On Thursday we left for a place called Pilansburg which is about one and a half hours north from here. We went to a National Park there and inside the National Park is the Manyane Resort which is this campground. We stayed at this place until Saturday afternoon. On Thursday we just sent up camp (we bought a tent and all the other supplies needed. We are planning to always camp when we travel around Africa because it is much cheaper and easier. ) and ate yummy tinfoil dinners that my mom made. On Friday we got up at five to go and see the big animals. What you do is just get in your car with your animal identifying books and binoculars and just drive around and look. Until about ten that day we drove all around the park to see all the animals. The day was just amazing. We were so lucky and got to see so many things. I spotted the first animal which was a herd of zebras. Wild zebras!! I have seen wild zebras. Crazy. One thing that we saw most often was different kinds of antelope. There was springbok, kudo, waterbuck, etc. Actually, we saw them so often that they got rather boring. The zebras also got boring too because they are so common. We also got to see two types of wildebeests quite often too.
We all picked an animal that we really wanted to see and made it a goal to see. Luke’s was a rhino and as soon as he said it, Sarah started screaming, “RHINO, RHINO!,” and threw herself down on the floor. Turns out, right by the road are two HUGE white rhinos. I started freaking out to because they are known for charging cars and they really were about twenty feet from our car. Once we all calmed down, we got to look at them and enjoy them for a while. Apparently, white rhinos are very endangered and we are really very lucky to have seem them. We even saw about five more throughout the day, including a baby. Next, we saw a giraffe out in the distance. It was very far away but still very cool. We did however, later, get to see two more. They were just as close to us as the rhinos. We sat and watched them eat. They are just so majestic and beautiful.
There were also very many gorgeous birds flying around. We saw a couple of Fish Eagles which are just like Bald Eagles. Guinea fowl and Swensons Franklin were pretty popular too. Probably the coolest bird we saw was called a secretary bird and they are huge. It was up in a tree but we saw it really well with binoculars. It was like we were in Jurassic park because the bird looks pretty scary and is about as tall as Luke!
In the park they have these things called hides. They are like lookouts where you can watch animals at watering holes. You park your car in the parking lots and then walk into a gated walkway out to the hide. That is also the only time that you are allowed out of the car. So at one of these hides, we saw a real live hippo. Every once and a while he would pop out of that water and we would get to see part of his head. That was pretty cool. At another of these hides we had the coolest experience. When we first got there, there was really nothing to see. We waited for a while and soon enough, an ELEPHANT came lumbering over the hill towards the watering hole. We got to watch him as we walked towards us, and then he started to drinking water. Our five cameras were clicking so much, because how often will we get to see this? Then we thought he was going to leave because he walked around the dam(word for lake or pond here). But instead he proceeded to take a mud bath. We got to watch him as he sprayed himself and then roll around. It was sooooo cool to get to see that. After his bath he walked back over the hill. Awesome! Some other animals that we got to see were warthogs and baboons. The baboons were actually at our campsite. They are just like everywhere. They get into your stuff even more than raccoons and they can even open the trashcans that supposedly are “baboon proof” So they roam the campsite and some of them are as big as dogs. They are known to be very ferocious and you are not allowed to interact with them in any way. Scary. We saw two warthogs. One was out in the wild and very small but the other one was RIGHT BY OUR TENT. It was huge, like as long as a dining table and almost as tall. Man it was so scary. The animals aren’t supposed to get into the resort because there are big fences everywhere but somehow this guy got in and it was scary. Also in the campground were a whole herd of antelope. I woke up in the middle of the night and went to the bathroom. I came out and there they were grazing right by the bathroom. Ahhh Africa is crazy.
