Monday 24th March

We were up very early than expected, 4am! Either it was cos of excitment or we had a early night, plenty of sleep for us! Once we came out of the tent, it was still dark and we watched the sun rise. We were ready by 5.45am for our pick up and there was only 3 of us in the group. The 3rd one was also from our campsite and he wasn't ready till at least 20mins later. We got annoyed cos we were keen to leave! We were very pleased that the rain stopped, giving us beautiful sky for the photos opportunities.

We finally were able to enter into the National Park and we were so surprised to see how many cars were waiting to go in! Off we setted and were ready to keep our eyes open for spotting. We noticed few cars stopping which was a hint that there was something to look at. We noticed plenty of kudus. we were told that there are millions of it including impalas around in the park. Then we realised that there were few lions on the mountains in the distance, waiting to do the kill! We waited for a long while to watch it and unfortunately lions just stood there, watching. We gave up and moved on. We saw more of impalas and were keen to move on as we have seen enough of them and wanted different creatures to take photos of! Each time we spotted them, we don't bother to say "Stop, there is something!"

After few moments, we spotted zebras in the distance. We then made a turn to approach towards a lake which had hippos in it. Again, it was still in the distance. We were praying to see animals at close distance to feel the excitment! We seen impalas at close distance but we had enough of them! After a while, we finally spotted another one of big 5. It was quite lucky to spot it as it was hiding under the tree! This time, it was a buffalo but we couldn't get a good picture of it so we were still hoping to see another one, better to take a photo.

Next animals we spotted was elephants, still in the distance! We saw a couple having a fight which was quite amazing. Still plenty of kudus and impalas around and we were still looking for the rest of big 5! Zebras was the next thing we saw. We then made a turn to the another entrance to the park to drop the guy off and then it was only 2 of us onboard. It felt as we were having a private guided tour! Then suddenly to our amazement, there was a HUGE elephant staring at us at close distance! We were in awe of it and took plenty of photos. We were still expecting it to take charge at us but it didn't! We were pleased to get close to it as we were hoping to.

We went over a small bridge and made sure that we were looking at the river as the animals would use it to drink. Unfortunately there wasn't any but we saw a small crocodile along with the small turtle swimming around in the river.

It was time for breakfast so we stopped at the restaurant and were given money to buy breakfast. We treated ourselves a "english breakfast" to stuff ourselves up for the rest of the day. We ensured that we also bought the bottle of water to keep us hydrated. At the restaurant, we spotted plenty of fruit bats hanging on the ceiling.

After a hour break, we were off again and noticed a huge traffic at one spot. We were curious what could be waiting for us to take photos. It was a lion at close up! We were amazed. The guide then told us that there should be a female lioness around as the male lion was never on its own. We looked for it but it couldn't be seen anywhere. The guide then said that he wasn't feeling too good and needed to go to the toliet. So we returned back to the same place where we had breakfast. Once he was feeling okay again, we returned back to the same route where the lion was still there but lying down and his leg can be only seen! So we were quite lucky to come by earlier to take good photos.

We saw more elephants but we were hoping to see either leopards or cheetah which we knew it would be a difficult challenge to find. However with that elephants, we spotted a baby one who was playing around the tree. It was so adorable! We did see few birds such as eagles, kingfisher etc.

With Daniel's clever eyes, he managed to spot baboons hiding in the trees and then we saw plenty of baboons in the distance at very close distance. Lisa thought for a moment that it was going to jump onto the safari landrover for food!

It was lunch break time so again we stopped at the different restaurant and we decided to have toasted sandwiches. we weren't that hungry as it wasn't that long ago when we had our fry up! We saw few different birds while we were having our lunch. By the time we returned back to the landrover, we found our guide having a nap!

Continuing our afternoon game drive, we didn't see any animals for a long time as it was usually time for the animals to have a nap. However we did see elephants again. After a long drive, we were told by the car passing by that there was rhinos down the road. We got excited cos it was another one of big 5 to tick off! It was crossing the road and we had a very good view of it. We were then told that it was time to return back to our campsite cos we would be doing the evening game drive. On our way back, again we saw plenty of impalas and kudus. In the distance, we saw a group of rhinos but still no luck with leopards or cheetahs.

We were stopped by the passing car with excitment that they spotted lions so we went to have a look. We realised that it was the same lions that we saw earlier on. They were too far away but there were plenty on the mountain. We heard the lion roaring to find it way down to find his lionesses. We saw at least 6 of them on the mountains. So it probably was a good thing that we saw plenty at close up at the lion park.

We arrived back at the campsite by 4pm. We then were told that one of the rangers in training who stays at the campsite, would be taking us out for the evening drive. We were concerned on how we would be able to understand the guide. She told us to be ready by 6pm. So we had a quick nap in our tent, along with packing everything together for the departure tomorow.

By the time it was 6pm, it wasn't dark just yet and we were asked if we have been to the rock where you could get the best views of the national park from the top. Before we drove to the rock, we stopped by near the lake to see hippos. It was the closest we have seen, comparing to the other times. Then we reached to the top of the rock with an amazing view and we were bit freaked out cos the wildlifes could approach to the rock and we were out of the car so we weren't safe. We asked the ranger if she have seen any wildlifes coming on the rock. She said she did see few lions a couple of weeks ago and she just went back to the car slowly and had no danger at all. So she was on the lookout all the time and it made Lisa paranoid! We had a couple of beers at the top and then it was getting dark quite quickly. We thought it was best to return back to the car for safely due to our sight being poor in the dark. We felt too open in the car, now that we couldn't see anything! However we did learn alot from the ranger as she was very deaf aware and made sure she had a torch on her face so we could lipread her. Again with this evening drive, it was only two of us so we had a personal tour again! we learnt about the different with poos and the tracking. On our drive, we learnt that the rhino could be nearby as it was fresh in their tracks. Unfortunately we didn't see any. We wish that we could have her as our guide all the time as we did understand her perfectly and we learnt alot from her, comparing to the guide we had all day. It was a struggle to understand the guide cos of his african accent.

We returned back to the campsite to have our meal. Before we had an early night, we ensured that we are ready and packed for tomorrow.