Today was our last day in the park, and by adding lions to our list of animals seen, we were lacking just the leopard to complete the "Big 5." It was our mission today to spot a leopard, no matter how far away in a tree. Given that we had a very long distance to tonight's hotel (north part of park only miles from Mozambique and Zimbabwe), we decided to start at 6am and hopefully spot a leopard coming in after a night's hunt. This strategy paid up immediately! Within 5 minutes of leaving camp, there were about 8 cars blocking the road. We patiently pulled up, knowing we had a cat of some type. Before we knew it, a spotted leopard walked right by our car, and just like that, disappeared into the bush. For all of us, it was a highlight of the trip. Of all the animals we've seen, it was by far the prettiest and most graceful. And quite rare to see when in Kruger Park.
At this point, we didn't really care what we saw. But the list was rather prolific today.
Birds: Hornbill, African Eagles, vultures, guinea fowl
Antelope: Impala, Waterbuck, wildabeest, duiker, steenbock, kudu
Other animals: Leopard, Jackal, Giraffe, monkey, wild dogs, warthogs, zebra (Disco Donkeys, as Eugene likes to call them), elephants, chamelion, crocodiles, baboons
The other highlight of the day was seeing wild dogs. Spotted like a hyena (but taller), wild dogs are some of the rarest animals on the planet. There are only 4 places in the world that have wild dogs, and Kruger is home to only 300. We were lucky enough to come across 10 that were crossing the road and apparently looking for trouble.
The other highlight (for Terri) was when I spot a window bock. I should start by telling you that "bock" is Afrikaans for any type of deer or antelope. As I spotted a giraffe I was obviously quite fond of, I immediately lunged to put my head and camera out the window to secure the perfect shot. One problem. Window was up. With a force that should have shattered a pane glass window, the sound of my cranium bouncing off the tinted glass was music to Terri's, Eugene's, and Laura's ears. All I could exclaim was, "Uhhh... Window Bock." And yes. I got the shot.
Tonight's housing was a fantastic B+B in the town of Phalabora. Owned and operated by Honey, this place was the nicest room we've had on the trip yet. Again with grass ceilings and roofs, our room was modernized to even US standards, with a wall mounted TV/DVD Player, fancy artwork, stone floors, and a canopy bed fully equipped with mosquito nets. Dinner was filet at "The Buffalo" and our last moments in the Kruger were spent watching the sun drop over the bush. We couldn't ask for more out of Kruger and our capable guides.
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