A leopard is spotted!

No kidding Sherlock!

Well we have sighted all the big 5 animals. This refers to the most dangerous animals to hunt and are comprised of the lion, cape buffalo, rhinoceros, elephant and leopard. We spotted the first 4 on our first safari drive in Kruger but the elusive leopard was not seen until our fifth and final game park. Granted, it wasn't particularly clear as she was hidden in the bushes but at least we did see her.

Masa Mara is a huge park and we had a big 6 hour game drive. Some of our group took an optional balloon ride but at $450USD per person it was a bit out of our budget. So while they were ballooning we checked out a pod of hippos. There were several other trucks there and some people wandered down the river bank a little. Ok be hippos took exception and started to charge towards them. We were farther away but our guide was yelling "get back in the truck". Brad says he has never seen me move so fast. That was nothing compared to the faces of the people who were very close. I wish I was filming at the time.

We picked up the balloonists and that is when we found the leopard. We also saw a business of mongoose (That is the collective noun) . They are very similar to meerkats and act the same way popping their heads up to look around. There was also a male ostrich doing a display dance to impress the female - bit of a waste of time because the female was to far away to even notice.

Perhaps the most exciting thing for us was our version of The Great Migration. We noticed a large herd of Wildebeest and some zebra looking interested in crossing a small river. Once one started they all went. Ok, it wasn't the tens of thousands of wildebeest that cross while trying to avoid being lunch for the crocodiles or lions but we got the impression of a crossing.Read more