Day 7: Pilanesberg National Park
Rhinos, elephants, and leopards! Oh my! Boy, we had an
exciting day yesterday. We started the day off early by packing everything up
and heading to Pilanesberg National Park. It was a two-and-a-half-hour drive to
the park from our hotel in Centurion. We arrived early so we had time to browse
the little shops at the front of the park. At 10 am we loaded up in the open-air
jeeps to start our safari. To say that Pilanesberg was incredible is an understatement.
The park was stunning. The rolling mountains, red rock, lush grass, and abundance
of wildlife made this safari one of the highlights of the entire trip. Our tour
guide Ernest explained that the park was located inside a crater, which helped
to keep the animals in the park. We were informed that there were about 3,000
animals in the park.
The first
animals we saw were hippos. There was a dam with a lake that we drove by and
saw their heads poking through the water. There was one male which we identified
due to his larger size, especially his mouth, and we saw several females too. We
saw a small herd of red hartebeests lounging in the dirt. These animals have
horns in the shape of a heart. Shortly thereafter we saw some impalas, and later
we saw a ton of them scattered through the park. Throughout the safari we also
saw multiple groups of zebras. All zebras are black with white stripes.
We saw two separate groups of giraffes.
We were told that giraffes only lay down when they are in groups because it
offers security. Giraffes also do not make audible noises. They communicate with
each other through their ears and body movements. The male giraffes are darker in
color than the females. We then came upon two leopards. This was an incredibly
rare experience. Leopards are very elusive, making it hard to spot on safaris. Our
tour guide, Ernest, said it was his first spot of a leopard in 4 months. We saw
an adult female and yearling cub crossing a hill and then the cub sat on a tree
stump about fifty feet away from us, which allowed for great photo opportunities.
They then crossed the road right in front of us! It was cool to watch the
leopards move across the land so stealthily.
The next animal we saw was a single
male elephant. Elephants flap their ears to cool their body off and get blood
pumping to their heart. We watched as he used his big trunk to pull down
branches to eat and slowly lumbered around. A few yards away from the elephant
were two white rhinos. The park managers had opted to dehorn these rhinos to
protect them from being poached. We had to be quiet around them too because
they are super sensitive to noise. Later, we saw another white rhino but this
time with an adorable baby. We learned that the gestation period of rhino is 18
months.
The safari ended with a debrief from
our tour guide, who has been in this business for 32 years. We learned that the
park managers track only the cheetahs as they are a rare species that are on
the verge of extinction. In total the park has about 29 lions, but they are very
elusive. Still, our tour guide has seen more lions than leopards. The lions are
only seen in the mornings and in the evenings when they roam the land looking
for prey. Unfortunately, we were unable to see a lion but got the rare
opportunity to see the leopard.
After the safari we headed back to
our hotel to retrieve our belongings and head to the airport. We ended our time
in South Africa by singing karaoke to popular country songs on the bus ride to
the airport. After the long 16-hour flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, we
landed in Atlanta, Georgia this morning. We will be back in Sioux Falls late
tonight and are excited to continue to share our stories with our family and
friends.
Chiara and Morgan
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