Day 6

2nd safari - early rise, slower go, much of the same, plus baby warthogs, baby giraffe 2 days old, baby wildebeest, rhino, lions resting, hippos, baboons
Spa

First full night of sleep and both Eric and I woke up before the 5am wake up call. Groggy in the eyes but excited and full of anticipation for the day ahead. Shower, sh%#, and shave? Nope, not today. Coffee, throw on yesterday's clothes and make a quick Skype call as scheduled to say hello to friends and family and provide a condensed update of how things have gone so far. You know things are different when both eric and i we grab a shirt, smell it and see if its still good to wear and head out. Feels like we have enough to fill a book already and yet it's only been a few short days. Pinch me, is this for real? Ok, ready to go? Hat -check, suntan lotion - check, camera- double check. Lets Go!

Off to our jeep. Reminiscent of the jeep at Disney on the Indiana jones ride but for real! We left our breakfast buffet early so we could be the first ones but one of nice ladies from the safari the night before beat us to it. Off we go.

We thought by being the first jeep out it was sure to guarantee us the best morning animal sightings. We heard that the day earlier there was a pride of lions who had a recent kill in the open and everyone got pictures of the perfect national geographic shots of the lions in their rawest form. Instead we drove around searching... Ah more warthogs. So cute. Ahh- some impalla's. look baboons off in the distance. Drive on. More warthogs, impalla's. I feel a little bit bad because I stopped taking pictures. Ok I noticed the lovely Asian girl in the back seat curling up with her eyes closed. Oh, Eric is nodding off. Did we get the best of it the night before? Did we peak already? Nobody is saying it but I think we're all wondering if this morning's run is going to be anticlimactic.

Then, we turn another corner. There sits in a pond of water about 50 water buffalo. Pretty cool. Staring at them for 20 minutes I quickly conclude they are the cows of Africa. Pretty low key, don't care about what's happening around them. Blank stares in their eyes of "duh... ". I want to run over and do some water buffalo tipping but I think I'll hold off since these cows have horns. We carry on...

A water buffalo in the distance. Beautiful Pond. Gorgeous background of what we all imagine africa to be. A giraffe stands on the left side of the road as we move along the red dirt road. The guide stops and shuts down the engine. He tells us, in his slightly zulu accented way- watch, the giraffe will go and get a drink. Just as he says it the giraffe slowly saunters across the road in his careful and select manner. So majestic and confident. He ( I think ) makes his way to the waters edge, spreads his legs slightly and bends down for some water. They can only bend down for a few seconds before having to raise their head and get the blood flowing again. We tried desperately to get a photo of him shaking his head with water spewing, but didn't quite catch it.
We continued further without much to report except other safari vehicles doing much of the same. The rangers seem to radio with each other and share areas they have explored to try to find the best sightings. We went tracking through the bush once again,inI hopes of finding the elephants, but to no avail. Beth, as we now call Bethwell, suggested we venture of to another corner of the reserve to the ever reliable pair of female rhinos. Along the way we spot a baby giraffe on the side of the road. Beth tells us that she's only two days old, as evidenced by the umbilical chord still hanging from her belly! We continue on, the road opens up into a vast plain, and it's spotted with an assortment of monkeys, more African cows, and a group of water buffalo, including a few fresh babies! Off in the distance we spot the rhinos, grazing at the far corner of a field. Even at a few kilometres away, they are massive! Absolutely stunning! I don't kow what else to say! We have to approach cautiously, as they are very territorial, and may charge. Judging by the size of their horn, I don't think that's something you want to get too close to! We spent quite a while in the middle of the plain just appreciation the wonders before us, taking photos, and slowly making our way towards the ravine on the edge.
As we make our way through the ravine, we are commenting that the only things we haven't seen yet are hyena, lions, and hippos. No sooner do we comment than we come across a large pond with hippos hanging out, and slowly poking their heads out of the water. As we continue down the road, suddenly Richard is pointing and Beth is making a b-line for a small strand of trees. Underneath a large tree is a pride of lionesses and their cubs. Oh my F&$)ING goodness!!! OMG OMG OMG! It was enough to bring a few of us guys to tears! We pulled up about 10 feet away. The lovely kitties didn't even move. The Mummas position themselves around the cubs to protect them, and they all rest from the heat of the day. They couldn't even be bothered that we were there. There was a little cub that had his stuck in the crook of a tree and kept moving around. And, one of the mummas raised her head to check us out. We got some good shots and were so excited about seeing them. Will write more about this day later. For now, here's some pics.