Our Last Full Day of Africa

I knew this day was coming. Our last full day in Africa. We had two more game drives today, followed by two days of flying, and then we would be home. This was it. If we were going to get any more of the Big Five or the Magnificent Seven, it had to be today. So again, we were up and out before dawn looking for rhinos, leopards and African wild dogs.

The morning drive started with a beautiful sunrise…

…reflecting off a local watering hole.

Where a hippo was bathing.

Then we heard from another truck that they had found…

African wild dogs.

One of the Magnificent Seven.

We rushed to the spot and found this mated pair just taking it easy.

After we had shot them for a while, we saw this giraffe…and then…

RHINOS!

A mother and baby black rhino.

The little guy was kind of skittish….

And anytime we came close to it, he took off.

But we stayed with mom and kid.

He was adorable.

Wildebeests

Zebras…and friends

More Wildebeests

Google identifies this bird as a brown-snake eagle.

We finally see Punba (a warthog). They weren’t singing Hakuna Matata.

They were just running.

Got two of the three we needed, so we headed back to the big lodge for lunch.

Editor’s Note: I had this post all done and ready to go last night and then I remembered that I could show you on a map what a game drive looked like. I have an app on my phone that tracks where I walk by GPS. It’s called Map My Walk. When you are done it gives you a map that shows you how far you walked and where you hit every mile and your stats. On our morning drive on the last day, I just happened to think as we were driving away, that I should turn it on. This was the result. You can see how absolutely crazy the drive is. The total miles on this drive was almost 17. We were out there for three hours and 28 minutes. Just thought it might be a fun thing for you to see.

After lunch, we did it all over again. I wish I could say that we found the elusive leopard, but we didn’t. I guess I will have to go back—NOT! And to be honest, it was our worst game drive of the entire trip. We pretty much saw nothing. Here are the pictures to prove it.

A zebra.

Last Dinner

Two photos. Just two usable photos. It was a somewhat sad way to leave, but it had been a great trip. Tomorrow, I will sum things up and give you an actual review. Stick with me—only one more post. I guess it’s only fitting that this was the end of the day. I should add that some of the others went on a game drive the next morning, on the day we were supposed to fly, but my cold had worsened, so I skipped it. I would have been really disappointed if they had found a leopard, but they didn’t. They did spot a male lion, and I missed that, but with over 40 hours of flying and airports ahead, I’m glad I made that call. I’ll be back tomorrow with a final round up and review.

Africa changes you forever, like nowhere on Earth. Once you have been there, you will never be the same. – Brian Jackman