Long Necks

Thursday March 9, 2023

The owners of the Buhala Lodge, Carol and Colin, bid us farewell as we sadly got back into the campers and eyed the 24 square feet of space!

Back to reality and back to Kruger Park today. We will actually stay inside Kruger Park at the Skukuza Rest Camp. They have strict rules about being inside camp by the time the gates close at 6pm—thankfully nobody was late, and the wild animals and the wild humans were locked in!

 
Our drive through the park was a self drive (without a guide) and we hit a jackpot of long necks—giraffes!

They were everywhere—tall ones, smaller ones, all with cute faces chomping away at the trees, stopping occasionally to look at us and and then a few walked right across the road in front of us.

It was the closest we've seen Giraffes and they came out in numbers to greet us.

They have such a graceful walk.  It wa fun to sat and just watched for awhile.

  
Our guides from the previous two days had given us a lot of info about these creatures. Giraffes are the tallest mammal in the world. Even though their necks are long, they have 7 vertebrae in the neck—the same as we do—but they are extremely elongated.--duh!  

Giraffes eat for 16-20 hours per day, but don't drink much because they get much of the needed water from the leaves.  Check out this giraffe munching away, and notice the birds that help out by eating bugs and ticks from his back.

 

And, a group of giraffes is called a "tower".  We saw several different towers as we drove along,,  Often you could spot just their heads towering above the trees. 

Check out the dash cam footage of the giraffe crossing the road.  I don't know how to trim the clip, so be patient for about 14 seconds, then you'll see the giraffe, plus a warthog dart out on the right. 

We didn't see the variety of animals that we've seen the past few days—probably because of the heat—it is in the 90's and very humid....and sweaty! 

There was a helicpoter flying around and we learned it was a "poacher patrol"--they routinely monitor the area for bad guys.  One guide told us they lose one animal a day to poaching...very sad to hear.

We arrived at the Skukuza campground to celebrate our giraffe sightings and another great day with two more long necks!