Four of the Big Five

This past weekend we were able to get away and go to Kruger National Park and camp for 2 days. It was a much needed break and we all had a GREAT time. We joined 3 other families from our church here in Polokwane. We arrived Friday late afternoon and had to get our tents set up before it got too dark so we didn't go out on a drive with the others. Later as we were having a Braii (BBQ) we found out that they saw 3 leopards in one area and then another one on it's own. Needless to say we were a little (ok ALOT) disappointed we missed that sight. Pastor Nicki and his family had their site right against the fence. During our Braii both Friday and Saturday nights a couple of hyenas kept passing by the fence. On Saturday night you could hear the lions.

Saturday we woke up at 4:30 and left the camp at 5:30 to begin a 12 hour drive through Kruger. We saw SO much game. It was amazing. We were able to see four of the Big 5. The only one we didn't see was the leopard :( We saw 5 different sightings of lions. They are amazing animals.

Sunday we got up at 4:30 again and headed out for about 3 hours. We didn't see near as many animals but we did come across an area that had 2 different groups of lions - total of 11 with 3 of them being cubs.

We headed back to camp to pack up and say goodbye to everyone and then we left. We decided to drive in the park up to Letaba and then head to the gate and on home. The kids actually went to Letaba Camp in 2006 when we brought them so they were excited to return there and go see the elephant museum again. I was amazed at how much they remembered from that trip 3 years ago. Sunday we ended up driving in the Park about 7.5 hours. It was SO hot and we did not see as much but we had a great time. We left the park at 5:45 (15 minutes before the gates closed and headed home.

We love the fact that we live just a few hours from the park. We had a great time. Here are a few of the pictures from our weekend.


Here are the 4 of the Big 5 we saw ...









More pictures from our 2 days in the Park...