The Big 5 on Safari in Kruger : Part I

Hmm, lets see. Where did we leave off? Oh yes, right after having met Tony Blair and hitting his wife in the face with my duffle bag.

After our interesting flight we landed at Sir Richard Branson's lodge, Ulusaba, where the Blair's were staying. We were picked up and driven to the next lodge over, Exeter River Lodge. Part of the Sabi Sand region within Kruger National Park in South Africa.

On approach we were greeted by some curious giraffes and we were even lucky enough to get to witness one of them drinking water. A rare sight according to our driver.

Giraffe kisses. Awww.

The absence of man-made sound is a shock to the senses in the most wonderful way.

Here we are, Exeter River Lodge! Don't be deceived by the basic frontage, what lies beyond is pure and utter bliss.

The lodge has 13 individual private suites (mini lodges in themselves) with beds like marshmallow fluff and a private plunge pool on the patio.

See? Bliss.

Where can you see all of the Big 5 in one fell swoop? Sabi Sands in Kruger National Park.

What are the Big 5? Lions, African Elephants, Cape Buffalo, Leopard and Rhinoceros. The phrase 'Big 5' was 'coined by big-game hunters and refers to the 5 most difficult animals to hunt on foot in Africa' (via).

Our goal? To see them all before we left in several days time. We didn't have to wait long. Elephants were amass on our first of two daily game drives (one daytime and one nighttime).

Although the Big 5 get most of the notoriety, there are loads of other furries and creepy crawlies hiding in the bush. Snakes for example. Lots of them.

 Not my cup of tea. Our guide had no qualms and scooped this guy up for a closer view.

Not long afterward we found the second of our Big 5, the Cape Buffalo (aka Water Buffalo). He kindly dumped his breakfast right in front of us. I'll spare you that photo and leave you with these instead.

Leaving the scene of the crime.

Followed by a second Tony Blair sighting (the first one).

Back to the lodge for some food, an afternoon nap, and a dip in the pool (rough life). No TV's or modern technologies makes for a perfectly relaxing and peaceful holiday.

Before we can get dried and dressed we're off again for our daily night game drive. What could we possibly see in the dark? A lot actually. A lot of very large, meat-eating night predators.

The Lions certainly did not sleep tonight.

So then comes the obvious question as I'm inching further from the gaping door opening on the side of the truck (i.e. no doors whatsoever). What's to keep these completely wild, untamed animals from eating us?

The answer is disturbingly basic; the open door truck. Over time the animals have become familiar with the shape and smell of the safari trucks. So much so that they don't find the trucks threatening and in most cases, are not even disturbed by them. Hence the very close encounters.

At one point E was face to face with one of these lions when it walked right up to the truck. I've never seen him so scared in my life.

Here's the catch though. The second you set foot outside of the vehicle you are fair game to the animals. The shape and scent of a human standing outside of the truck would be different and alarming to them. Note to self : stay in the truck!

High on adrenaline and excitement we set off back to the lodge to get some shut eye. Really we were so excited we just poured over our photos (and the mini-bar) until we eventually fell asleep.

2 down, 3 to go. But will we see them all? Find out in Part II of our adventure.

PS - In case you missed it, here's the beginning of our South African trip in Capetown and Johannesburg.

Linked up for FFF over at We Took the Road Less Traveled!