Days 97 thru 99

(Rhia’s comments are italicized)

Our long trip from Cape Town has finally ended, and we have arrived our home (for five nights), just across the street from Pilanesberg National Park!

Early the next morning we purchased our 4 day pass into the park for only  1120 ZAR. That is about $60. Considering that we were paying more than that per day at Kruger, this is a bargain. Pilanesberg National Park is a wildlife reserve nestled in an extinct volcano northwest of Johannesburg. The park is defined by alternating ridges and valleys forming concentric rings, a geological formation that rises abruptly in the form of hills 980-1,970 ft above the surrounding plains. The park covers 221 sq. miles, and most of the 110 miles of roads are unsurfaced (dirt).

So now for SAFARI TIME!!! Like being by the sea, watching animals in their natural habitat is my happy place so I’m going to make the most of the next few days. The park supports the big 5 game animals as well as hippos, cheetahs, giraffes, zebras, caracals, wildebeest, antelope, wild dogs, brown hyenas, warthogs, jackals, crocodiles, and hundreds of birds. Although the animals aren’t in such abundance here as they were in Kruger, they are certainly showing up for us. And I saw my first white rhino of the trip. White rhino have more of a square jaw whereas the black rhinos’ jaws are more pointy.

So, in the two days we’ve been in the park, we’ve seen 15 white rhinos!!! We were SO excited to see the first one but, though we’re still excited to see them, we only take a photo of we feel it’s a good one! One of the reasons they’re in such abundance here is that their horns are sawn off to stop poachers from killing them! Although I’m saddened to see hornless rhinos, I’d far rather see that than for them to become extinct. I read that rhinos are starting to adapt to their new environment by not growing horns…but I’m not sure how accurate that is!

One of the exciting features that Pilanesburg has to offer are game hides built around popular water holes. These allowed us to get out of the car and stretch out our legs within the safety of fences.

It’s lovely to be able to stretch our legs, but we’re warned not to wander…

Once again, we saw some amazing animals behaviors. One of my favorite was watching a great blue heron catching and preparing its dinner; a catfish.

Though the old reliable elephants stayed far away from us the first day (making it a priority for me to find them on day 2), we did get to see other trusty favorites.

On day two, finding elephants was a priority; and we succeeded!!! Much to my delight, not only did the elephants show up but, once again, they put on a show. We were often a couple of feet away so had a front-row seat for much of their shenanigans.

And, to our delight, we were lucky enough to see another very, very young elephant (days old rather than weeks).

And though we did not get a picture, we did see an elusive cat called a caracal dash across the road. How we knew it was a caracal was because it looked distinctly unlike a lion, leopard, or cheetah (so we are kinda guessing on this one).

For the most part, the traffic through the park is minimal. At most of the sightings, we were the only humans witnessing it, which is a nice change. Even the hides were nice and quiet with never more than four cars parked. I am really enjoying Pilanesburg. Me too; it’s beautiful here…and then, if you add the animals, it’s both beautiful and exciting!