Kruger -- part 3

On the second day, we were treated to several big cat sightings. We even saw a cheetah, and they’re very rare (perhaps less than a hundred in the whole park). Somewhat surreally, we encountered that animal on a tarmac bridge. It came right out and meandered among the vehicles, which of course had all stopped. In fact, I saw quite a few illegal arms and heads out of windows as people tried to see past the car ahead or to get a photo. We were parked quite a ways back down the bridge (we joined this scene a bit late as at first we thought people were just hippo-watching); thus, we didn’t get a good glimpse of the cheetah until it exited the roadway and climbed up a bank. Then we saw it clearly. Not long after our cheetah encounter, we saw two lions swimming across a stream – another rare sight although a bit distant. After that we headed back to the dead rhino site to see if the lions were more visible. They were, if one could make it through the parking cluster and get close enough to see. As the lions had now been in this area for a couple days, it was so well known that the small parking area was mobbed. Marjorie somehow shoehorned her Lexus into a spot from which we could see (I got a photo showing both the male lion and the rhino). Then we got out of there quickly before more vehicles could squeeze in and trap us there.

That day, there were quite a few elephants near the road. Some were not pleased at being gawked at and hemmed in by large noisy vehicles. Once one of them charged our vehicle, I realized that possibility was why Marjorie always left an open lane between us and any elephant. Other drivers would pull up and stop much closer which gave them little room to maneuver for a quick escape.