So after driving through the park that morning we went mini-golfing and then swimming. Later in the evening we went out again and saw an ostrich, baboons, jackals, and an impala. We went to the restaurant on the camp site for dinner. Saturday morning we woke up early again. Unfortunantly it was really rainy and foggy so really the only thing that we saw was a crocodile, hippos, and more antelope. Then we went back to our campsite and packed up. We had soooo much fun and got to see so many things. The only disappointment was that we didn’t get to see any lions, but we will get more chances. So that was really fun. We came home Saturday afternoon and had some people over for dinner. That was my weekend it was AAAAAAAMMMMMMAAAAAZZZZZIIIINnnGGGGGG
We all picked an animal that we really wanted to see and made it a goal to see. Luke’s was a rhino and as soon as he said it, Sarah started screaming, “RHINO, RHINO!,” and threw herself down on the floor. Turns out, right by the road are two HUGE white rhinos. I started freaking out to because they are known for charging cars and they really were about twenty feet from our car. Once we all calmed down, we got to look at them and enjoy them for a while. Apparently, white rhinos are very endangered and we are really very lucky to have seem them. We even saw about five more throughout the day, including a baby. Next, we saw a giraffe out in the distance. It was very far away but still very cool. We did however, later, get to see two more. They were just as close to us as the rhinos. We sat and watched them eat. They are just so majestic and beautiful.
There were also very many gorgeous birds flying around. We saw a couple of Fish Eagles which are just like Bald Eagles. Guinea fowl and Swensons Franklin were pretty popular too. Probably the coolest bird we saw was called a secretary bird and they are huge. It was up in a tree but we saw it really well with binoculars. It was like we were in Jurassic park because the bird looks pretty scary and is about as tall as Luke!
In the park they have these things called hides. They are like lookouts where you can watch animals at watering holes. You park your car in the parking lots and then walk into a gated walkway out to the hide. That is also the only time that you are allowed out of the car. So at one of these hides, we saw a real live hippo. Every once and a while he would pop out of that water and we would get to see part of his head. That was pretty cool. At another of these hides we had the coolest experience. When we first got there, there was really nothing to see. We waited for a while and soon enough, an ELEPHANT came lumbering over the hill towards the watering hole. We got to watch him as we walked towards us, and then he started to drinking water. Our five cameras were clicking so much, because how often will we get to see this? Then we thought he was going to leave because he walked around the dam(word for lake or pond here). But instead he proceeded to take a mud bath. We got to watch him as he sprayed himself and then roll around. It was sooooo cool to get to see that. After his bath he walked back over the hill. Awesome! Some other animals that we got to see were warthogs and baboons. The baboons were actually at our campsite. They are just like everywhere. They get into your stuff even more than raccoons and they can even open the trashcans that supposedly are “baboon proof” So they roam the campsite and some of them are as big as dogs. They are known to be very ferocious and you are not allowed to interact with them in any way. Scary. We saw two warthogs. One was out in the wild and very small but the other one was RIGHT BY OUR TENT. It was huge, like as long as a dining table and almost as tall. Man it was so scary. The animals aren’t supposed to get into the resort because there are big fences everywhere but somehow this guy got in and it was scary. Also in the campground were a whole herd of antelope. I woke up in the middle of the night and went to the bathroom. I came out and there they were grazing right by the bathroom. Ahhh Africa is crazy.
So after driving through the park that morning we went mini-golfing and then swimming. Later in the evening we went out again and saw an ostrich, baboons, jackals, and an impala. We went to the restaurant on the camp site for dinner. Saturday morning we woke up early again. Unfortunantly it was really rainy and foggy so really the only thing that we saw was a crocodile, hippos, and more antelope. Then we went back to our campsite and packed up. We had soooo much fun and got to see so many things. The only disappointment was that we didn’t get to see any lions, but we will get more chances. So that was really fun. We came home Saturday afternoon and had some people over for dinner. That was my weekend it was AAAAAAAMMMMMMAAAAAZZZZZIIIINnnGGGGGG
3 comments:
Wow, Hailey! What a great report of a fantastic weekend. We thought we had some incredible adventures but your weekend is right up there with "TOTALLY AWESOME - EXCELLENT ADVENTURE" !!
Thanks for keeping us "posted".
Love, GJ
Wow,Hailey! you did a great job writing that up! That makes our little Disney World Safari seem really lame! I am so jealous. I can't wait to read more.
Hi, Hailey! You write very well. I could picture everything that was happening with all the fabulous description you provided. To echo your sentiment, AMAZING trip! I have always wanted to go on an African Safari so thanks for writing such an extensive report to share with all of us back in the States. I also loved the video and pictures!!
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