We started another bright and early day at 6:15 am to head to Pilanesberg National Park. It was a two hour drive that took us from Centurion to the Northwest Province.

At Pilanesberg we loaded up into an open air truck to begin our Safari. A few minutes into the trip Zoey saw elephants in the distant. It turned out to be a breeding herd of about 5 cows and their calves. From there we took a dirt road in search of a giraffe. Instead we saw a few more elephants off in the distance before we came across a lone bull about 100 feet off the road. It took him a while to move out of the bushes and then we were able to see that he had a broken tusk. We learned that this was fairly common. 

From there we traveled along the roads and saw kudu, impala, zebras, warthogs, wildebeest, and springbok. There were numerous birds as well. A little over an hour into the Safari we saw a Rhino. The Rhinos in Pilanesberg have all had there horns removed to discourage poaching. After the rhino we saw a troop of baboons. A few of them came close to the truck. 

Later we saw three giraffes in the distance. Two of the them were bulls that were necking. When we came around the hill the female had moved to eat bushes about 200 feet off the road. We learned that the color and size of the horns allow you to tell the gender of the giraffe. 

We took a quick break at a gift shop at noon. After the break we looked at one of the lakes for Hippos, but did not come across any. 

We started to head back to the bus and that was when we really saw the elephants. First we saw a lone male less than 30 feet from the road. He posed for us and everyone got lots of pictures. Just a little further down the road we ran across the breeding group of 5 females that had moved down the mountain. They had both 6 month old calves and 2 year old calves with them. This was an amazing scene because they were so close to us and there was such a variation in age.

After seeing the breeding group we went back to the entrance without seeing any other animals. We had lunch there before heading back to the hotel. We arrived at about 5:30 pm, and then were set loose for the evening.

Sincerely,

Aubrina Melville and Harrison Wegener (some pictures provided by Zoey Schentzel)











Comments

  1. DeniseMarch 18, 2022 at 4:09 PM

    Such an amazing day! Hope you are all sharing pictures and such. This once in a lifetime experience was so special, you all have great memories together! Enjoy every last moment in South Africa and safest travels to you all. Mom W

    ReplyDelete

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