Lions (but not tigers and bears). Oh my!

For some unknown reason, several of my friends have invoked the words of the late, great Judy Garland in response to my trip to Kruger National Park. While I don't think anyone said "oh my," there was certainly a lot of "wow!" on our truck.

The tales of this trip are best told by photographs, but I will relay some of it here as well. My trip consisted of a young British zoologist, whose helpful presence was most welcome; a rockin' mother-daughter pair from Australia; and a very unsettling Canadian man from Bulgaria. Our guide, Jafta, was a prince. He has been married for 25 years, but wasn't able to afford a wedding until he started working for Funky Safaris a few years ago. Last year, he gave his wife and four children a 300-person wedding in their village. I will shamelessly plug Funkys to the death for the good work they're doing in the area, including good pay for their staff.

The best experience came towards the end of Saturday. As it turns out, being on safari is exhausting; you're bouncing up and down in the back of a truck, and concentrating so intently on the side of the road. It's freezing in the morning and at night, so your muscles are tense from staying warm. It is also a long day, starting at 5 a.m. and going into the early evening. By the time we started heading back to the camp around 5, we were all struggling to stay awake. Then we came across the elephant crossing the road. This is not the beginning of a joke.

The first elephant was soon followed by another, and another, until it became clear that a family of some sort was traveling together. One elephant served as a crossing guard (or lollipop lady if you're an Anglophile), while another stood guard at the first car in line. At some point, a minibus got tired of waiting and decided to drive through.

Over lunch, Jafta had told us that before an elephant attacks, it gives three warnings: shaking its head and trunk, roaring, and finally taking one step backwards before charging. Sure enough, the elephant standing at the first car took all three steps before lurching towards the minibus and its shrieking passengers. The elephant stopped after a few steps, returning calmly to his previous post, and the minibus got away with only a scare -- and the disdain of the other humans in the area.

Here is a list of the animals we saw, in approximately the order we saw them. (Yes, I took notes.)

impala (either one male: five females; or bachelor herds, which the zoologist said were the ones "who can't get women." Ha!)
water buck
white rhino
elephants
giraffes (including two pregnant ones)
mongoose
lions
zebras
wildebeest
warthogs
kudu
hippos
African fish eagles
kingfishers
bush pups
baboons
goliath heron
grey heron
darter
tsebe
and . . . not a single mosquito!