The Big Five

There are five major animals that everyone on safari hopes to see:  elephants, rhinos, buffalo, lions and leopards.  And we have one group of us which has seen all five already!!  This is a pretty big deal, as several of these animals are very difficult to spot.  In fact, it is usually the big cats that are a challenge to find, as they are most active at dusk and dawn, when it is particularly challenging to see them, and the window of opportunity is small.  The rhino is also difficult to find, especially the black rhino--estimates are that there are only 300 in this whole giant park.  There are several thousand white rhinos, although they are also relatively difficult to spot.  And we managed to see a black rhino as the first major animal we spotted last night, and only minutes later, two white rhinos!  And then, pretty early this morning, we saw lions.  It has been an amazing and lucky visit so far.  The funny thing is that buffalo, which are relatively common in Kruger Park, have been very elusive.  Only one of our jeeps has seen a buffalo, and only one lone (and injured) buffalo at that.  Buffalo usually travel in a herd and keep an eye on each other.  They are also huge and black, which makes them difficult to blend into the landscape and thus relatively easy to spot.  But although we were out in the park for 9 hours today, we just can't seem to see buffalo!

I think the rest of us are really hoping to spot those buffalo tomorrow, when we got out for another safari day.  When do we leave the hotel to head out?  5:15 AM.