The Olifants River is a tributary of the “Great, grey, green, greasy Limpopo river.” *
The river runs through the center of Kruger National Park, dividing the northern and southern regions.
Olifants rest camp has arguably the best view in Kruger, lying hundreds of feet about the river and offering panoramic views of the African veld from the comfort of your rondavel porch. All of these photos were taken from our porch, with the exception of a few of the following ones, taken in the bush near the river.
If you look you can see blurring near the elephants feet. This is when my camera started to break down after three harsh weeks in the bush.
A huge variety of animals come to the river to drink, including of course the elephants that often walk single file to the water. In South Africa winter is the dry season, and the river provides scare water to a variety of animals. Olifants is the Afrikaans word for elephant, and many elephant herds spend the South African winter near the river.
There is a long walk from the shelter of the veld to the river and animals make the trip in a very cautious manner, always on the lookout for predators. Zebras have a guard who scans the bush while the herd drinks. You can see the guard on duty on the far right.
Giraffes are the most cautious of all. They scan the veld closely before drinking. They must essentially disable themselves to drink, buckling or splaying their legs in order for their heads to reach the water and this makes them vulnerable to attack.
When they drink, they do so briefly, immediately resuming the scan, before they drink again. Giraffes only sleep for minutes at a time, remaining continuously vigilant.
Great herds of Cape Buffalo come to the river to drink.
Hundreds block the road enroute to the river and when you encounter a herd, you sit in your car, surrounded by a sea of huge buffalo and wait.
It is unnerving, especially when you are the only one on the road. You can see this buffalo warning us not to proceed. We listened to him!
I am home at The Holler now, but send you cheers, and a South African river sunset!
* Source:The Elephant’s Child, Rudyard Kilpling
what a beautiful place where wild mingle with idyllic landscapes . The sunset is spectacular !
Every sunset in the bush is just amazing. I suspect because we are talking about hundreds and hundres of miles of bush with harldy any civilization…..
beautiful as always!
Merci beaucouup!
schönen Dienstag, Klaus
Vielen danke! Liebe Cindy~
danke
Rudyard would love your photographs, Cindy.
Oh, that would thrill me to no end! I grew up with him in my imagination~
What a fabulous trip you had – thanks for sharing all the photos and welcome home!
Thank you for coming along with me. You made the trip more fun~
Amazing pictures! You have a way of showing off the beauty of God’s precious creations.
Awwwww, so thoughtful! ❤
Glad you listened to the buffalo because they have an attitude!
And they are as big as a tank!
What an amazing trip Cindy! Love the photos and panoramas 🙂 Welcome back!
Thank you my friend and cheers to you!
What a wonderful travel you made! I love all images you posted here 🙂
I am pleased that you do & thank you too!
Wunderbare Aufnahmen Cindy, danke für’s zeigen. Herzlich Ernst
Danke, dass Sie mehr fur die Art Wertschatzung Ernst!
How lovely to see the ‘great, grey, green, greasy Limpopo’. I think I know the Just So Stories off by heart, they are so much part of my childhood. Love the zebra on guard.
You are exactly like me. I know them from childhood by memory too! ❤
Great stuff and what an amazing place. Where you on a ridge or wearing stilts. 🙂
We were staying in a prime view rondavel and those photos were taken from our porch/kitchen. Traveling this way in Kruger gets you an amazing bang for your buck as the units are very inexpensive, and the view? Well, it can’t be beat!
Definitely the way to live and I learned a new word “porch”. 😀 I’m glad you had such a good time. 🙂
Rondavel was a new word for me! 😉
What an exciting life you live☺👍Wow!Lovely pics
Well thank you & very pleased you enjoyed them!
I want a porch like yours. Did your camera survive the heat?
It did not, the heat, the dust and grit did it in. It is at Sony now, hopefully being repaired…..
I had issues with a camera because it was too cold. I can only imagine that combination taking its toll. I hope you have a back up while that one gets repaired. I feel like I’m missing a body part if I’m walking and I don’t have my camera.
The really frustrating part was having a second rate backup to use while I was still in Africa. Each camera had issues. It was sooooooo frustrating to have an amazing animal in front of me and cameras with issues. I used both and snapped shots with each. If I ever went to Africa again, I would go with two pristine cameras, expecting the first would poop out!
Fantastic scenery.
