It’s not uncommon while on a game drive to see elephants on the road. It’s just any easy place to walk while looking for something to eat. But you do have to be careful to stay out of their way and watch for signs of aggression. Usually they are just lumbering along like this one. But stay away if you see a lot of ear spreading and flapping, head tossing, tusks lifted, or a male in musth during a time of heightened sexual activity when a dark secretion is seen from the temporal ducts.
Seems we may have been interrupting this rhino mud bath at Kruger National Park. Many animals roll in the mud to cool off and create a caked layer to keep bugs off.
Of course the zebras and a blue wildebeest also looked on.
After this white rhino crawled out of its spa it wandered behind a bush as if to hide from us paparazzi.
I hope it didn’t think we were poachers because the only way I’d shoot a Rhino is with my camera. Only Rhinos need Rhino horn.
Reposted in honor of World Rhino Day September 22, 2014.
Indian Ocean from camp
While camping at Leisure View near Port Edward Joan and I went to dinner at the highly recommended Mac Banana located between Palm Beach and Munster along the Kwa-Zulu Natal coast. There were so many choices on the menu of sweet or savory pancakes—which in the States are called crepes—we wanted one of everything. They really should have a combo plate.
Joan ordered a fresh pineapple shake and savory ground beef wrapped in a crepe. It was so big she took half of it back to camp for breakfast.
I went for the lemon and herb chicken over brown rice and Frankie’s Ginger Beer. Both served with salad and a delicious greenish dressing which probably had avocado in it. Half of this also became breakfast.
There is also a Mac Banana shop, car wash, go carts, paint ball, play ground, bakery, local wines, a butterfly house and more. The store is full of delectable treats (no photos allowed) plus fresh fruits and vegies, candies and cookies, jams of every imaginable flavor and tourist trinkets.
I bought an airplane size bottle of Granadilla/Passion fruit Mampoer which Joan says I dare not drink at 50% alcohol. Mampoer, unique to South Africa, is a white spirit distilled from fermented fruit, the equivalent of moonshine. Think I’ll share it with the Grand Canyon crew this summer.
The food was so delicious we returned the next afternoon for a lunch of a mixed berries crepe with ice cream on the side which we shared. Plus I had a fresh banana shake.
And the outdoor seating surrounded by lush vegetation made it feel like our own private garden. Too bad we weren’t in the area longer to try out a few more of the menu offerings plus visit the butterfly house. And maybe even get the car washed.
