Perhaps the most memorable was watching a leopard draped over a limb in the canopy of leaves similar to a tree in the first photo. Discreetly camouflaged, he could be seen but poorly photographed. It was our closest encounter with both of us seeing a leopard at the same time, so was thrilling for Ron and me. We first noticed his tail hanging down, then paw looped around a branch, and finally its entire length as it stood and moved gracefully down the tree.
We were awed by the sheer size of elephants and Cape Buffalo, graceful height of giraffe, and a resilient Leopard tortoise slowly crossing a tarred road. Lounging in the rivers were hippos and crocodiles. Beautiful songbirds such as the blue European roller perched in a tree top were in abundance and unique water birds caught our attention, this wading one is a Hamerkop. Flocks of Guinea fowl scurried across the roadways.
Visiting Kruger in late summer (equivalent to September on the North American continent) we spotted a variety of babies with their mothers, including Bushbuck with white spots on their flanks, Waterbuck with a white circle on their rump, zebra, Cape Buffalo and elephants.
Most exhilerating was a herd of elephants that crossed the dirt road in front of us as we returned from viewing an isolated baobab tree, then crossed in front of us again over a tarred road to frolic in a lake of water. Cars dwarfed in comparison give a sense of the elephants' enormous size.
Kruger is truly a place where nature becomes up close and personal.
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