Ryan on his excursion

Besides the natural beauty of the landscape and the people of South Africa, the wildlife here is unlike anywhere else on earth I’ve been to. On our excursion we got to spend two amazing days in Kruger National Park where we were to witness untamed animals in their natural habitats. We did two game drives, one in the evening and the other early in the following morning. Many of us were hoping to see a specific animal, many of us elephants, some lions, and others zebras. The only animal that I wanted to witness was a giraffe. Luckily we came across one, a full grown male early on in the evening safari. It was incredible to be able to get so close to this majestic creature which was feeding on a tree about 50 feet away. Soon afterwards we saw a white rhino grazing in an area of short grass. I learned that the name came from a mistake in which they were originally called “wide rhinos”. It made me wonder how anyone could possibly poach these rare animals for nothing more than their horns. 

The morning drive that began at 4:30am was even more exciting as more animals came out while we tried to stay awake. The sunrise was probably the best I’ve ever seen so far because it reminded me of the sunrise from the movie The Lion King. Further along the drive we came across many elephants hiding behind the trees. I recall one specific elephant that came out and crossed the road in front of our vehicle. This fully grown male with gigantic tusks stopped in the middle of the road and turned its entire body to face us. When it put its foot forward and flared out its giant ears, I grew extremely anxious. Slowly I put my camera back into my case and began taking small steps backwards towards the rear the vehicle. When it passed I had a sigh of relief and marked that moment as the most frightening of our trip at Kruger. Later that day after catching up on sleep, 16 of us went on a guided walk for a couple of hours where we got to see and learn about wildlife that would be difficult to explain from a truck. We learned about plant life, gigantic spiders, and a little about the land that animals inhabited while we tracked elephants and springboks by their foot prints. While leaving Kruger we reflected on who got to see certain animals and who did not. I got to see giraffes, elephants, hippos, springboks, a water buffalo, a rhino, warthogs, spiders, and a lot of different birds. My list was a few short of Africa’s “Big 5” which includes the elephant, the lion, the leopard, the buffalo, and the rhino (named for their difficultly in hunting) but at least I can say that I saw most of them and a ton of giraffes.