Kruger....the kids will like this post!

As promised, pictures of Kruger, or rather the animals of Kruger. We spent one 10 hour day driving a tiny sliver of the park and were lucky enough to see twenty different animals and fourteen different species of birds. It was a pretty amazing place!
One of the first of the Big Five, as they call it, that we saw was the elephant. We saw quite a few of them, but this sighting pictured below was our first and most impressive. Such a HUGE creature!

- Zebras are fairly common in the park, here's a few of the closer ones we saw.

- Impala were absolutely everywhere! You couldn't go ten feet without seeing any number of impala. You start to get tired of them, but after a close look they are actually quite beautiful.

- Water buffalo are one of the Big Five. We were lucky to get a tip on where they were hiding and got to see them at a close range. Their strange "helmet" of horns was more unusual looking than I had pictured.

- On the smaller side of things, we had a chance encounter with two dung beetles that were pushing this ball of poop across the road. They were determined! At one point one fell off and landed on its back and couldn't right itself for some time.....I'm sure he eventually figured it out.

- We didn't get a whole lot of good bird pictures. However, this was a fun sighting of a Marabou Stork. They are funny looking things and probably over three feet tall! Animals are so strange......pretty cool what variety there is in the world.

- This is one of my favorite pictures. Lewis took it while briefly stopped at a picnic area. The little devil looks so pristine, but in reality he was pestering people at their tables and digging through the refuse left in trash barrels. We also had them all over the lodge that we stayed at in Hazyview. Lewis and I almost got attacked one evening while we were walking because they thought the light grey sweatshirt Lewis was holding in his hand was instead a fellow monkey that we had captured. That is, at least, what the grounds keeper told us who drove by right as we were being rushed by a monkey troop. Eeeek!

- This guy on the other hand was hilarious. We found him on the side of the road in Kruger. Once we stopped to stare at him, he plopped down, took stance and stared right back at us. Meanwhile, he was also not shy about relieving himself. We finally got bored and drove off, while he continued hanging out.

- These are mongoose. Tiny little things, but interesting to watch.

- The gnarly looking warthog. We saw a number of them, but this guy was the most rugged looking.

- Another chance encounter. We were told to turn down the next road to look for the tailless elephant and instead found hyenas! We saw a few different ones, but this mother and her baby were just laying in the ditch on the side of the road. She didn't seem very concerned that we were there. Hyenas are super funny looking when they are standing.

- Giraffe! It was definitely a favorite. We saw a ton of giraffe. They were easy to spot, no pun intended :) it was interesting to see them in herds. At one point we saw around 10 together. They were also unconcerned by our presence and continued their strange but gentle lumber-glide across the road in front of us. At one point we saw two at a watering hole drinking. In order to get their heads down such a distance they were forced to splay their front legs out WIDE while awkwardly bending their knees. It looked like it hurt.

- Giraffe, guinea fowl and impala.

- It was almost time to leave, the park gates close at 6:30, and we were anxious to see a rhino. It was common to see the grouping of cars, stopped in the middle of the road to stare at whatever is in the bush, before you see the animals themselves. We had 20 kilometers to go and had all but given up on the rhinos when we saw tail lights. Score! Just 30 feet to our right were a rhino and her baby feeding.

- We had seen a few other lions earlier in the day, but all at a distance or through a heavily obstructed view. Just as we were coming off our rhino high and about to leave the park we saw this guy! He was laying all but 10 feet to the side of the road. What is it with animals in Kruger just laying on the side of the road! Despite the annoyingly inconsiderate long line of cars that took their good old time to stop and take pictures, we finally got close enough to really see him, get a photo and rush for the gate to make it there by 6:30 before it locked us in.

- It was a successful day at the park. It's almost our backyard, so come visit!!!!! Once in a lifetime opportunity :)

And for a total list, I wrote them all down, of the animals and birds spotted, view below:

* Lions

* Giraffe

* Hippo

* Water Buffalo

* Baboon

* Impala

* Crocodile

* Elephant

* Monitor Lizard

* Common Duiker (a very tiny deer)

* Bushbuck

* Kudu (another type of deer)

* Leopard TORTOISE (we really hoped to see a real leopard)

* Spotted Hyena

* Waterbuck

* Wildebeest

* Warthog

* White Rhino

* Wild Dogs

* Mongoose

BIRDS - yes I had my bird book with me :)

* Marabou Stork

* African Fish Eagle

* Southern Ground Hornbill

* Magpie Shrike

* Blue Waxbill

* Red-billed Oxpecker

* Blacksmith Lapwing

* Egyptian Goose

* Brown Snke Eagle

* Red-billed Hornbill

* Guinea Fowl

* Crowned Lapwing

* Weavers

* Black-bellied Bustard

(Only my mom and dad will probably care about the bird list :)