Zebras, Giraffes, Hyenas, Hippos and Crocs

Oh my gosh, they are SO tall!
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One of the reasons Denny and I really were excited to come to Africa, was to see the "zoo animals" in their natural environments and in the numbers that are portrayed in National Geographic.  Shortly upon entering Orpen Gate of Kruger we came upon both a large herd of wildebeests and a small group of zebra.  These are Burchell's zebras -- very, very beautiful.  The stallions stand proud, the mares are beautiful, and the colts are ADORABLE!  I was sad that we never saw a group or herd close up but we often saw them from afar and were able to watch them through binoculars.  It is said the the stripes on every zebra are different.  Our ranger guide also told us that the way to tell the difference between types of zebras is their facial pattern.  I give, but they are sure are beautiful to see in the wild!

Gentle giants along the roadside.
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Giraffes, on the other hand, were often close to the road and of course are also highly visible from afar.  They are so tall and their heads often stand out in the horizon above the bushes and low trees.  We came upon them on our drives at just about all times of the day.  I wonder, do they sleep?  The HUGE males can be identified even when only theirs heads are showing as their horns are bald whereas the females' horns have black hairy tuffs.  It was fun to see the little ones and we even saw what appeared to be a set of twins.  The best though is when we came across a small group traveling across the savanna.  They move so very quickly with those long legs and seem to almost glide, their motion is so fluid.  For big animals, they are remarkably flexible too.  It is fun to watch them stretch out for high branches, crouch for low ones and kneel to drink.

Made me look over my shoulder a couple of times!

Moving so gracefully across the river marsh.
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The two most prolific animals to be seen on sunset and night drives were scrub hares and springhares.  The scrub hares resemble American rabbits but the springhares are more like tiny kangaroos...they stand on two legs and hop!  And three predators out looking for them are the black backed and side striped jackals and many spotted hyenas.  Our guides painted a way different picture of hyenas than we all learned in Lion King!  They call them "eco-savers" because they clean everything up.  Their incredibly strong jaws allow them to eat even the bones of the carcasses left by others.  In fact they eat so many bones that their droppings are white and other animals and birds eat those in order to get their needed calcium supply.  Oh my!!  Staying together in family packs they make the pups stay behind when they hunt.  Too many would get picked off as prey themselves.  So often we would come upon pups at den entrances "bored and moping."  They were not afraid of the jeeps and came right up to us to investigate.  I took a sunrise walk around the Rhino Trail at the Berg-en-dal Restcamp our last morning and was quite surprised to find some white droppings inside the perimeter fence!  Made me look over my shoulder a couple of times!

a few elusive zebras
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It took me awhile, but I did finally catch on that all the rocks in the rivers and lakes were not as they seemed!  Looking out all of a sudden a "rock" would raise a head, bellow, or crack open a wide, wide yawn before sinking back into the depths.  Sometimes we would find hippos along the shores eating too -- that's when you see how incredibly huge they are, even when young.  But the most fun is to look out across the water and see how many hippos can be distinguished from rocks!  Once we saw the hippos and crocs moving together and wondered about that.  Our guide told a story about how the hippos and the crocs came to a peaceful coexistance -- the legend centered on the hippo continuing to poop only vegetarian, leaving the fish and the animals to him.  He was a fun guide!

a hippo grazing
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Nile crocodiles are plentiful here in Kruger and just as sly.  On the night drives we would pull up along rivers and shine the spotlights out to look for glowing red eyes.  The spotlights highlight the crocs beautifully and at night when they are swimming/hunting, we were able to see ones as long as 8 feet.  One morning we caught this one catching the early rays on a rock, but usually they are laying hidden in the grasses near the water or lying mostly submerged until something tempting brings them to action.  We never saw a predator kill during our week in Kruger -- I am both relieved and yet, feeling like it would have been indeed interesting.  We did see some unsuccessful stalking.  Whenever I travel in the wild I find myself both in awe of the simplicity of the natural food chain and amazed at the animals' instincts for survival.