Day 6 in South Africa and day 2 (though not a full day, "just" 7 hours) in the Kruger National Park, that meant getting up once more at 4am - zzzzzzzzzzz...
But what a day! The day before had been already impressive but it was nothing compared to today when we got rather close to a pride of lions (even if behind trees as can be seen on the pictures) who had just killed a buffalo the night before and still finishing it off and a male lion walking through the veld.
Quite an experience was also the large number of elephants we saw including one totally taking apart a tree to get to the roots of it, one elephant bull in must (what a smell... not) and a group of elephant mothers with their offspring crossing the street.
But what a day! The day before had been already impressive but it was nothing compared to today when we got rather close to a pride of lions (even if behind trees as can be seen on the pictures) who had just killed a buffalo the night before and still finishing it off and a male lion walking through the veld.
Quite an experience was also the large number of elephants we saw including one totally taking apart a tree to get to the roots of it, one elephant bull in must (what a smell... not) and a group of elephant mothers with their offspring crossing the street.
After the hours in the Kruger National Park we briefly returned to the hotel to then go to Elephant Whispers, an elephant sanctuary, where you can encounter and interact with elephants.
Well that is how it is described on the website.
I am not too keen on such places, elephants certainly belong in their natural surroundings, but since there are actually too many elephants for most reserves to handle (as we were told in the Kruger National Park), the alternative for the elephants, often rescued from private game reserves or other private places, was death, maybe this place is the best solution, even if it felt a bit like being in a circus.
It was nevertheless quite an experience to get so close to such majestic animals being able to touch and brush down them, to learn more about them in general and be reminded again what smart and social animals elephants are!
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| Elephant teeth |
