Kapama Day 3

Our morning was a little bit earlier than the other mornings. We went to an elephant sanctuary. This always brings mixed feelings for me but I am happy to say they do make every attempt to return the elephants to their normal environment. This is more of a rescue operation than a petting zoo situation. We did see and feed 3 mature elephants and made a small donation. 

On our way there, we had a most interesting encounter with a rhino family. Mother and baby, then the male following behind. The male keeps his distance. As the female and baby move from their resting place for the night, the male moves in. He sniffs all the area where the female has relieved herself and this can tell him when she is ready to mate with him. The guide is so knowledgeable and explained much better than I possibly can. 

We first headed toward the water region to see hippos. However, we abruptly changed plans as there was work of an elephant herd with a couple of small babies in the area. So we abruptly changed directions to see that. A beautiful site. There were two very young elephants, still nursing so under 3 years old. Very hard to see in this photo but maybe you can make out one of them. 

Soon we were seeing many vultures circling an area. So off we go to investigate. This turned out to be the best event of the day. Two mature male lions had taken down a giraffe, probably killed last night. They were protecting their kill and eating at their leisure. 

Now it is back to the lodge for breakfast, a rest, and then later on a game drive again. We are putting some paperwork in place this afternoon for our visit to Zimbabwe in a few days. Then it was time for a bit of a rest.

This evening our game drive and sundowner were truly amazing with Amazing leopard sights tonight! The "growling" in this video is her letting the male nearby know that she is ready to mate! Quite nice for our last evening game drive at Kapama.