Our Last Game Drive in Kruger

In the afternoon before we left on our last drive.. these little

black faced vervet monkeys came to our "little house". 

They were really nebby!

We got on the truck and left the lodge
but hadn't gone very far when we saw this
thing in the road.  Andrew came to an abrupt
halt and said... wow... look at that.   

What was the big deal?...
Looked like a stick across the road.

But on closer examination it was a string of worms.
or really larvae that were all stuck together... traveling.
When I find out or remember what they are I'll let you know.  As they all traveled together they emitted a line of 
silk like thread... a very fine thread. 

The Bateleur Eagle.

 A bird of prey.

A posing Hornbill 

Funny little guy, huh?

Two more big guys!

 Check out his mouth.... They chew up the grass by pulling their big upper lip over the grass and ripping it off as they pull backwards.

Speaking of backwards....Off they go...

NO BUTTS ABOUT IT!

 This lone wildebeest...

 A very healthy specimen.

 Off to explore!

Yet, another bird i forgot the name of... sorry.

Cute little dwarf mongoose.

 As the evening starts to set it...
these mountains just looked unreal.
Andrew got a call that something great was in another area.
and off we went..... to find HIM!!!

Is he dead?

He's just lying there like he is not alive---
but it's a big male lion!!!  We are sitting just a few feet away from him.

The scene behind him.

Ahhhhhhhhhh...  He picked his head up!   He's alive. 

Andrew drove the truck close...  Bruce says.. wow...
This lion has one blue eye and one yellow one.
To which Andrew said..
 OH... This is the male with one blind eye.

We are with a male lion in the wild.  This is magnificent...

Except for his reddish mane... he blends in totally to his surroundings..
I don't even know how the trackers found him. 

 Just amazing.

So sweet looking for a wild animal.

 He turned to watch the birds....

Sorry... I just couldn't stop taking pictures of him... 

A Giant Acacia

Great profile.

The King starts to watch the sunset.. really...

He looks back at us. 

Yes.... it looked just like this... 

The King... was getting tired... He'd been up now for a while!

Amazing how he is watching the sun..
I wonder what he is thinking.

The red ball behind the tree is the sun going down. 

A close up of the big red ball goin' down. 

And he watches it fall away from the tree and
into the horizon and so do we.
Andrew drives the truck around the other side of him
and we get to see this beautiful side of him. 

 From the top of this head to the tip of his tail.

Totally relaxed.. even with us there right in his face.

He opens up a little.

The next couple of pictures are enhanced...
They give his mane such rich color.
Love the look in his eye.

 He is so contemplative.

 Then suddenly he starts to roar.  I have a wonderful video
of this and I so wish it would copy correctly so you could see it.
He bellowed and bellowed as I videoed and then
he started to wind down slower and slower and his sound
lower and lower.  Then he just collapsed to the ground
and sort of gasped his last hurrah.  It made us all laugh.
It seemed he was even too tired to roar....But when he was roaring he looked so regal.

We were all so excited that we had seen every single animal
we hoped we would see.  I don't know how often this happens to people but we certainly felt extra blessed.
The King was the icing on the cake! 

And at sundown... we stopped for our 

sundowner drinks and treats 

as we continued to hear the lion roar... in the background.

What a trip this has been.... and so much fun to be together with Bob and Elvira.  

We laughed and laughed and laughed!  

Turning around and taking a picture of the
skyline behind us.  

And right after
I took this picture and turned back to the group, Andrew said.
"Did you get the 3 rhinos in the picture?"
What rhinos?
And sure enough there they were in the darkness.
I guess it was ok because they weren't charging us!!!!
Unbelievable.

Could anything be better on this trip?  

Well, the food was just as fantastic as the animals---

well... a close 2nd. 

The chefs at Lukimbi were very talented

and needless to say we enjoyed their culinary gifts!

Andrew and James were wonderful and gave

us such an incredible adventure in just 3 days! 

Ever since I was a little girl and watching

Tarzan movies on Saturday afternoons... I have 

wanted to go on a safari....but truly never dreamed 

I would.  Thank you, Bruce for providing this great 

trip!  Thank you, Bob and Elvira for being and working

in South Africa to even afford us the possibility of coming here.

And most of all I want to thank the Lord for 

creating such beautiful creatures...and for allowing us to 

be so up close and personal with them. 

What an experience!

I wish this opportunity for each of you! 

love,

margie