July 15, 2015: Kruger National Park, South Africa 鈥 This morning we ran into a massive lion jam鈥攕omeone had spotted a pride of lions and about 20 vehicles were parked on a narrow road in the forest, jockeying for the best viewing position. There was no way to wedge our van into the middle of the jam so we stopped at the edge, with the lions out of sight, and waited.
A couple of minutes later, the lions decided to come to us. Three females, a male, and nine cubs suddenly stood up and approached our van; they paid no attention to cars and walked casually through the gaps between parked vehicles. The cubs crossed the road and one of the females even stretched out for several minutes within spitting distance (鈥渏ust lion around,鈥 said Martha)鈥攊t was hard to believe these were wild animals. Yes, lions!
A car pulled up next to us with two women in the front seats and the driver rolled down her window. 鈥淐an we get through?鈥 she asked. Wayne glanced ahead and said something like, 鈥淲ell, there鈥檚 a lion in the road. You might want to wait a minute.鈥 Just then, the lion moved and the woman smiled. 鈥淥h, great,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got work to do.鈥 Things melted down in our van as the women drove off: 鈥淵ou鈥檙e surrounded by lions!鈥 said Brian. 鈥淲hat, you鈥檝e got forms to fill out or something?鈥
It was the kind of day in Kruger when anything seems possible. In total, we saw 24 lions today in three groups. We also came across a rare black rhinoceros and identified more than 30 other species of mammals鈥攑robably the biggest mammal day I鈥檝e ever had. But the best was saved for last.
At Kruger, if you鈥檙e not in camp by 5:30 p.m. the rangers will give you a big fine, and we cut it close this afternoon. About 5 kilometers from camp, Wayne looked at his watch and predicted, jokingly, 鈥淲e鈥檒l make it as long as we don鈥檛 see a leopard or something.鈥 A couple of curves later Wayne suddenly burst out, 鈥淕uys, there鈥檚 a leopard!鈥 Sure enough, a big, spotted cat walked slowly between some bushes then, incredibly, came right to the edge and looked at us for several moments.
My photos are stamped 5:26 p.m. We floored it back to camp and passed through the gate less than 20 seconds before it closed for the night. Only later, at dinner, did I realize that the leopard capped off a good run: This afternoon we saw the 鈥渂ig five鈥 (elephant, buffalo, rhino, lion, and leopard) in a span of less than three hours!
New birds today: 11
Year list: 3583
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