Our tour from Johannesburg turned into a lovely two-night stay with friends on a day trip from Pretoria joining us on safari in the Pilanesberg. Wow, lovely giraffe at a waterhole this morning. We spent the last two hours scanning the landscape hoping to spot giraffe. We saw Kudu, Zebra, Impala but no Giraffe yet and yesterday they were everywhere! At last, here they are and these two are keen on a bit of water. The younger giraffe is aiming at having water right there and then but the thick mud makes it difficult to get a steady foot. He moves off to the right, the dirt a bit steadier over there….. he dips down for a sip. Giraffe has special valves in their neck veins limiting blood flow to the head (blood could enter the jugular vein) allowing them to lower their heads without turning “dizzy”. He manages two sips of water though they will usually spend a bit more time filling up.
They are rather vulnerable to attacks from lions (lions jump onto their backs) while positioning themselves to reach the water and do not want to spend to much time in this position especially considering the location of the waterhole with shrubs and thick bush so very close by serving as ideal cover for predators to attack from.
Tomorrow we will be off to our hotel in Pretoria before heading for the airport the next day to board a KLM flight that will take us home. We chose to stay in Pretoria but more specific in Centurion at Physeqfit Guest House http://physeqfit-guest.co.za/ Our tour guide who fetched us from OR Tambo airport on arrival in South Africa and who is accompanying us during our entire tour will be staying at Physeqfit Guest House. It is easier to and from the airport and to destinations on our itinerary. The traffic in and around Johannesburg makes it rather time-consuming to get to where we wanted to be. Prior to our departure for the airport, we will be one last day trip from Pretoria (Centurion) exploring an African Cultural Village! That should be very interesting and it won’t be the entire day. Our flight only departs early evening so there is ample time to freshen up after the tour from Pretoria (Centurion)! Our guide will drop us off at OR Tambo airport, it could be a rather sad farewell as our time out here in South Africa was beyond awesome!
