Snippets of the Kruger Park.

So who likes waking up early in the morning? When staying in the Kruger National Park in South Africa during the summer months of December and January, we love to get out of camp at about 5 am in the morning. It is a beautiful time of the day, when the sun has just risen, however, the animals often gaze at these mad human beings as if to say "What are you doing up so early in the morning?". Satara Rest Camp is one of our favourite camps as there is a profusion of different animals and birds in this area. I hope you enjoy a few of my wonderful and unusual sightings.
The picture of the giraffes was taken on an early morning drive near Satara Rest Camp.

This leopard was simply walking across the grass minding its own business.

Black Backed Jackals are often seen early in the morning. They are scavengers and this one was particularly hungry as he was scavenging for seeds and grubs in fresh elephant dung!
The Martial Eagle is a large bird commonly found in the Kruger Park. We saw this one sitting in the grass panting profusely. It was about 12pm and very hot and we at first thought that it was the heat causing the problem. We realized eventually that it had actually caught a leguaan (a large lizzard), which is a favourite prey of the Martial Eagle. The leguaan was obviously putting up a tremendous fight in its effort not to become lunch for the eagle.The leguaan can just be seen in the grass clasped in the eagle's claws.
I hope that you have enjoyed your snippets of what the Kruger Park has to offer.