Into the wild

I woke up at 5h45 on Monday. Looked at my phone and Facebook said: 'it's february 29 today, the next one will be in four years so make it a good day!'
And I did :) First time to the Kruger National Park.
For those who don't really know what it is, it's around 2/3 of Belgium.
The Kruger is a vast sanctuary, devoted to the preservation of wildlife.

For me, a very big animal lover, this was a high light in my life. Having the opportunity to see wildlife the way nature intended it.

I don't like a zoo, animals in cages, way too small for the entertainment of people.
I always said: 'when I have kids, I'm gonna take them to Africa, to see an elephant and a giraffe in it's natural habitat.
Well, as life turned out a little different for me, no kids, I still wanted to see those beautiful animals wild and free, not in small concrete cages!

When we drove in we already spotted buffalo's and zebra's.
I was soooo excited!

What a huge difference to a zoo. In a zoo you walk from cage to cage looking at the sign that tells you what animal is (locked) inside.
Then you say: 'oh yeah, here are the lions, next cage, oh look, a giraffe, next cage...
But now, into the wild, where the animals are wild and free, you look around to spot them. "Aw look a giraffe and right next to it there is an elephant crossing"
Yeah people, in real life, the animals live side by side, not divided by big concrete walls and iron bars.

Sometimes you drive half an hour and don't see any animal, but then all of a sudden, you see warthogs (pumba's) with their babies walking by. On the other side of the road you see impalas (sort of bambi).
Little further there is an elephant going for a mud bath.
I have seen so many animals: elephants, giraffes, wardhogs, buffalo's, eagles, ...
In the late afternoon I even saw a few white rhino's! They are endangered because some ignorant
people think their horn would look good on their wall or it gives them better potential are anything.

By 6pm we went to our lodge and did a braai for dinner.

I was gazing at the stars. It's been almost 6 years ago, from the time I was in Australia that I've seen so many stars.
You could see the milky way.

There I was, in the middle of nature surrounded by wildlife gazing at a million stars.
Seriously, I don't need much more than that. It made me the happiest girl on the planet at that time.

Woke up again at 5am so we could leave around 5h40 when the sun was rising.
Hoping to spot a lion or a leopard. There aren't as many big cats as there are buffalo's or zebra's, unfortunately.
And they aren't very active during the day.
We've seen many animals again. An elephant family with the cutest little 'dumbo's', baby zebra's, monkey's playing.

But one other thing we noticed the last two days. There is hardly any water...
Summertime is supposed to be the wet season. But there has been hardly any rain.
Many rivers are dried out, places where there is supposed to be lots of water at this time of year is completely dry.

It's gonna be a hard winter for the wild life, since that is the dry season and they need water.

It's funny how we in Belgium have too much water at times and dislike the rain, while here they are so happy it rains.
Now I understand why, for the animals, for the plants.

Somewhere in the afternoon we finally found a little water and also found a hippo.
The hippo's especially have it rough. Not a lot of grass because of the drought and hardly water.
We saw one next to the road, getting sunburned and you could tell it was exhausted and in need for water.
It broke my heart. That too is nature, I know. It can be the most beautiful thing in the world, but also the hardest at times.

Before leaving we drove to an overview of this beautiful reserve. There was a little water there!
The last two days are in my top five of most beautiful things in the world I have seen so far.
It's hard to describe the Kruger park in word, beautiful isn't even close to it.
Ok, you know when you watch one those beautiful natures documentaries on national geographic? Well, imagine yourself being in one of those. So pure, so beautiful it's unreal!
It's like pinching myself because it felt like a dream, a good dream

OK, I didn't get to see a lion or hyena or leopard this time, but that only means I have to come back some day ;)

Paw,
Tania

Pumba drinking water behind me :)