Gate 1, South Africa - Day 7, Kruger National Park. Morning

Up early, coffee and rusks and drove to Kruger National Park. It is huge and is actually located in 3 different countries. Unfortunately it is not entirely fenced and there are problems with poaching and also the predators killing domesticated animals and then being shot.
We were again in  open vehicles that seated 9. We changed around where we sat so everyone got a chance at good photos and views though really all the seats were good.

First sighting, a troop of velvet monkeys. These are the black faced, gray monkeys that Christine kept spotting from the bus and no-one else saw. The dominant male has "blue balls".

Next we saw a couple of giraffes.

You can't really tell the size difference

until they are together. Males and females are different sizes but this one was so small we assumed it was a young one.

I finally found a pretty good website for Kruger birds and think this is a Lilac Breasted Roller

A male Kudu, isn't he magnificent?

and he knows it.

Termite hills are everywhere in the park. Most are occupied and gradually engulfing a tree.

At this one the tree was gone

and it had a new tenant,

a mongoose.

I just read that there are 10,000 herds of Impala in Kruger. Average herd size is 11.

That's plenty of food for all the predators although Lions find them too much work for little meat and prefer to go after bigger game.

Maybe that's why he is hiding in the tall grass.

This little guy is smaller than the youngest Impala. It is a male Steenbock. A solitary little antelope that tends to hide under bushes to stay safe.

South end of a Wildebeest (or Gnu) going North. He was in among the Impala but never turned round - sigh.

When far away, Giraffe tended to just keep eating,

but when they were close,

they seemed as curious about us

as we were about them.

Unfortunately that site I found didn't help with identifying this one. Obviously a bird of prey of some kind.

This is how close we were to this lone elephant.

Many species drive the adolescent males out of the herd

Some hang around, following the herd

Some form "bachelor groups"

and some, like this one, just go it alone.

Eventually he tired of us watching him scratch his back on the branches, eat grass and blow dust over himself

and he moved on.

A Crowned Lapwing.

Another Lilac Breasted Roller with a beak full of lunch.

Vultures.

We had been warned that we were unlikely to see cats. In the summer they are active in the cooler night time hours, spending their days lazing in the shade. There was a flurry of conversation on the radio and we picked up speed.

In the shade, close to the road, three female lions

Look at those teeth!

Of to one side, also resting in the shade, the male.

Of to the other side, 3 young lions.

There was very little movement and no opportunity for better pictures but we were incredibly lucky to see them at all.

A baboon troop

some with babies hanging on their bellies.

A quick washroom break. That's Chris in our vehicle, basically a pick up truck with 3 rows of tiered seats in the back.

On the road again and now the biggest herd of elephants that we have seen yet.

Lots of females, young elephants and some babies.

We watched them for a quite a while and soon there was a cluster of vehicles around them.

One got down on her knees and used her tusks to dig at the ground. They do this to create an area of dust that they then spray over themselves with their trunks. It protects their skin from the sun.

A young one and a baby gave it a try too.

But for them it became more of an exercise in rolling in the dirt.

Eventually they all hurried across the road, in front and behind us,

heading down to the water.

We were just about to drive off and here came some stragglers,

joining the herd of zebra down by the water.

A Fish Eagle

That was the end of the mornings game drive. We drove into a fenced area, near the river, with washrooms, a restaurant, gift store and picnic area for our lunch break.