Here Kitty Kitty!

We arrived in the Sabi Sands Reserve on the outskirts of the Kruger National Park via a small aircraft to a private airstrip at the Londolozi Resort.  It was about 5:30 just as last rays of daylight were lighting the sky.  Our guide, Rex told us to hurry up and get in our open air vehicle because they had spotted a leopard crossing the runway right before we landed.  We climbed into the car and took off down the dirt road.  He stopped and pointed to the leopard, his spots perfectly camouflaged him in the grass.  He was magnificent!  He didn't seem to be bothered by our presence and just lounged in the grass.

Leopard

He did give us a big yawn to show off his enormous canines!  The pattern of his coat was beautiful, nature has a way with design!

Yawning Leopard

As I said previously we drove in open vehicles and to may utter horror the brush was filled with the webs of Golden Orb and Red-Banded Spiders spanning the road ways.  We sat in the last seat which was the highest seat in the car. . .the guide would try to split the web but sometime the GIANT spider would be flying towards our head!  I almost gave myself a concussion getting my head down into Jeanna's lap barely missing the metal railing!  (Janet, I feel your pain :-) )  These spiders are between 3 and 6 inches in length. . .the guide assured me I would not die if I was bitten, I did not believe him!

Golden Orb Spider

The elephants aways fascinate me and I cannot wait until Thailand to get a chance for an up close and personal experience with them.  These beasts are huge and they can knock down a fairly good size tree in a second if they decide to charge.

Elephant

We also got to see a few white rhinos.  These differ from the the black rhinos that we saw in the Serengeti because they have a very wide month.  The name "white" rhino was given because whoever heard the name thought they said "white" not "wide"!  Rhinos are fascinating with their wide girth narrowing to a little butt on one end and the long horn on the other!

White Rhino

Zebras show off some of nature's finest pattern contrasts!  Each individual zebra has their own "fingerprint" pattern.  This young zebra is nursing from his mother.

Nursing Zebra

Okay, that was the last animal I actually saw on this trip.  The rest of the photos were taken by Jeanna on the afternoon/evening safari ride, I spent the day sick in bed.  I do not know what happened but I got a horrible cough and cold like symptoms along with a nice fever!  I did get lunch and dinner in bed but did not get to see anymore of South Africa.  I will make up the rest of the narrative :-)

Giraffe

This is a male giraffe, he has the bigger horns on the top of his head.  Giraffes also have a unique pattern to individuals.  Below is an owl that appeared right after a man in the car said "Do you have owls in Africa?".  Jeanna said that was a bit oogy woogy for her!

Owl

I am sad that I miss seeing the male lion, King of the Jungle and all.  Jeanna said he was splendid and did yawn a couple of times to show his pearly whites!

Lion

Elephant

I have to admit that our lodging was of the utmost luxury!  We had a deck overlooking the countryside, our own plunge pool. double sinks, a bath tub, walk-in shower, and air conditioning!  Sorry to Paula and all the nieces and nephews. . .I thought we had it good at the camps in the Serengeti. . . I guess maybe we had it good but here it was spectacular!

Deck outside our room

This was where had our breakfast and lunch.  The tree growing out of the deck was the tree that the Vardy family first saw when they decided to set up camp in the early 1900's!

Dining Veranda

We both have a deep love for Africa and I know we will visit again soon!