Posted in African wildlife, Kruger National Park, safaris, travel, wildlife, tagged Hyena, wildlife on June 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Hyenas share baby sitting duties amongst the pack.
Watch this video as a young hyena follows a Francolin grouse past our Land Rover.
Posted in Kruger National Park, photography, safaris, travel, wildlife, tagged big five, South Africa, wildlife on June 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Here's a cape buffalo bull called a dugga boy.
As we toured Kruger National Park during our 2007 visit, cape buffalo were uncommon, but we did encounter them on a couple of occasions. Both times we found dugga boys. Here’s a video clip of one encounter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz1cOdAjtWU
On another day, we were dropped off about a mile from camp and walked in with our guide who carried a large-caliber rifle just in case. As we passed through an opening in the bush we came upon a dugga boy standing about 30 yards from us. He didn’t seem to care about us, but the guide scooted us away.
During the remainder of the walk we were extra cautious.
Posted in African wildlife, Kruger National Park, outdoors, safaris, wildlife, tagged African lion, wildlife on June 6, 2008 | 4 Comments »
While in South Africa, we spent three nights at Nagala Tented Safaris. The camp was located in the bush and we had wart hogs and bushboks feeding right in camp. In fact, there was no fence so any animal could potentially walk through camp, except the elephant. To keep elephants out, an electric wire was strung about ten feet high around the camp.
One of the exciting moments we experienced while viewing wildlife at Kruger Park was watching a male lion roar from a distance of about ten to fifteen yards. The roar was quite loud. I don’t think the video does it justice.
The lions roared each night, apparently keeping track of their buddies. One night the lions roared very close to camp and one lion seemed to pass by within a couple hundred yards, but we could hear them for miles as well.
Apparently the lions keep track of their pride by roaring, but they also may be searching for female lions in other prides that are vulnerable to take over. If a male lion takes over a pride, it kills the cubs, so females with cubs often band together in groups (prides) so they can defend their young against intruders.
Lone female lions with cubs will avoid unknown male lions, as a single female lioness is less likely to be able to fight off an intruding male lion than a pride with several females.
