Safari - Day two (1st instalment) ....

18th February ... and a special day! Well, we were told that it was to be a special day. No idea how long it would take - could be a couple of hours but could be as many as 8 ... dependant on what we found and that we would be having a cruise - right!  Off we set at 6:30am and within 15 minutes we had our first 'WOW!' moment. (As ever, click on any image to enlarge)

Bull elephant.

So close we could almost touch him!

Warthog family. 

These creatures were so funny.  When they ran their tails would stick upright and they prance along.  Had us in stitches many a time.  It was unusual to get any standing still long enough to take a photograph.

Selous Grave.

The grave of the guy who the reserve was named after. 

Eland.

Very shy and extremely elusive.

Who d'yer think you're looking at? 

Zebra.

As curious of us as we were of them.  We saw many and there were a lot of young about as well.  In fact, all of the species had a lot of young.  It was amazing to see.

Wildebeest.

Look at the number of babies there are in this herd. 

These wildebeest, zebra and eland were all together - but seperate.  It was wonderful seeing the different species sharing the same space.  Not something you see in a zoo or even a wildlife park if we're honest, at least, not in the same way and from choice

Nursery group of giraffe. 

Adult giraffe tend to herd all the youngsters together with just a couple of adults in charge.  This group was much bigger but impossible to photograph together as it was too spread.  Again they were as curious of us as we them - lol!

 

Beautiful birds.

Not sure what the black, white and grey ones are but they're bound to be some sort of bee eater!  Update:  They're not!  They're long tailed shrikes, according to Google  - lol!

Carmine-chested bee eater Lilac Breasted Roller ...

Northern carmine bee eater

(aka 'the red arrows' as named by Salum, our guide). 

If you could see the way they flew around the vehicle, swooping from side to side and flying parallel you'd know why.  Near impossible to photograph unless perched but I gave it a go by holding camera out and clicking as they flew by and hoped for the best - lol!

9 to 9:30 and we stopped for breakfast - or so we thought. 

Salum brought out the picnic basket and made our tea and coffee and we had rolls and snacks out in the open.  Comfort break?  Behind the vehicle or a distant bush if brave enough.  Poor Jackie had to shout for the engine to be started ... *LOL*

We knew it was still early but thought that this was it - breakfast in the bush - and that we'd be making our way back.  Having been told that it could take as little as 2 but as many as 8 hours we were pretty convinced we'd had the best ... however ...

Thanks for dropping by .....