Kruger National Park, South Africa
By our fourth day at Kruger National Park we'd seen the 'Big 5' African animals - elephant, buffalo, leopard, rhino and lion. But it wasn't until the morning of that same day four that I caught my biggest buzz. Elenka and I arose before sunrise and were walking our compound perimeter when a troop of baboons, frolicking with a herd of impalas, caught our attention on the other side of the fence. The strands of wire along the top of the fence were too narrow to get the camera lens through so I grabbed hold of them in an attempt to wedge the lens through. A zap ringed my ears and my palm felt as though I'd set it on a red hot cooking grill. Elenka said that she smelled something burning. I stammered, wobbled her way, and shoved my hand under her nose.
Self-safariing in South Africa's animal refuge camps is a thrifty do-it-yourself way to see almost all there is to see. We drove 300 plus kilometres, saw buffalos, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, elephants, zebras, wildebeest, lions, monkeys out the ying-yang, far more antelopes than we could possibly count, and a leopard.
The big cats are what people go on safari to see. One lion, leopard or cheetah is worth 100 elephants, 1,000 monkeys and 3,000 antelopes. Humans are mesmerized by the cats. They'll strike out under tortuous conditions and pay big bucks to say they've been with them.
The night of my self-inflicted electrocution I told a couple of South African tourists from Cape Town of my experience. One of them gave me a, 'you're a pretty stupid bugger' look, then explained that all fences in South Africa are electrified.
Tomorrow we're off to Swaziland where it won't be nearly as dangerous.
Irene Black
2017-05-27
Jack and Ellen that was amazing thank you for sharing I have a front row seat in all your Travels. Can hardly wait to see where we go next warm regards irene
Stephanie
2017-05-28
Wow fabulous photos! And the scars to remember your trip by. Say hi to Mary and Jim.
Dina
2017-05-28
Great shots!
jackdrury
2017-05-28
I've forwarded your comment to Elenka the photog.
Sent from my iPad
Margo
2017-05-28
Oh no! scarred for life.
Sarom Muth
2017-05-29
Thanks for sharing Jack! So beautiful
Peter
2017-05-29
Ok so the fence works....that's good....