South Africa-- Mala Mala Camp Day 6

Our morning drive started of really foggy today...the bush looked almost eerie! First sighting was some hippos in the water (of course!) and off in the distance. Then we got to see wild dogs hunting!!! This was the coolest thing!!! We did what our guide called a "Ferrari Safari" to catch up to them. We went over everything off roading to keep up with them. The hyenas always follow close behind them because they steal their kill. So when the dogs eat, they have to eat really fast because then the lazy hyenas come in and steal it from them! So crazy! So in the pictures you see the hyenas following super close behind the dogs because they are hoping for a free meal! Hahaha! The wild dogs were so cute--hyenas not so much! (They are part of the ugly 5 which includes wart hogs!) These particular dogs didn't end up catching anything so they laid down for a rest while the hyenas just stayed around hoping! Then we found a female leopard-- probably the mother of the female we found the first evening here. We found a BUNCH of giraffes-- they usually don't mind people, but there was one who kept walking away from us thinking he was hiding behind bushes and trees and we're like... um we can still see you! Your legs below and hello-- your head and hugely long neck above the trees??? It was so funny! He tried his best to hide! We learned that you rarely see a giraffe bend down to drink or eat... it is a very vulnerable position for predators, so you don't see if often... but we got to see it! So cool! He must've felt safe to do it. We saw a lot of zebras today and lots more ellies! Our guide stopped when he saw one rubbing up against a tree (picture below)... they like to push over trees because they love to eat the roots. Our guide thought he was going to push it over, but it turns out he was just getting a good scratch! Hahaha! You can always tell where the ellies are-- they bore holes in the sand because they can smell water with their trunks and they drink the water where it looks to be just a dry river bed! And anywhere where there are trees pushed over-- that's the ellies too! We took pictures of our camp and room (#15) and all around the grounds of the camp... animals were everywhere, as usual! At night we have to be escorted from dinner. We aren't allowed to walk anywhere without an escort because there are no fences and anything can wander in!! Yikes!! Bill and I got 1 hour massages today between drives. They came to our room and it was so relaxing and nice! On our afternoon drive we immediately came across a bunch of mama ellies and their babies-- always so fun to watch them! It was fun to watch them run with their ears flapping in the breeze-- they would run to catch up with the moms-- maybe they lost track of them because they were so focused on eating! I don't have pictures but we saw 2 young male impalas learning to spar and it was a crack up! One of them kept stopping to look over at us as if to say, "Did you get that? Here, let me do it again so you can get a good picture." We saw another lone impala way up on the top of a big rock just hanging out there. Usually you don't see them by themselves, but I guess he figured he was safe up there! We got pictures of our last African sunset at the camp tonight. It was really pretty! Another amazing day!!!