Kruger! Baby Animals! 453! And Odd Birds!

This lion is ready to rock.

Ahh! I can't believe I've got less than 3 weeks left! Camping through Kruger National Park was incredible, despite the fact that it rained the entire time I was there. Everyone kept warning me that Kruger is incredibly hot in January with temperatures in the 40's (100 F? I have no idea). I wore a sweatshirt, long pants and a jacket the entire time to keep warm. The rain didn't dampen the trip, however. I realize that's a pretty cheesy thing to say, but it's entirely true. And this post is going to be a total cheese-fest, so get prepped for it. Here's some photos:



As we were safari-ing, our main goal was to spot "The Big 5". These animals being, Lions, Elephant, African Buffalo, Rhino and Leopards. Sadly, I didn't see the leopard, but there were heaps and heaps of the Big 4. I suppose it was fitting that I saw the Big 4 (Dynamite Shout Out).

My first African Elephant! We saw so many that towards the end of my trip the guide just breezed on past them without a second glance. During the entire trip, I spent about 85% of the time in the safari truck, crusing around, watching game. One morning we woke up and did a 4 AM game walk accompanied by 2 armed Kruger Park Rangers. While you couldn't get as close to the animals on foot as you can in a vehicle, it was a pretty amazing experience to see live and wild elephant with two my feet planted firmly on the ground, and a bit terrifying/exhilerating to know that if it wanted to, it could charge and cover the distance between you in a matter of seconds. We also saw Hippo and a heard of Gnu.

My pants and shoes after the game walk. We were muddy and drenched but it was awesome.

This is the African White Rhino. We didn't see any Black Rhino, which are apparently much harder to spot. The main discernable difference between the two is the shape of the lips. The white Rhino has squared lips while the Black Rhino has a beak-like mouth.

We also busted up a pair of lions "on a date". They were approximately 10 yards from one another, and the female was quietly growling at the male to signal him to come over. Honestly, the male seemed pretty uninterested (typical). We watched them for about a half hour, and once we were convinced they weren't about to make a baby in front of us, we took off to continue animal watching elsewhere.

The lady lion - putting out the vibes.

The male, playing it cool.

"So, do you want to come in for coffee?"

"Nah, I've got a big meeting in the morning"

(Snoozing)

Given the amount of time I spent on cuteoverload.com, you can only imagine the kind of glee that I emitted taking the following photos and watching these baby animals running around. I think I've giggled and smiled more in the last 3 months than the average 6 month old baby.


A baby baboon! Riding it's Momma around!

Baby Giraffe!
Baby Zebras!
And my favorite, BABY RHINO!! It's so tiny in comparison!


Baby vervet monkeys!

So that was Kruger in a nutshell! I took an entire memory cards worth of pictures, got ravaged in the face by mosquitos (don't worry, I'm on anti-malarials), had a small spotted gennet jump on my tent and run around in the middle of the night (it was terrifying, I thought it was giant posionus spider and that death was inevitable), made quite a few Jurassic park references - especially when there was a hyena on the other side of the electric fence that surrounded our campsite - and all in all, had a fabulous time.

I was so excited to get back to the penguins, though! Take a look at this handsome beast:
It's 453!! He's completely moulted! And looks damn good, if not a little pudgy. He doesn't cry for fish like he did when he was a big brown puff ball any more, but he still wiggles his head a bit.And he's attracted the attention of a certain escape artist. Yes, we have been recently catching 491 and 453 preening. It's too adorable for words.



The pen 2 guys lounging after a big feeding session.

So since I've gotten back from Kruger, I've been assigned to the "Odd Birds" at SANCCOB. This includes White Breasted Cormorants, a Pelican, and my new favorite bird (I've got a new one every week), the Southern Giant Petrel.

The WB Cormorants are evil, evil birds that jump for your face every time you have to handle them. They're also frigging huge, and have an incredible range of motion. They also make a high pitched sound that triggers memories of being 7 years old and terrified of the kitchen scene in Jurrasic Park (... I'm not kidding anyone here, that scene still scares the crap out of me). These birds straight up sound like velociraptors.

Thankfully, these didn't learn how to open doors. I would never sleep at night again.


Tiger, our newest pelican, is looking pretty good lately. I enjoy catching and feeding him, but he's a pretty heavy bird. I had to carry him to get weighed the other morning, and he clocked in at a whopping 6+ kg. That's pretty big for a bird.


OM NOM NOM! I love throwing fish to this guy. He eats anywhere from 10 - 20 at a time.


The Petrel! Oh man, he's so awesome. You cannot help but smile when this guy is in the water. He's got the sweetest face with these big puppy dog eyes. He also occasionally honks. I've taken to calling him Honker, honks, honky tonk, and many other variations. He looks incredibly happy when he's swimming, and has a massive wingspan. To get him into the pool, we just open the pen gate and walk him over to the pool and he jumps right in. To feed him, we either hand feed him or put a few fish in a bowl, then send it out to float in the pool and he "hunts".

Check that wingspan!
Hunting fish.


I've got one last shift at SANCCOB then taking a 7 day overlanding trip to Namibia, then it's back to the US! Yikes! Expect a best of penguins post soon!