Pilanesberg National Park (act V)

The Big Five
The "Big Five" is the name given to the 5 most dangerous animals you can find there :

•  the African Buffalo : up to 1.4m in height, 800 kg. They are herbivores, but can be dangerous if they feel threatened. They are unfortunately quite rare (150 in the Park) and we could not see any.

•  the African Elephant : the biggest "land" mammal (yeah, whales are larger, but they don't live in this place :-p ). There are 180 in the Park. It is also a herbivore, but can be quite dangerous. One should never forget that we go on their territory, and if they feel threatened in any way, they will defend themselves. And when an Elephant is close to your car, you really feel small. And when it charges, even a mock charge, you don't insist. They are not really rare in the Park, but we could not see any by day. At the end of the afternoon game view with the ranger, he got called to say they had an Elephant on the road close-by, so we went there, but it was already dark. The Elephant was indeed walking on the road (it keeps the warmth of the day), and you could see it was very humid below the eyes and between the legs. This means he is not in a playful mood (I think it is testosterone). So you have to imagine the ranger going backwards, by night, with the vehicle (which is no less than an open truck with seats !), and the Elephant going towards us (not fast, but straight !). At some point, the Elephant started screaming towards us, and that's when the ranger decided to give a quick U-turn (a performance, in this kind of road, by night, with a truck) and we left. Unfortunately, I have no picture - maybe Simon has one where we can see something.

• the Lion (40 in the park), which we were so lucky to see twice ! I don't need to say why the Lion is dangerous - though they usually don't attack humans in the vehicles. If you feel brave enough to go close to a Lion sleeping in the shade next to a kill, which is of course forbidden, you may get slapped. But slapped by a Lion can cut your throat, so, better not try.

• the Rhino, which we also saw. The number of Rhinos in the Park is not available, but we counted at least 12. There are probably much more.

• the Leopard (about 35 in the park), which is very elusive. They like to go on rocks. When a leopard is seen, it attracts many cars !

These are just a few of the cars behind us, waiting to see the Leopards

In that place, there were apparently several Leopards, but they are not easy to distinguish ... And they don't come very close, so it would have been better with a larger lens, but OK, I did what I could ! :-) It's like a big, big cat ... And it stayed there, looking at all these people taking pictures at him. We are also an attraction for him.

See the tail ?

Misc photos
What I really liked also was to see several animals just living next to each-other, and not really caring of the others.

Giraffes and Rhinos

Springboks and Ostriches

Zebras, Hippos, Gnus and Impalas

 

Conclusion
Weren't we lucky ?
I'm aware that sometimes, you go to a park and don't see so many things - I'm so happy that my first experience here was so "successful". Being with Simon, who is quite experienced in game reserves, helped a lot, and now I feel confident enough to go by myself or bring visitors, so ... come to South Africa ! :-)