03-Sept: South Africa - Kruger (Skukuza)

Early morning game drive around Kruger, where we spotted loads of water buffalo, baboons, and came across a rhino and her calf. We also saw lots of kudu, of which the males are simply dazzling. They are a handsome antelope easily distinguished by spectacular spiral horns (which can reach astonishing lengths of over a metre). They have thin, pale stripes against their grey-brown body, plus a gorgeous dusty pink colour in their ears. Majestic animals! While I know people get jaded of seeing the antelope, as they are so plentiful (can anyone say cat-food!), I still wonder at the males as their antlers are just so pretty. Even the male impala has a soft spot in my heart, mainly because I fear that he is sadly under-rated.

After lunch I popped into the gift shop at Skukuza and spotted Pete and Kirsten gazing at cute baby clothes. Ahhh, how adorable. When I rounded the display to see what they were looking at I saw rows of little tees in pink and blue with the logo "Bush Lover" emblazoned across them. I chortled to myself, looked at Kirsten in horror and went "you seriously were not considering getting that, please tell me you were not, that's soooo inappropriate!". Kirsten looked at me in confusion. Wait for it I told myself. Wait... Then, suddenly, ding! she got it, "ooh, ooh, OOH!! No, no no!!" Hehehe mischief managed!! Never mind that "Bush Lover" is a popular South African brand, I have now forever ruined its reputation for Mrs Deverson. My bad!

Later that afternoon eight of the group went off for a guided walk in the park with a ranger. Unfortunately for security reasons he could only take eight walkers and I had been quite lax in getting back to Kirsten with my confirmation so I missed out in participating. Not to worry, having done one on my last trip in 2012 I know that you 'usually' do not see a lot, as obviously they do not put tourists in harms way of wild animals. Instead you learn a lot about the vegetation, birds, dung - which don't get me wrong is very interesting - but I'm all about seeing the pretty animals. Thankfully Pete and Kirsten offered to take me on a game drive in the Navara while the guys went on their walk. Job!!

While in the bedroom I could hear a bit of a racket coming from our outdoor kitchenette. It sounded as though someone was fishing through the rubbish, however I knew that the cleaner had emptied the bins earlier that morning. Heading out onto our porch I looked over to the fridge where the noise was originating. Imagine my surprise when I was greeted by the rear end of a cheeky monkey who was rummaging through our fridge, attempting to raid our dinner for the evening. Unbelievably he had pushed aside the charcoal bags that we had (obviously) feebly stacked against the fridge and managed to open the door.

I stared mouth-opened, agog for a moment or so and then yelled at the would-be thief. The little fecker simply turned towards me, the way you would do when you have been caught red-handed, one hand still in the fridge and the other on the outside and gave me a guilty "oh, you caught me then" look. Seriously, it was such a human reaction it gave me chills. We had a bit of a stare off and when I took a step towards him with my hand raised he went scarpering for the car park. I only wish I had had a camera to capture his facial expression when I caught him - it was scarcely credible.

Went to the fridge to check the damage, luckily he hadn't managed to pull anything out and all the meat was still well sealed. I remained on guard duty until Pete and Kirsten arrived, as the little bugger kept skulking up and down the driveway waiting for me to leave so he could try again. Before heading off on our drive Pete piled yet more charcoal against the fridge, pulled over the table to block the door and then constructed a noisy contraption of pots stacked perilously on top of one another so that if the monkey came back it would easily fall and scare the bejaysus outta him. I really think I've seen everything now.

We had an incredible game drive. Saw a small herd of elephants shepherding little ones across a river - too cute!! Played chicken with a gruff looking water buffalo. Kirsten & Navara 0 : Buffalo 1. Watched a giraffe drink from a waterhole, which I was very excited over. In order to drink water giraffe have to adopt a very ungainly position with their legs widely spread. This pose places them in a position of extreme vulnerability to predators, and so they stand for a long time at a waterhole carefully observing the surroundings before bending down. We also watched some young male giraffes having a bit of a skirmish, walloping each others necks with horrific smacking sounds. Ye-ouch!

When we got back to camp the walkers had returned. Lu and Tony had spotted yet another leopard!! That's two sightings now for Tony. This time it was just a fleeting glance and not many of the others saw it. Plus there was no photographic evidence. Still I wasn't too disappointed as with the luck we have been having, I'm quietly confident I will get to see a leopard. The ranger that was on the walk with them was ecstatic as he had not seen any leopard in 14 years apparently! More wild dogs were seen as well.

There had also been some giggles on the walk. Geoff and Steve had lagged behind taking photos, so one of the rangers hid behind a rock and as they approached he jumped up and roared at them. Apparently their reactions were quite the picture - sadly the group were too busy falling about themselves laughing that they missed out on the money shots.

Another tasty feast was whipped up by Pete, and afterwards we all helped polish off a bottle of Amarula, a South African cream liqueur (not too dissimilar to Baileys).