One of Africa’s most renowned wildlife preserve offers the opportunity to see ‘the Big Five: elephant, giraffe, black rhinoceros, white rhinoceros and hippopotamus. With a bit of luck, travelers might even see lions, cheetah and leopards – all of which are very infrequently seen as they are well camouflaged and move around mostly during the night.
Elephants and giraffes wander around feeding and doing what animals do naturally without giving a moment’s notice to travelers in their cars. Most of them just continued munching away completely oblivious to the effect they have on visitors.
We ran across a small herd of zebras crossing the road at mid day. Soon after the animals had crossed we noticed a female with a large belly and, as we wondered whether or not she was pregnant, we saw her foal moving around in her!
There are a good number of wildebeests, elephants and giraffes as well as antelope, white rhinos and birds. Watering holes are great places to observe wildlife such as antelopes, alligators and birds of all kinds as they warily share limited resources.
There are two good reasons that make winters the best time of year to spot animals: less water means they congregate in fewer places and deciduous trees have dropped their leaves so that it is easier to see through the bush. Two other good travel reasons are: it is off season so there are very few tourists and this makes everything cheaper.