Eye to Eye - close encounters!

Our September tour brought about some ‘close encounters of the exciting kind’.

Yes it was in fact a thrill, even if somewhat excitingly scary when a BIG bull Elephant tried to charge our indomitable ‘Impi’ safari-truck.

This must surely be why Elizabeth Dixon from the United Kingdom (Britain) was a 3^rd time Epic Enabled client – now she is part of the Epic family and promised to come back next year again!

We also welcomed Marie, an experienced traveller from Ireland - always ready with a smile and Joanne & Martin for whom the African bush was a whole new experience.

Then at Tamboti Camp in the Kruger Park, the resident baboon troop chose to disrupt their domestic bliss one night and offered a great performance of strength – which sounded as though a war was taking place. What entertainment!

Of course change happens all the time – at the Private Game Reserve, Savannah’s 3 young cheetah cubs have now reached 7 months affording the chance for our guests to walk with one of the cubs – such a special delight to share with such an elegant ‘Cat’.

The 2 Lion cubs we walk with have changed so much as they are just over 1 year of age, already striding like fully grown animal Kings. Lots of wonderful animal encounters :)

African Chessmasters

Barely noticable...left is the Black Rhino, and right it is it's larger cousin, the White Rhino

Know the difference between a White and Black Rhino? Well, it has nothing to do with colour…

This month of July saw Mr and Mrs Catania joining us on our 8-Day Kruger Park Safari, and rhino’s were the star of the show. Endangered and very elusive, the Black Rhino is distinguishable from its cousin, the White Rhino, in a number of ways. While there is no difference in the colouring, the Black Rhino is significantly smaller than the White Rhino, and the main indicator is the shape of the mouth: Black Rhino have a pointed upper lip as opposed to the White Rhino, which has a more snub, square mouth.

This is because of eating habits. The Black Rhino is a browser, and thus uses its pointed lip in grip and tear leaves from bushes and shrubs whilst the White Rhino is a grazer, feeding on grass.

Other sightings included hippos, wildebeest, elephant, porcupine and a very bad tempered honey badger (above left), as well as a visit to the southern most baobab tree (above right). This tree is estimated to be over 3000 years old, and has a base of 43 meters. In other news, the lion cubs have grown quite fast and are starting to look more like young lions and less than cuddly kittens. Akila has grown too large and boisterous to the point that he will be joining the breeding project.