Sunday 28th August 2016: we are in our Safari jeep at 6.10 after tea/coffee and a muffin if you so choose, to make sure we are early enough to catch the early grazers. The morning is cool and becomes cold as we start to drive in open air vehicles, so on with the scarves etc. there is a blanket and even a hot water bottle which is lovely to sit on your legs and warm the hands on. After the Impala which are everywhere we see the Kudu which we chose to have for dinner last night - just like a very tender steak, so yummy. We see elephant - they are always in quite big family groups with lots of very cute babies. We see an older hippo who has retired to his own waterhole - his body is not fully covered with water due to the lack of water in the hole. Usually their whole body is submerged with only the nostrils and sometimes the eyes and ears which are all on the same level on their head are visible. Even though they look peaceful, they are probably the most aggressive animal in the park, even to each other.
We see 12 Rhino all told, 6 of which are together (a crush of Rhino) which is unusual. These are all white Rhino - nothing to do with their colour. White Rhino graze on the ground with large square shaped mouths and black Rhino have smaller mouths and eat from trees. They aren't black either - strange names!! We haven't seen a black Rhino yet, but they are here.
A two way call comes that a leopard has been spotted in the dry creek bed - it takes us some time to get there - we are some distance away and it's not easy driving in the reserve, on narrow tracks, rocky, sandy, in and out of creek beds, a real safari massage they call it. We aren't lucky enough to spot the leopard, even though the Impala sense something and the monkeys up the trees are screeching danger - others have good photos to share at lunch. We stop for tea/coffe/drinks plus eats and then return to the Lodge for breakfast at 10, lunch at 1 and high tea at 3 before going out again at 3.30. How much food can one consume?

Back in the jeeps at 3.15 and in search of 'big cats' this time. We saw all the same as we had in the morning, but in lesser numbers and were thinking we weren't going to get to see a leopard or a lion when down in a dry creek bed on a big sandy rock outcrop there were 6 lions sprawled out sleeping. The guides thought they were probably still full from a recent kill. This was quite a find; two of the other jeeps arrive, and we are all quite close but they don't take any notice. We stop for nibbles and drinks at sunset, still looking for that elusive leopard. 

Dinner is a served BBQ, with all the trimmings with tables set around a big open fire. Entertainment by members of the staff, traditional singing and dancing. Tomorrow is an early start, 500 km to Johannesburg.