Saturday, October 28, 2006

Kruger Park (morning) and Panoramic Route

On our last morning we broke camp and drove out as the sun rose at 4:30 am.

We saw vultures in the trees




We also saw wildebeast by the side of the road,




Zebras in a herd..


and a whole herd of elephant with their young and all!


It was amazing watching as the adults hid the young behind them and sent us warnings with trumpets and ear flaps that we were not welcome..



We then headed along the panoramic route to a cheetah breeding center.. which really was just a glorified zoo. They called the cages "enclosures" but still, the animals couldnt roam free, and the enclosures were way too small for a cheetah, used to running over 100kph. What was worse was that they sold them to zoos, instead of releasing them back into the wild. These animals looked so sad and bored.. no hunting for them, nothing, just food handed to them in a platter already dead.

Still, beautiful cats..








They even had the rare KING cheetah, which is just the result of a DNA mutation, making their spots a bit different and a line down their back..






and up above, the vultures circled, waiting for the leftovers of the cheetah's dinners..


here were the carcuses after the birds had picked them clean..



Last were the cheetah cubs, taken away from their mothers at a young age.. ugh.






We left the breeding center and drove on the panorama route, stopping at the Three Rondevals (a natural occuring formation that looks like three huts!)


We also stopped by Bourke's Luck's Potholes, beautifully formed potholes naturally occuring from whirlpools carving into the soft quartzite..



Yay for self timers!



as usual, my shadow and me..




More self timer glory as I cross the river fall!




and the beautiful view..



We stopped at "wonderview" which was up a mountain somewhere, and i decided to play around with the self timer and handstands..



WHEEEEEEEEEEE!

Then we went to Pilgrim's Rest, an old mining town during the S.A. Gold rush.. not much there but kinda cute and sleepy..



And finally, we arrived in Sabie, at a backpacker's to spend the night. The tour ended in JoBurg the next day, but since I wanted to see more of Sabie, I stayed there to see the sights..

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