RIP Sudan the last male Northern White Rhino in the world. 

​Not ashamed to tell you I cried like a baby at this news. So devastating that as a species we are so responsible for such horrid decimation of the world around us. 

The pic above is a Southern White Rhino that we saw on dusk at Ado Elephant National Park in South Africa. Our driver was beside himself as he hadn't seen a white rhino in 7 years and he is in the park 4 days a week. 

Consider supporting anything that helps to aid in wildlife conservation, but today, PLEASE consider a one off donation to any reputable Rhino fund. Make the decision on which fund you feel comfortable with, but here are a few options. 

http://www.awf.org/
https://www.savetherhino.org/
http://www.theaustralianrhinoproject.org/index.php​

After a day doing the panorama route we had to drive through the park to exit the other side which was in itself a 3 hour drive. Kruger is huge but you realise just how big when you have to drive 3 hours to get out another gate.

We were in our Nomad truck this time and didn't really expect to see anything too much. We were just driving through and after our first game drive, it felt as if being on the main bitumen road thorugh the park our chances of seeing any real game up close wouldn't be strong. 

Just to prove us wrong within the first hour we had seen a whole herd of Giraffes and quite close. Zebra's followed, some eagles and finally Zanelli came to a screetching halt (not really I said that for dramatisation purposes) when Lorraine spotted 3 Rhino's about 100 metres off the road. We were so impressed that we had finally got to see Rhino's so close. Z turned off the truck and we just sat watching them graze. It was family unit. Mum, dad and baby. Lorraine estimated the baby to be 5-6 months old. He was clearly young but not super tiny. 

They were amazing. They also got closer. And closer. And closer, until they decided to cross the road directly behind our truck. Mum lead the way (or it could have been dad - I'm not exactly the Rhino expert), closely followed by junior with Dad bringing up the rear. Mum sauntered across the road stopping on the opposite side to wait for junior who decided he must investigate this HUGE white thing stuck in the middle of the road. After sniffing us and checking us out, he decided we were the perfect scratching post and decided to sharpen his horn on our bumper. Then on the corner of the truck and then under the truck. HOW FRIGGIN AMAZING! Here we are sitting on the road in Kruger NP with two fully grown Rhino's a meter away from us and a baby rhino shaking our truck with his scratching. Now we've really seen the big 5! It was incredible.

The smiles all around were stunning and I'm fairly sure there were more than a few tears shed. To have that experience with an animal that can be so very dangerous, that is also so very private was something I will never forget. 

KRUGER DID NOT DISAPPOINT.

​The Big 5, The Small 5 and The Ugly 5

Kruger National Park was very high on my bucket list. I know its the major park in South Africa and because of that a few people advised me not to go. They suggested that it was over developed and my chances of seeing any animals was slim. Weirdly a few people who told me that hadn't actually been to the park which was a bit strange I thought, but you always have that element of people who have an opinion based not entirely on fact. As you all know I like to make my own judgements so having Kruger on the itinerary of my Nomad truck adventure was a decent sized draw card.

Kruger did not disappoint.

Over our camp fire the night before our first game drive, we all went around the group and said what we were hoping to see the next day. I think there was 14 of us and 12 said Lions. Of course - you are coming to Africa you want to see a lion. Zanelli our driver very nicely, but firmly, told us all that our chances of seeing a lion was not good. A month before we arrived Kruger had experienced a very good week of rain, which meant everything was green and the grasses were high and thick. Lions love to settle themselves into the grasses and rest during the daylight hours, so Zanelli was trying to lessen our expectations for the day. There were some disappointed faces around that fire let me tell you. 

I said I wanted to see a running giraffe. I love elephants and felt really confident that we would see some. I almost feel that I have a weird connection to elephants and subsequently often feel like we see them because they know that. I'm weird I know, but we always seem to see them everywhere we go and I like to think its because they know how I feel about them. Wanting to see a running giraffe was mostly becuase I felt that would make me feel like I really was in Africa. When I was a child I thought that giraffes were spindly and feeble but thanks to Richard Attenborough, I now know Giraffes are incredibly strong, and I wanted to see that for myself.

We wouldn't have been in our truck for 10 minutes when we take a left on to what can only be described as a rutted track. Our driver completely ignores the "No Entry" sign and drives right over the chain. I immediatley thought "I like this guy". Down the bumpy track we go, all of us scanning, scanning, when the driver brakes hard and then reverses even harder. By the time he gets his binoculars up to his face we realise we are looking for lions. Accross the grasses there is a large rocky outcrop and to the naked eye it seems there are two brown rocks on top of the sandstone. They are however LIONS! As soon as I get my camera to my eye and into focus its clear they are both males and are settled in for a very busy morning of sunbaking on the rocks. I can see their manes blowing in the breeze and a huge yawn from one of them before he collapses on to the warm rock. 10 mins in and we have seen two lions!

Kruger did not disappoint.

