Lots of Driving...

So Internet has been a bit shady the last couple of days so here is a big post.  Two nights ago, Yesterday and this morning were amazing. We did the evening game drive and then we woke up early for the second game drive two nights ago that we were scheduled to do at the Rhino Ridge Safari Lodge.  Honestly if we could have traded in some of the last few days of driving we totally would, to stay here.

This morning we got up for our 6am game drive and within a few minutes we started to see animals again!  Remember to never wake a sleeping Rhino...lol...we actually passed one on our drive.

The first major animals we saw were the wild dogs, which are incredibly endangered.  It apparently is a real treat to see them like we did. 

They are amazing pack hunters and you could hear the Impalas ( Niala is the species, Impalas are bigger!) screaming warnings while we are sitting there.  Really cool to see them stalking their prey

After this sighting we went for ages and never saw anything except a few baboons:

Ironically we were just driving back for the day when we started to see some awesome stuff.  First a Lion was just sitting thirty feet from the road, which is apparently really rare:

Here is another from Burtha that Audrey took:

After that we moved not 500m forward and a giraffe just walked out:

And finally some more rhinos:

Definitely a cool drive before leaving the lodge.  On our way out we continued to see more stuff:

And the Buffalo I posted to Facebook of course too:

Once we left the park, we had a long drive into Swaziland.  It's it's own country, so we went through customs etc. and started our drive.  It was actually shocking to me to see the grass huts. However, as we progressed in from the border to where our hotel was the standard of living and how built up it was increased steadily. People seemed really happy and all that, which is great.  Our hotel is a villa, really swanky.  

Once we got up yesterday we went to see a traditional Swazi village and dancing.  I have not imported the pictures yet here but it was interesting to see the customs and dancing.  Some of their marriage traditions are crazy.  We will write about this later more.

To be honest, we are getting tired of all the driving, and after today we will be finally done with most of the road warrior stuff. Although we have enjoyed the sites and activities, we likely a would not do something with this much driving again. One day is fine, but after a week, it's getting tiring.  

That being said, we will be in Kruger and just be doing game drives for the next week, prior to leaving South Africa for Zimbabwe and Botswana.  So excited for them after Rhino Lodge.

Here is another pic and I'm out!

- Jonathan

Ps bonus picture of us in the bath tub lol