Days 5 and 6

(Dan’s comments are italicized)

I can’t believe we’re back in Pilanesberg; and what a difference some rain makes! Last year marked the third year of drought so the grass was low and animals could always be found near the limited water spots. This year, the place is verdant and the grass is high.

Knowing that it would be more of a challenge to find and see animals, we beelined it to one of our favorite little lakes here knowing that we could count on the hippo; and they didn’t let us down!

Pretty soon our old faithfuls, the rhinos and impalas, showed up. It’s absolutely beautiful here this year…so much so that it almost pulls you into a false sense of security inasmuch as you feel like taking a hike or having a picnic!

But, when you round the next corner and run into some sparring elephants, you’re abruptly knocked back into reality!

We saw birds here last year, but this year they’re bountiful. Birds are Dan’s area of expertise so I won’t try to feign knowledge in the area. I will comment, however, that I’m playing around with my new camera so some backgrounds will look (intentionally) fuzzy, some sharp, some like water colors and so on. It’ll be interesting to see how I progress during this trip… assuming, of course, that I actually will progress (😂 I thought I’d get that in before Dan had a chance to 😂) No digs, we are both busy learning how to use the intensely advanced piece of technology. Birdwise, their songs fill the air morning, noon, and night; in the park and out. The birds in these pictures are of the ones that patiently waited for us to flip switches, select settings , and push buttons to hopefully take a focused, un-washed out image. There were many more that lacked patience, and I hope we learn the skills to capture their pictures as well

Although we’ve seen plenty of elephants, and herds at a distance, we’ve yet to see a herd close up.

Conversely, the rhinos seem to want to snuggle up with us. Many of you commented last year on how thin they were; as you can see, that is no longer an issue!

Perhaps because of ease of passage, many animals seem to like walking on the dirt road. In fact, we were in a slow-moving parade with an elephant earlier today…

…for a very…

…very long time!

After a while we saw a huge boulder ahead…

…but it turned out to be another elephant…

…so our parade buddy had to greet him…

…and play-fight with him.

Then, we were in a slow-moving parade with TWO elephants…

…for a very…

…very long time! We’re actually not complaining at all as there was something exciting about being part of a slow-moving elephant parade that was witnessed by no-one.

Shortly afterwards, we were in a slow-moving rhino parade but, sadly, this didn’t last long.

Interestingly, most of the animals we’ve seen so far have been alone or in pairs…

…but the more elusive they are, the more exciting it is to spend time with them. I’ve also had the opportunity to play with my new camera.

I think my favorite photo as yet is of a zebra as this gorgeous animal stood still for me to fiddle with my ISO, aperture, and other mind-blowing stuff that cameras do today, for me to get closer and closer photos of her.

When I zoomed in on the eye from the last photo, I was ecstatic to see the reflection of our teeny-tiny, white rental car in her eye. So, of course, I had to take a photo of it 😂

Unfortunately, we only have our phones to process images, which is surprisingly sub-par when it comes to editing these pictures. We could not see the reflection in the eye when displaying the image in google photos, so we had to take a picture of the camera‘s screen to show you the clarity.