Final Action Packed Game Drive

Our final early morning game drive was amazing.  We stopped in on the the lion and her cubs first thing and then we managed to also find a rhino bathing in a mud bath and marking his territory.  We also came across a herd of elephants.  We saw the cutest little baby elephant with her mother and it is so cute they way they don't quite know how to use all the muscles in their trunks.   In my extra photo I have uploaded one with a mother and child but not the teeniest baby we saw in this herd.  They are magnificent animals.

We then went to see some male lions in the area but the guides advised that we didn't get too close as they were "skittish".  They were out of their normal territory - there was 2 of them and the day before they had taken down a buffalo.  We were told that this was unusual for 2 young males to take down something this size on their own.  You could see the buffalo body as we approached the location and it was pretty mangled on one side.  The two lions were lazing and you could see their bellies were totally full and expanded after quite the gorge on their prey.

As we started to drive away we spotted a hyena come up on the body.  The lions were laying under a tree and out of sight and you could see the hyena cautiously approach the carcass for some time before he decided coast was clear and he was going to chow down.

As he got into it you could see him (and hear) him pulling the beast apart and his face got a bit bloody when then, suddenly a leopard approached.  The leopard chased the hyena away and then when he thought it was safe he dug in.

Moments later the hyena decided that he wasn't going to give up that easily so came back to challenge the leopard.  They stupidly made a bit of noise as the hyena started to chomp down on another leg when slowly the lions came out to see what the disturbance was and oh, when they spotted a hyena and leopard having a good bash at their kill they charged at them with such speed that within seconds the hyena had run away and the leopard had scaled a tree seeking refuge above.  The lions then made themselves comfortable near the carcass as it was clear that they were not about to leave their dinner unguarded for a while.  Who knows when the leopard managed to make his escape!

What an experience for our final drive.

We enjoyed a nice final breakfast and lunch before heading back to Jo'Burg for our flight home that evening.

That was an amazing trip and Steve and I had such an amazing honeymoon.  

coming back down to earth with a bump but reliving the memories with my backblipping for the past two days has been fun!