Wednesday, August 10, 2016

July visit to Pilanesberg National Park

This was a beautiful park only about 2.5 hours north of Johannesburg. I stayed at the Ivory Tree Lodge and the lodge is beautiful. And the food was delicious. When I arrived, Simon, one of the local elephants, had just entered the grounds of the lodge and had to be lured out. He entered near the room where I was supposed to stay, so they gave me an upgrade to pure luxury!

And I was able to see the big five - lion, buffalo, rhino, elephant and leopard. As a matter of fact, we saw two leopards and a black rhino as well as many white rhinos. What a treat. I am still a bit partial to zebras and wildebeasts, and we also saw many giraffes.


Here are a few pictures.




Vervet monkey grooming.




 
A thrush by my room.
 
 
 
 
Rhino crossing the road.
 
 
Wildebeest (gnu).
 
 
Giraffe.
 

Leopard.


Simon, the local elephant.


Impalas grazing.



Yellow billed ducks at sunrise.


Sacred ibis.

 
 Spoonbill.




Bird and animal watching at sunrise.



Black back jackal.



We had a flat tire along the way. Our ranger Marnu changed the tire while another kept watch, mostly along the road to keep him out of danger if a wild animal approached.



 







I followed this bird as he hopped from branch to branch trying to get a photograph. Finally - got him!






A baby rhino with his Mom.


Marnu, our ranger, in his office. No computer, no telephone. Just pure wonder and beauty.







 
Will someone get me a drink! A little girl was worried the monkey would drink all of the wine!



 
The monkeys like sugar from the packets and jelly, too! They got into everything on my last morning there. Can you imagine monkeys and little birds (who cleaned up after the monkeys) on a sugar high!
 


 
 
Beautiful paintings in the lobby of the Ivory Tree Lodge. I would really like to find the artist (Barb P Coner).
 

An absolutely beautiful room.


A bath with a view. What luxury!


An outdoor shower.


 
A great place to sit in the afternoon and watch birds.
 

 



Buffalo grazing in the field quite a distance from the jeep.






The park in Pilanesberg.
 
 


He was a very long way off.

 
Marnu, wildlife park ranger.
 
 
Jackal.
 


Baby zebra.
 

Hippos.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Lions hunting a wildebeast. He was far enough away that he was able to run away.
 
 
 
 
 
A leopard on the prowl, crossed the road in front of the car. Amazing.
 
 
 
 
 
 

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