The Big Five
After our first night at Marcs Tree House Camp (where we are housed in a variety of very unique, but nicely outfitted thatched abodes of various styles and sizes), at 7:15 we were offered the first really substantial breakfast of our trip – and oh was it great (bacon, eggs, beans, a variety of cold cereals, juice and good - though instant – coffee, or tea, with at least two containers of milk!). At 8:00 we were loaded into the back of two Viva Safaris Toyota pickup trucks. They offer three rows of stadium style seating complete with seat belts and a shade panel overhead. The top of the pickup is detached so that our guides can provide us with the appropriate info and commentary on the park. The system works very well! We are in 2 vehicles, with 5 other guests (from 
At just after 9:00 we arrived at the Orpen Gate of Kruger National Park
Animals:
- Nyala
- Impala
- African
- Warthog
- Giraffe
- Plains Zebra
- Elephant
- Waterbuck
- Leopard (hind end only, sleeping in a tree)
- Springbok
- Steenbok
- Hippo
- Velvet Monkey
- Lion
- Bushbuck (rodent)
- Kudu
- Leopard Tortoise
- Rabbit
- Baboon
Birds:
- Egyptian Goose
- Fish Eagle
- Crested Francolin
- Kori Bustard (4’ tall and looks prehistoric)
- Round Tail Shrike
- Yellow Billed Horn Bill
- Ostrich
- Vulture
Bongani – driver/guide in one of the vehicles - mimicked the call of a lost water buffalo calf to attract the attention of a lion quite a distance away, whose tail the other driver had seen while driving down the road! He also imparted a variety of interesting facts, which he says he just learned day by day, from living around the Park all his life:
- One Ostrich egg weighs as much as 2 dozen chicken eggs
- Giraffe have 7 vertebrae in their neck, the same as a human
- Giraffe have the largest heart of all animals – necessary to pump blood all the way to the head
- The Giraffe is the only animal that does not make any noticeable sounds
- There are 200,000 Impalas in the park that act as food for predators (though lions generally hunt larger animals)
- Steenbok is smaller than Impala, often seen alone, covers its scat, marks a range of 5 sq. km and is hard to catch because it runs in a zig zag pattern
- One lion will eat 50 – 60 Wildebeest/Zebra per year
- The Giraffe, Zebra, Impala, and Wildebeest are friends and are often seen together: the Zebra eats the tall grass, the Wildebeest the medium, and the Impala the low grass
- There are no feathers on a vulture’s head or neck because it often has to stick its head into a carcass; they have amazing eyesight – up to 80 KM
- The Elephant population is growing because they are prone to no diseases, are confined within the park, and have no predators (though lions will attack the young if they get a chance). They are now over populating the park – 5000 when the park formed and now over 20,000. Average life span is 65 years. Males weigh 5 – 6000 kilograms; tusks are different sizes depending on what the animal uses them for (a la left hand/right hand strength in humans).Males have a larger head which is more square; a female’s head is smaller and more triangular in shape.
- Big Five: Elephant, Water Buffalo, Rhino, Lion, Leopard (why Big Five? Identified by hunters because they are hardest to kill.
- For humans, the most dangerous of the Big Five are the Hippos and the Water Buffalo
- Male Water Buffalo have a u-shaped rack; the female rack is shorter and flatter
- Leopards hunt by ambush; their cousin the Cheetah runs down its prey
- The leopard is the only cat that takes its prey up a tree.
- Birdland Cellphone System: The Bateleur Eagle sites a kill and then circles to check out for predators. Eagles will usually only eat the eyes. The Vulture spots the Eagle soaring (from up to 80 kms away) and arrives on the scene. There are 7 species of vulture of which three have specific functions – can opener – opening up the carcass, organ eater, and cleaner (eating any remaining flesh)
- An Elephant eats for 17 – 18 hours per day however most of the intake is passed through its system; its dung is foraged through by birds looking and helps in the regeneration of plants by spreading seed in this manner
There were a number of very memorable highlights; watching a large herd of Elephants spray and hose each other; having a large bull Elephant cross the road just behind us; and seeing a lioness and lion casually walk down the road right beside us, before crossing to the other side. The last stop of the day was the return to a watering hole where we had originally seen some giraffe and zebra. However, this time just about every animal that we had viewed during the past 6 hours seemed to be in the vicinity (along with a pack of monkeys and a tribe of baboons and even a rabbit! It was an amazing final stop to an almost unbelievable day. Bongani’s sage advice at the beginning of the day was to: “enjoy the experience because you most likely won’t have the chance to do it again, and you can get much better pictures off of the internet”. Regardless, we just couldn’t resist clicking the cameras however it was still and awesome day!
A sampling of the many pictures taken that day include:
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| Rapt Attention |
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| 'The Thinker' babboon |
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| They're certainly not afraid of us... |
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| The Elephant Walk |
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| Very interesting way that Giraffes take a drink... |
