We saw the Big 5...and much more on SAFARI!

So Monday we spent the day in Kruger National Park...a safari reserve! Yep that's right...I went on SAFARI because I do live in Africa. It was awesome and supposedly it wasn't even a great day of sightings. And for all those wondering I did start singing The Circle of Life upon entering the park and many more Lion King songs were to follow!
So lets see...we'll start with the Big 5! These are the greatest wild animals of South Africa...all the biggest hunters! Our first sighting of the morning was water buffalo. I don't have a great photo because of the angle but they are HUGE and quite funny looking with their horns propped up on their heads somewhat like a bad hair style.

Water Buffalo

Next on our adventure came an elephant that walked right into the road up ahead of us! Amazing! For the record they are HUGE! And we did see 2 more elephants during the day, all males and no babies (I really wanted to see an elephant baby!).

Elephant

Next up was a group of rhino and then one who looked right at us for the perfect photo op! What a sport he was!

Rhino

Next was the leopard, a rare siting for sure! He was walking along the road behind some brush. All I could think/say was, "He is amazing...Wow!" Seriously he was gorgeous!

Leopard

Last but certainly not least was our lion siting! We pulled up on a group of cars parked on the side of the road. You know that should end with something amazing. It ended up being 2 male lions sitting in some brush after making a kill. There were vultures all around and the lions were panting so much it was crazy. They were goregous as well...you could just tell they run the place!

Lions

My favorite out of these would have to be the elephant and next the leopard. With the elephant I was just taken back by how amazingly large he was and the fact that he would just walk out in the road and slowly walk back toward the trees not without a few great poses! The leopard's fir was amazing! He had such a shiny coat...gorgeous I tell you!
As for other sightings...
We did see one giraffe after praying hard and asking the Lord all day for giraffes!

Our lone giraffe...

There were approximately 5,785 impala to be seen. They are a deer like animal that if you ask me infests all of Kruger! But they are pretty and they gave me many many photo opportunities!

Some of my favorite impala!

We also saw several groups of kudu...

Kudu for your viewing pleasure...

There were too many hippos to count, tons and tons of birds, a couple of crocodiles, one lone monkey, several zebras and wildebeests, and a warthog!

My favorite bird all day...all for you Ellen!Wildebeests and there good birdy friends...Zebra...makes you feel so very African!And we can't forget Pumba...of course there was Hakuna Matata sang with this sighting!And last but certainly not least...Pride Rock!!!!

Altogether a HUGE success! It was a long day but a good one!

Chris, Erin, and I almost finished with our safari adventure!

To answer your two burning questions:
#1 Yes, you can come and see all these wonderful creatures for yourself if you come visit me (and of course play with all my adorable children as well)!
#2 Yes, this is all my photography and I wish you could see it with great resolution! I know, I know...I amazed myself! I have to thank Hope for picking out the camera!