Day 26
Oh, my gosh! Since we arrived after dark yesterday, we didn’t get to see much of our surroundings; boy, were we in for a surprise! We are literally in the middle of nowhere.

We woke up very early (5:30am) and gathered for our first game drive. We piled into an open-topped jeep with a ranger named Jabulani and a spotter/rifleman named Jubulani. At first, it was very chilly (since the sun was not yet up). We were each given a thick blanket to wrap around ourselves as we headed into the reserve. We didn’t see much at first, but as the sun rose, so did the animals. On our first day we saw kudu, giraffes, lots of warthogs, wildebeest, springbok, and a cheetah. We got close and personal with a bunch of elephants that were at a watering hole. Jabulani got us out of the jeep to have coffee and a morning snack as we watched the elephants drink not more that 10 feet away from us. This was one of the coolest experiences I have ever had.  

After the drive, Jabulani and Jubulani took several of the brave explorers on a walking tour of the bush. They brought the rifle (just in case) and pointed out animal tracks and droppings to teach us how to track various animals. On the evening drive, we saw a rhinoceros with her baby, three lion brothers lounging during sunset, lots of nyala and kudu, countless cape buffalo, and — unexpectedly — four hippopotami!

Day 27
When on safari, there is a group of 5 animals known as the Big Five. They hold this title because they are the 5 most dangerous animals to hunt in South Africa. Today, we are hoping to continue our search for the Big Five.

This morning’s game drive was beautiful. We learned about some of the traits of the animals we had been spying. For example, warthogs are really great at playing ‘follow the leader!’  Warthogs normally have a scraggly looking tail that hangs straight down. However, when one warthog decides to go trotting off into the bush, he sticks his tail straight up in the air (like a funny, safari flag), and that way all of the nearby warthogs can spot him if they want to follow. But, it gets better! If another warthog does decide to follow the leader, he then flips his tail over his back and points it at the lead warthog’s [flag] tail!   So, the direction of every warthog’s tail becomes a function of where they are headed and helps to keep the family sticking together!  

Day 28
Today, we learned that some animals are natural friends, like giraffe, zebra, and wildebeest.   You will almost always find the three animals close together on the game reserve, because they get along with one another. We dedicated most of today to finding the elusive rhinoceros.   Since we had only spotted rhinos once before, we really wanted to get another sighting in. We drove around for several hours before Jubulani suggested we try it on foot. This is always so exciting and scary. You never know what is going to come tearing through the bush and try to eat you! Well, we didn’t see any lions or any rhinos, but we did find a really neat bird called a ‘honey guide.’  The honey guide will sing to let you know where it is in the trees. When you approach the tree, the honey guide will fly to another tree, and so on and so forth.   Ultimately, the honey guide will lead you to the beehive where the bees keep their honey. And, Jubalani warned us: always give the honey guide a little honey once he leads you to it. Otherwise, he will change his song and call on the snake!

Day 29
Today was our last day on safari. Jubalani and Jabulani took us to the top of the tallest mountain on the reserve and the view was incredible. Our last drive was great, even though we were a little sad to know our time at Mkuze Falls was reaching an end. But we did finally spot a couple of rhino before heading in for the night.

Meet Jabulani, our Ranger	Tracking the Big Five, and other animals

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