Mala Mala South Africa

A night in Jo'berg anf we are off to Mala Male adjacent to Krueger Park in South Africa. Federal Air is a super delux slick way to go. Their check in service is flawless, they store extra luggage free, the lounge is luxurious and the plane has two engines and two pilots plus asphalt airstrips. For anyone that doesn't have the stamina, mobility or desire to push it as hard as the Botswana camps this is a terrific way to get a good experience and feel the same magic.

Lounge at Johannesburg for federal air

Two pilots.

Deck overlooking the Sand River. Setting is spectacular.
First game drive with Joe our new ranger. We told him we hadn't seen rhino, cheetahs, hyena in daytime and a leopard in a tree. Cheetahs are not going to happen so first drive, first day, we find these two males.

These large gentle herbivores existance hangs on the thin thread of human concern balanced against human evil. Ugly as it is to poach the fact that the poachers break the animals back and cut the horn off while it is still alive to give more " power" to the horn makes it more heinous.
I have been taking my cell phone on drives to make little easily emailed videos but no cell phones or iPads here in case GPS co-ordinates are broadcast.
We are only one at every sighting as the rangers do not broadcast to the other vehicles a rhino sighting like they do other things of interest.
We had a conversation with Brian at Damu Tau about rhinos as he is part of group raising and breeding rhinos near Krueger. It was inconcievable to him that someplace like Glenrose had no guards on their rhinos while to us it is inconcievable that they would be poached in Texas.

Sundowners

Moon rise

Look who they found! It is pitch black when these photos are take. New cameras are amazing.
Here the guides follow the cat at night as it may hunt. They don't want to light up the leopard so we sit in the moonlight with millions of stars as our only light. It is enough light that we spot her in the dark as she walks toward as and  past Gary and Jon, close enough to touch. Thrilling!
So that is how we ended up sitting in the cold African night with a National Geograpic photo crew listening for the sounds of a leopard kill.

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