee , while waiting for the part II of Safari.
Setting off
The driver pointed to our destination….the basin lake ahead. He said many animals were there for water.
The basin …
closed in on the animal.
zoomed in on wild boar
Interesting way of bending down…
Next to the flat basin is a small lake. Deer and boars by the lake.
we saw two black dots and shortly two hippo emerged.
Zebra at the near bank.
Zoomed in on the zebra
We noticed buffaloes came from behind the bush, down the slope
They came heads on in front of our vehicles…
zoomed in..
Fortunately, they did not charged towards our vehicle. They were out for water.
On our way back to Sun City…. one of the buffalo came in front of our vehicle…
Then we noticed zebras came from behind us…. suddenly we were surrounded or were we going to see confrontation between animals.
More zebras in sight…. we watched with high expectation.
and a sigh of relief or disappointment
Back at Sun City, we had Nandos Lunch. Again the chicken taste superb. Much better than those in Malaysia and Singapore. This is followed by Magnum. They had much wide range of selection. (at this point of writing, these are all available in Singapore and Malaysia)
after lunch, we visited this secluded section of Sun City.
Bounded by spectacular landscaping.
Our pictures…
At 1600 hrs, we were off again into the national park.
The driver told us we were entering area where lion frequent. There would be significantly less of those animals we saw in the morning. Indeed we saw only two elephants…
and few giraffes.
This giraffe looked very skiny and…. what was on the giraffe neck!
It was almost 45 minutes drive that the driver finally found sign of lion.
We zoomed in…
While we tried to zoom in and see the lion….another lion appeared from another side of our vehicle. (4th animal in the big 5 List)
We asked the driver to close in on the lion. He claimed that he was not allowed to drive off the road. If he was caught, he would be out of job. He then proposed to bring us into the park after 1900 hrs to have a closed up on the lion.
1915 hrs…. at the park entrance
Boarding the vehicle…
It was nearly 30 minutes drive that we arrived at the site where we saw the lion. The lion family looked at us with curiosity.
then continued with their dinner…
We were back to Sun City around 2100 hrs, feeling very satisfied and very grateful to the driver who drove us into the national park for the night safari. Overall we had very enjoyable and memorable moment at Pilansberg National Park. An unforgettable experience !
6 September 2013 Friday.
We woke up a little late this morning. After breakfast, we checked out at 10 am. It was another two and half hours drive to Johannesburg Airport. Had more chicken meal at Mugg and Bean at the airport before our flight took off at 1530 hrs.
We had wonderful time at many attractions – Victoria Fall, Table Mountain, Carnivores Dinner, Voortrekker Monument, Victoria Wharf, 12 Apostles ….
The visit to Hector Pieterson Museum and the scene I saw when I looked back from our train ride had generated many thought within me.
I had what I wanted ….. my vuvuzela and Tanzanite.
And we had two full day safari session. We were very satisfied with close up sighting and encounter with animals (we seen 4 of the Big 5), not missing out the seal at seal island and penguins at Boulder beach …. it was as if living in National Geographic video.
It had come to a time to say Bye Bye South Africa, the music Waka Waka – It’s time for Africa still lingers on.
Bye Bye Cape of Good Hope….we will carried with us Good Hope and Good Faith till one day we are back here to renew our Good Hope and Good Faith.
Return to : South Africa Safari Day 7
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