Day 12: Game Drives 5 and 6

Tuesday evening we went out for our 5th game drive.  We drove back to the large lion pride to see if they might get up to hunt. On the way there were many sightings including these zebra. I have never seen them rubbing up against each other before.

I have taken a zillion zebra portraits, but I can't stop myself. They are so beautiful.

This is a wooly-necked stork.

So, when we got back with the lions they had moved about 100 yards from their morning spot. They were yawning and moving a bit, so we had some hope they might be ready to hunt again.

No such luck. They moved about 20 yards. Still, we spent most of the day sitting with the pride. This had been one of the highlights of any Safari I have been on. Hanging with the lions--what a magnificent experience this was. 

When we got home, a rose petal bath was waiting in our tents. Wow! 

Wednesday morning was game drive 6. We started by tracking a herd of Cape buffalo that was just starting to wake up.

We even saw a nursing baby calf.

We also saw rhinos and warthogs, but I din't get good photos. Then we ran across a couple of small herds of elephants with youngsters. Wonderful to see.

This game drive was another great experience. 

I am still obsessing over our tents. As I'm sitting in the chair on the left (while writing the blog) I'm looking up at the tent ceiling. This construction is pretty much a masterpiece. I went online and found out there are a number of companies that make these luxury tents. Who knew?

Back at the watering hole we have the usual suspects--but some are doing unusual thing.

After drinking, this group of zebras went up on road of the dam and stood in a line. You can see a couple of hippos in the water.

I spent a lot of the afternoon sitting in a comfortable deck chair watching the hippos. I've been very curious about them and found out a lot of interesting facts about them.

• They can sleep with their head under water.  They can hold their breath for 5-6 minutes and then automatically raise their head to breathe without waking up.
• It's unusual to see the hippos out of the water as we have during the day. Since it's winter, their sensitive skin can stand being out in the sun.
• The red stuff you often see on hippos acts as a sun screen.
• They graze most of the night.
• They are really loud.

It is really cool having the time to watch them. There are three new hippos in the watering hole today--upping their numbers from six to nine. This guy is taking a snooze on a buddy.

I watched this little guy in the middle wander around for quite a while before finally finding a place to sleep between these huge behemoths. 

Wow!!