We are all grinning like kids with candy, and after about 10 minutes and what must have been hundreds of photos, we proceed further into the park for more game hunting. Over the course of the morning we saw a few lone male elephants, some very close. One we had to wait on to cross the road. Zebra's followed, then wildebeast, then buffalo's and finally Giraffe's. None running but girrafes none the less. 

We spent our lunch hour excitedly chatting about how we had seen not only 3 of the big 5, but the zebra's and giraffes as well. We were feeling very very lucky and eagerly jumped back into our jeep for round two. 

We leave the lunch spot and less than 5 minutes into our second drive for the day our driver is called by another and told of another lion sighting. Its less than a few minutes from where we are so we immediatley head for that area. There was maybe 10 jeeps and a few private cars milling around the roadside and even though we knew there was a lion somewhere on our left, it was quite challenging to spot. I managed to spot him under the tree, mostly becuase I could see his breathing. I was looking in exactly the right spot when he had a big sigh so I saw the movement and then could quite eaily make him out. Without that movement though - no chance. He was very close to the road, maybe 2-3 metres away but even then at least half of our group never made him out. I feel very fortunate that I was just looking in the right place at the right time and saw him otherwise I would also have never been able to make him out in the shade of the trees. I wouldn't like to be an Impala here. You would never know where the next attack might come from. As we crept past our guide spotted his kill on the right hand side. A full grown giraffe. They had brought it down overnight or in the early hours of the morning most likely, and she was just sitting, close to her kill, resting after the exertion of the hunt. A few of my truck mates were horrified but I felt and still feel very privalaged to have seen something so African. A lioness and her kill within a few metres of me. 

Kruger did not disappoint.

We drove off from the lioness and were slowly cruising the dirt track scanning both sides as you learn to do when BAM! - A leopard just steps out in front of us and saunters down the road, tail swishing seemingly unconcered we were even there.

OMG - a leopard is so hard to see and here was one a few meters in front of us wandering along like its out for its midday stroll. He only walked a few hundred meters and then turned back into the bush but that few hundred meteres was pure bliss for us. Our driver was so excited. To see someone who does this every day be so impressed makes you feel even more fortunate. 

Kruger did not disappoint.

3pm rolled around and we had yet to see any Rhino's. The poaching is horrific inside the park which is heartbreaking, however when someone pays you something it would take you 5 years to earn just to tell them where the last sighting was, I guess that's a decision you make for your family. It's hard to explain to someone who earns so little that without the Rhino, the park doesn't have such a high draw card and they will be unemployed, as will their wife, their cousins and their neighbours. It can't be easy to correlate everyone working with the exhorbitant amount (which to these people it is) you get for doing something that seems relatively innocent. The poaching is relentless and brutal, so much so that Rhino spottings are not reported anywhere in the park (all other sightings are fequently posted), rangers aren't allowed to talk about Rhino over the radio and even our drivers use code that is changed regularly to communicate between themselves to enable other groups to see Rhino's if they are spotted.

Our driver spotted a few in the distance but even at the extent of my zoom they seem like big grey rocks. We did see them though so were feeling pretty special. We managed to spot a family of wild dogs, hyena's, some beautiful birds, an eagle having lunch, some tortoises, more elephants (see I told you!), more Zebra's and Giraffes, some very close buffalo's and even a crocodile. We were so impressed that we had ticked off the big 5, most of the small 5 and a good chunk of the ugly 5. We all went home feeling very impressed with Kruger. The big 5. We saw them all. Incredible. Truly incredible.

Kruger did not disappoint.

Our final game drive was in the evening of the next day. Sadly we didn't see too much once the sun went down but we spent the sunset on a causeway overlooking a waterhole with about 10 hippo's. They are so cute, its so hard to imagine they are so dangerous. Like the Rhino, they can reach speeds of 40km per hour which has to be hard to stop! They stay in the water all day and then at dusk start to get really playful and chatty amoungst themselves before leaving the water to walk up to 20-30 kms for food. That is why they are responsible for so many deaths. They leave the water (which is their safe place) at dusk when the villagers are heading to get water from the same source. If you get between a hippo and the water that is bad news. If they get frightened they want to get back into the water as quickly as possible and if you are between them and their destination - you are a threat. A big one. One they will kill. 

Watching the sun set to the sounds of hippo's calling was one of the best things I've ever experienced. Sadly photos are hard because of the fading light, and the fact that you don't want to be too close, but just having them there for the stunning African sunset was amazing.

Kruger did not disappoint.

What are the big 5?
Lion
Leopard
Elephant
Buffalo
Rhino

What are the small 5?
Leopard Tortoise
Rhino Beetle
Lion Ant
Elephant Shrews
Buffalo Weavers (birds)


What are the ugly 5?
Hyena
Marabou stork
Vulture
Wildebeest
Warthog.

We stayed: Nkambeni Reserve, Nambi Gate ​