A couple of weekends ago I went to Kruger National Park in South Africa with Luc, and Eliane, former colleagues at CIDA in Ottawa, and Luc's family. I had been before and seen a lot of animals but wasn't awed like this time. The day started out pretty well. We saw a rhino, water buffalo, tons of impala and some zebras and a bunch of birds. But then the animal sightings started getting more and more sporadic.
May is winter here and it has been dry for months so the animals had moved on to greener pastures. So we went quite a long time without seeing anything except impalas galore. But eventually even the impalas were getting scarce. So we decided to go for lunch at one of the rest stops and entered the picnic area to find an elephant standing there about 50 feet away. Eliane and I whipped out our cameras and started snapping shots immediately. The elephant was quite calm, swishing his ears, eating some leaves, wasn't too excited about all us people hanging around. I was taking pictures like a maniac and trying to get as close as I could feel comfortable. But about 20 feet away I was getting nervous since I have learned a little bit about elephant behaviour like that they can run up to 50 km/h and can be aggressive if they are scared, so I was watching for the "bugger off" ear perk. I wondered if all the camera flashing in his eyes would make him mad, and my hands were shaking a bit, making photo taking difficult.
But it was so freaking awesome, being crushed would have been worth it!! The whole episode lasted about 10 minutes and I must have taken about 100 pictures. Elephants are my favorite, so this was a dream. He made his way through the rest stop, eating some leaves, uprooting some trees, scratching his chin. He was big but they can get to be twice his size. He was calm and graceful as he made his way through the rest stop and parking lot and back into the bush. That was the coolest thing that has ever happened to me and it wouldn't have mattered to me if we saw nothing else. 
But about a half hour later we came across a large group of giraffes feeding near the road. There were adults and babies and we stayed watching them for about 15 minutes, again taking pictures like mad. It's funny cuz people completely lose their minds when they see the animals and are so busy taking pictures that they don't really watch them. I am also guilty of this but I just really want to share this stuff with people and pictures are the only way. But the animals are really so amazing.
Shortly after we came across another large herd of elephants standing under a tree. It was just so National Geographic, it was awesome. They were in a circle with the babies in the middle of the circle being protected by the grown-ups. There were probably a dozen of them and we watched them for another 15 minutes or so until they all moved off and walked off into the sunset. After this we saw some more impala, wild boar, warthogs and some crocs but the elephants and giraffes were the stars. We went back to the hotel to rest, watch the sunset and have dinner.
The hotel was beautiful and had a viewing dock that overlooked a river full of hippos. So we went to the dock to watch the sunset and wait for the hippos to come out (they come out after dark). Just as the sun was setting, a family of elephants (could have been the same ones but who knows really) came walking and feeding along the shore right below the viewing dock. Again another 15 minute frenzy of photo (and video)taking as the elephants casually made their way along. 
Throughout this the hippos would poke their heads out of the water, make their sounds, blow their water, but I never did see them come out of the river. It was an amazing day never to be repeated I am sure. Except the following morning when we were wowed again by another elephant show. I have yet to see any of the cats (lions, cheetahs, leopards) or dogs (hyenas) at Kruger but I was thrilled with this trip. (For more pictures see http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=685380014 or http://www2.snapfish.com/home/t_=86505527)
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