The hunt was on early and eyes were prised on finding the animals in the bush, hoping to tick off the Big 5. First animal spotted was a Impala, then a Warthog followed by a Baboon early on. As we progressed through the park at a leisurely pace we then spotted the first of many Wilderbeast (even though they have been passing by the compound regularly), very exciting, then a prized siting of a Blacked-backed Jackal. Next on the list of animals we saw was a gang of Giraffes which took particular interest in the Aussie invasion of the park. Our tour guides Peter and Richard from WEC Safari's then decided to take us on another route and we struck gold! A big, beautiful Bull Elephant having a stroll on his own through the park. Awesome site! (he was a little bigger than the local variety that we have become accustom to outside the WEC compound however). After about 1000 photo's our guides proceeded to take us even further into the park where we stumbled across a family of Black Rhino's, a Bull, a Mum and a baby - pretty impressive.
Our ever keen tour guide Richard then showed us a couple of Dung Beetles having a merrily roll of dung down the road, a site to be seen. Next to be sited was a Kudu, numerous Zebras were spotted throughout the day, a Steenbok, Hippos at a lakeside hide, Terrapins, Crocodile, Catfish and several different types of birds. We had a long deserved rest and had a bight to eat, lovely sandwiches prepared by Sue, Kathy and Andrew. Marvellous effort that!
We then saw the Fish Eagle in a nest with its babies and then we went to the info centre for a bit of a look around. Tim got himself in a bit of trouble for only buying the boys car Ice creams! Thanks Tim.
A quick getaway was needed and we headed for Hippo drive and saw Rock Hyrax and more fat Hippos. After this our guides lost their feel for the park and we had about 1 hour of complete nothing, Tim and Leighton used this time to catch a few Zs.
After some soul searching by our WEC Safari guides they got their mojo back and led us to literally a herd of Elephants which woke everyone up, got the cameras firing and was truly an amazing experience. The tour then continued with our guides back on track of animal scent and they spotted a Brown Hyena which are quiet rare in the park! The Springbok was next and then we tracked a White Rhino for over a kilometre, then a Red Hartebeest, Waterbuck and then a big Crocodile at a water hide.
There were many so-called sightings of Lions which all turned out to be rocks and Leopards which turned out to be Leopard Trees.
After searching all day looking for a Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Buffalo and Ostrich we left the park at aprroximately 4.30pm only after looking at another herd of Elephants and a couple of hippos taking an afternoon dip. Pretty special that!
The big drive home saw Erle, Creighton and Andrew try their hand at driving in South Africa to give our WEC Safari guides, Sir Peter Campbell and Sir Richard Parker a well deserved rest. We all had a big feed at Wimpy's which was an experience!
The Dubbo team finally arrived home safe and sound at the compound at around 9.00pm very tired and also pumped from the experience. A big thankyou to WEC Safari's and Peter and Richard who did an outstanding job, even when a few of us broke the rules! Thanks Richard and Peter, you were extremley patient and generous with your time. We had an outstanding time.
Some say that a lonely Hare was spotted outside the compound on the way home, carrying a stick with coloured eggs in a hankerchief. A bit early for easter but he may have been paractising, he looked like a bit of a rabbit!
A couple of raffes
The big phant tossing dirt.
Yep, another zebra.
A phant family.
Ahhhhh!!!!!
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