Africa 22

#GVIfans We started the day super early at 4:15AM to go to Kruger. We had a driver and were riding in a roofed safari vehicle. The trip to the Kruger gate took about 1.5hours and then didn't get into the park until after 8am. We started by seeing a spotted hyena suckling her young on the roadside. She was relaxed and observed her surrounds. A specific pup was curious and came exploring our vehicle. In total we saw 4 mischievous pups. As time went on another hyena family member appeared mum got up and greeted mum and the pups followed.  attached is a giraffe video https://youtu.be/hU7wQ5eG_5A We then went ahead and came across elephants grazing, It was a large herd with mixed ages. Some females had calves that were shorter than the tall grass, this made it extremely hard to get a clear photo. A young male tried to stare our vehicle down as we had propped just before he decided to cross the road, so he thought we were in his way. It was staying a clear warn day with hardly any cloud ...

  #GVIfans We go to town weekly although the groups rotate, so I personally I go to town every two weeks. Town is a very busy day we leave the GVI base at 7 or 7:30am depending upon what the plan is for the day. The day is very full on the first day we started with 4 hrs at a reptile house, there we received an informative lecture on reptiles mainly focusing on snakes and the different types of toxins. We then had a stroll around the park and had a look at the different reptiles which included various, snakes, lizards, turtles, and a couple of crocs. The demonstrator then showed us how the black mamba snake eats and explained how snake moulting works. When snakes undergo moulting their eyes change to a blue tint, there appetite decreases, and they shed a few days later. They are very vulnerable at this stage. We then go for lunch at the marula bar just out of town. The food was very nice. We then get the groceries and snacks we need for the following week. By now it's about 3:30 ...

 #GVIfans We had a lecture on conservation going over the population of animal’s om Karongwe and how they manage the populations so the animals don't breed out of control. Zoe also went over the biomes part of South Africa, there are surprisingly 9 biomes just in South Africa. We looked at different conservation groups and how they work and what their key focus is on.   A tricky concept of hunting came up, there are four styles of hunting Trophy Is an organised hunt with a specific target within a species or herd and the person hunting can take part of the animal back with them once it has been taxidermized. Game This hunt is based upon the quality of the game meat Canned Animals bred in an enclosure to be released to be hunted Culling The animals are killed because the population is getting to big and reducing the productivity of the reserve overall.   I have completed a z...

#GVIfans We had a bright clear morning and headed down south to find the cheetah, today she just popped out of the bushes and walked ahead of us. It was the first time I got a chance to see her, other times she had been deep in the thickets. She walked just ahead of our vehicle and when we stopped, she stopped looked back at us and pretty much said follow me. She ended up walking into the bushes to the right and gradually disappeared. She looked so peaceful as she casually went about her morning stroll. attached is a video:-  https://youtu.be/DA3LQf4EmtQ

#GVIfans The morning was nice and clear not told cold today we saw rhino yippee, I hadn't seen them yet. It was a mother and her calf with another rhino. The rhinos get dehorned every couple of years to hope of deterring poachers. The mother we saw has had two calves when they have the 2nd one they push the older one away so they can give the younger one their full attention. Her first calf has been stubborn and does not want to leave mum she had to physically push it away.   The mother had a terrible cut just under her horn that was weeping. We are unsure at this stage how she got it so Zoe took a video and sent it off to the vet. The rhino looked happy otherwise and were enjoying a good scratch off a flakey bark thorn, these thorns are about 1 inch in length and quite sharp and solid or at least they are for us. The rhinos looked like they were enjoying themselves. We stopped for phuza at pride rock which looks over a section of the reserve, there we spotted some nice flame lil...

#GVIfans Heather took us on a game drive to focus on mega herbivores, we were hoping to see the elephants, giraffe, hippo or rhino. We started with some colourful small birds such as the little bee eater, red back strike as well as a ground bird called the crested franklin. We then moved down the road and found a giraffe posing perfectly for photos, clear skies and green foliage standing side on and then working up along the drive path with us. It was a male giraffe; we know this by not having hair on the turrets near his ears. We also drove by some zebra that were casually out in the open, we just missed the elephants as the lodges have priority over GVI game drives, lodge guests are only here for a few days while GVI peeps are her at least 2 weeks mostly times 1 month. It was getting late, so we started on route to base. Little bee eater Red backed strike Crested franklin   We are driving casually and slowly as we are on a rocky road, we spot a small shadow in the distance and re...