Olifants rest camp, Kruger NP

On October 15, we left bright and early again (5:30 the gates open) and headed from Berg-en-dal to Oliphants which is about 227 Km.  We were on paved roads the entire way.  The highlight of the mornings drive was seeing a leopard just north of Afsaal rest area.  The leopard was holding some women's clothing in its mouth. Hopefully, he found this item of clothing and did not tear it off of some lady!  We watched the leopard for quite awhile.  It was beautiful.  My pictures don't do it justice but Dean got some great shots.  Along the way we saw lots of zebras, elephants, warthogs, and, of course, the ever present impala.  There are over 130,000 impalas in the park and they are everywhere.  Stopped at another picnic area, Tshokwane, about half way and had kudu which tasted like steak, corn mush, which tasted like potatoes, and tomato gravy, which tasted like spagetti sauce, for 30R.  Watched a monkey steal a candy bar from a ladies lunch.  The monkey had a baby hanging on her stomach and was up in a tree eating the candy bar before the women could even yell.

Olifants rest area is situated on a hill over looking the Olifants river.  We could see lots of animals down by the water especially hippos, impalas, and waterbucks.  We have round bungalows and they are air conditioned with cooking area outside.  On Oct. 16, we drove north toward Letaba rest area and saw a heard of elephants, two rhinos facing off in the river, and 4 lions snoozing under a tree.  We had lunch at the Letaba picnic area and continued on to a bird blind.  We watched two elephants playing in the river, more hippos, a rock monitor lizard, a chameleon, turtles, and lots of birds.  That night we had peri-peri chicken and roasted veggies on the grill.  This was another warm day, probably in the 90's.  On Oct. 17, Dean and I took a break and stayed at Oliphants while Ron and Bernita went for a morning drive. We really enjoyed our patio overlooking the river.  After coffee we had breakfast at the restaurant and took a walk around the camp.  We are not getting our daily walk with all this car riding.  During our walk we observed a monkey, with baby hanging on, steal some bread off a patio then open the refrigerator and take a loaf out and start eating it.  I yelled but the monkey did not budge.  Finally I taped on the window of the bungalow and yelled "a monkey is stealing your bread".  A man said thank you and scared the monkey off.  Ron and Bernita had a good siting of a male and female lion.

That night we went on a night drive lead by two guides.  We didn't see much except hares, rabbits, and impalas.  Just not lucky!

Oct. 18, I got up early and went with Ron and Bernita for a two hour drive.  We saw Cape buffalo, elephants, giraffes, zebras.  Then we circled back, picked up Dean, packed the car, and headed for Satara.