June 10th, 2016 Full Day of Game Drives

We headed out in the morning to an early drive at 6am, when the rest camp gates first open with high hopes of finishing out the Big 5 sightings (Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo that we’d seen and Leopard and Lion that we’d not). We sadly came up empty during the day on the big ones, however we did see a handful of different things that were quite cool to see/watch. The sunrise was quite nice this is becoming a theme .....

Early in the morning we saw a Impala carcass hanging from a tree that an eagle or falcon was going to works on, which means a Leopard had been in the area .....

Later we saw a Crocodile, much closer than we had before .....

As well as several interesting birds such as this little guy that shows, in Africa everyone is a hunter .....

 a very pretty Kingfisher (though these guys are pretty small even though the name makes them sound big) ..... 

We stopped as a snack shop by the Sabie River to grab a bite and let the kids stretch their legs, naturally they seemed most interested in what Dylan was drawing in his journal .....

After our stop, we followed the Sabie River back to our rest camp and got to catch a pair of African Fish Eagles hunting, one came up with a fish while the other was unsuccessful while we were there, the one on the stump has a fish under foot while the other is still on the hunt over the river .....

Naturally we also saw several of what is now becoming “normal” animals such as Impala, Kudu, Giraffe, Baboons, etc. As well as is young pair of male Impala play fighting .....

After our morning drive we got lunch at the camp restaurant where I tried the Springbok shank which was quite tasty and the size of a turkey leg. In the evening we went out again on a sunset drive meaning that we did not need to be back in the gate by 5:30pm and instead stayed out to look for game at night and by spotlight. Of course the sunset was quite spectacular (as I said, becoming a theme) .....

And we were lucky enough to see a Leopard on the hunt, chasing a bush hare, though it was too dark to get a photo. We also saw a herd of Rhino (about 12-15) at a watering hole. When we got back it was Braai time, while the ladies sat and drank wine, Greg was the cook as usual while I took photos of them .....

the stars and the moon set over Skakuza rest camp .....