Trips Around Pretoria Area - South Africa - April 2006 
 (click any picture to get enlargement)
This is a picture page summarizing the beginning of my second trip to visit Nicole. She extended her assignment and will now be here for a few more years... yeah! 


Rhino Lion Park is about 30 minutes from Pretoria.  You pay an entrance fee and are allowed to drive at your leisure.  The animals are separated from one another, so that the cats cannot kill the antelope and other animals.  From this perspective, this park is not "real", but it provides visitors a good feel for what they can expect when they go to a "real" game park.  Many times the animals go un-noticed because they are so well camouflaged.  Only when another car stops to look do you realize there is something there.

The Rhinos are the supposed to be one of the highlights of the park, but we had a hard time to see many.  Luckily this set came close to us. 

There was a caged in area with about eight young lion cubs.  As we approached they came near, probably thinking we were a source of food. 
  This cheetah appeared out of nowhere and provided us with much enjoyment.  After he climbed the rock on the right we expected him to request a tip for posing so nicely        :) 

Madikwe Game Park is a place that we had visited before, but we wanted to see what it would be like in the winter time.  In winter it is dry, so the grass is short and the bushes have no leaves; all leading to better game viewing.  The winter days are also shorter ... which means the morning drive starts at 7:30 instead of 5:30 and the evening drives got done at 7:30 instead of 9:30.... both of which was nice. 

Grasslands don't look all that dry even though it's winter time.
Water hole is drying up, but still there aren't any animals around it; the guide was surprised.

Lion strolling along ....
 ... giving us a side pose 
... and meeting his brother 

Antelope Blending In 
Attentive Antelope
Gentle Giraffe 


Well-hid Zebras 


Zebras on the run 
Wildabeest Herd 

Dinner at the "Boma"; 
a protective circular structure made with 
wood or bamboo. 
Sunset on another very enjoyable trip to Madikwe Game Reserve. 


Nicole and her mother took a trip to Botswana, which borders South Africa.  
Botswana is not very populated and is very protective of it's animals.
All that leads to very nice, but expensive, game viewing.  


Flying into Botswana 


Tent Residence 
Flowing River

Morning dew on grassland 
Unhappy Buffalo
Protective Elephant


Prowling Foxes


Imapla Herd 
Zebra Zerd  


Brown Rhinos


Rhino Close-up (nice!)
Curios Baboon 


Is it time for dinner?


Yeah, but don't rush me!
Post-kill Feast   


Yawn...eating is hard work! 


Time for another nap 
Sunset saying goodbye 
We were now getting quite familiar with the area around Pretoria, so we decided to venture out and see more of South Africa.  It isn't real easy, nor safe, to travel long distances in South Africa, but the more experience you have, the better! 


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