Balule Reserve Sunrise Game Drive

Coffee -- instant :( -- served at 5:30, then in the truck with guide Andy at 05:45 for a sunrise game drive. Right away we saw a giraffe against the sunrise. They sleep sitting down, but never lay their heads down as they would be too vulnerable to attack by lions. They only sleep in little naps at that.

We got very close to a group of elephants that had knocked over a tree and were eating the leaves and twigs for breakfast. A recurring comment from the guides was about how destructive elephants are. They just tear down the trees and eat everything in sight. You see areas that look like clear-cut forest. They eat over 200kg of food a day, because their digestive system is actually inefficient and most gets pooped out -- and there is elephant poop absolutely everywhere in Kruger! This game reserve is over populated with elephants, and in about two decades, this will not be bushveld, but open grassland.

We then saw a nice white rhino, and were then incredibly lucky to see a black rhino. There are only a few hundred left in Kruger due to poaching. Actually our guide was very skillful to track it down. He spotted some dung as he was driving and got out to show us it had leaves and branches and had been kicked around to mark his territory. This was the sign of a black rhino. He noted the direction the tracks went and in a few minutes we caught up to it, It was a well-known male named Zulu.. Black and white rhinos are actually both grey. Whites are flat mouthed and graze on grass, and blacks are hook lipped and eat leaves and branches.

Back to the lodge for breakfast at 9:00Read more