Yes, that is Kruger to a T!
I always learn something from your posts and travels. I had no idea that giraffes have such trouble drinking or only sleep a few minutes. I would be half mad if I had those issues.
Giraffes can go up to 30 days without drinking, but they certainly seemed to be drinking to me!
Must take a long time for the water to get from mouth to stomach. Maybe near the camp has fewer predators. Could be they traveled a long way to get close to the camp.
Actually they were denser populations further south where there were more herds. I think the lone giraffes are more concerned with predation than the ones in groups, but I am no expert on giraffes. Maybe someone who knows more might read this and tell us more!
Fantastic photos, Cindy. The African sunset is spectacular. So happy you had such a wonderful safari. Greetings from South Africa, where I am at the moment. 🙂
Lucky you! You get to spend so much time there! Have fun~
Wonderful photos! You must have had a fabulous time 🙂
Thank you and it was incredible!
What a fantastic time you have had Cindy so many memories and that gorgeous sunset, a lovely way to end your post.
So pleased you enjoyed and came along with me Pauline. You are awesome to travel with! ❤
Thanks Cindy. Where are we going next? 🙂
Laughing…..staying closer to home, Yellowstone and Waterton National Parks, but not until early fall!
You have some wonderful memories of my country… it shows in the photos… brilliant…
Olifants camp is one we spend a lot of time at… love that look out over the river…
It is a phenomonal place, which I know you are aware of. So pleased you feel l did your beautiful country justice my friend & cheers to you~
It must be wonderful to see such a place! Thank you for sharing the beautiful photos with us.
Thank you more for coming along with me!
Wow! I’m mesmerized by these pictures. I wish I was there! 😀
I wish you were too! It is amazing~
Stunning place, it’s good to see how each behaves differently.
Wild animals are endlessly fascinating to observe. You learn something new every time you watch them!
What an amazing place and you are so blessed to see this through the eye of your camera lens. TY for sharing.
Thank you more for the kind appreciation!
Wow! This is breath-taking, thank you for dropping by my blog – as it led me here! What an amazing place.
I am very pleased to meet and glad you dropped by. Cheers to you and look forward to chatting with you in the future!
Wow! You take the most amazing trips – and photos too!!
Well, thank you! Great to hear from you and hope all is well with you~
beautiful photos – stopped on over from silkandthreades – you got a shout out! Have a great week and I love the photos of the animals from a land I have never visited.
Excellent compositions. Great shots of African Landscape & wildlife. 🙂
Especially enjoyed the meandering herd of Hardy Olifants. 😀
So happy you enjoyed & cheers to you too!
Beautiful fascinating post Cindy, excellent photography, interesting to read the habits of Zebra to have a look out when drinking, enjoyed my journey through your camera.
Regards.
So happy you came along for the view and very pleased you enjoyed! Thank you~
Hi Cindy,
I have nominated you for an award -http://aromasandflavours.com/2015/06/18/the-sisterhood-of-the-world-bloggers-award/
Awwww, how thoughtful & how appreciated! Thank you~
Quite the view you had there with all that wildlife.
It was a pretty incredible experence!
Breathtaking! What a great trip you’ve had.
If you like wild animals and adventure, this is the trip for you!
Such an amazing place and travel experience.
It was incredible!
WOW x a million!!! I love the elephants…
So do I! They are amazing creatures!
Good evening Cindy or I suppose good morning where you are. These photos are just magnificent. I so enjoy lingering on your site and absorbing all the beauty of things I would otherwise never be able to experience… and I thank you so very much…
Thanks for sharing your wonderful artistry with us…
Hope your day is most beautiful
Michael
This thougtful and sensitive comment made my morning. People like you my friend, are why I so love to blog! Cheers to you & thank you!
Magnificent wildlife and fantastic scenery! 🙂
Awww thanks my friend and Happy Saturday evening to you and the wolf child~
You have super awesome feed.
Awwww, thanks so much & cheers to you!
You’re welcome.
Stunning. Thanks for the education on the zebras and giraffes. I like how you describe the behavior and then have a photo showing it.
Ahhhh, makes me feel good and thank you Nicci. Most thoughtful~
Wow! What a fab journey!
I must admit Africa is an epic ramble.
My reader showed the picture of the buffalo but your title for your post was Olifants which had me a bit confused until I actually went into your post and saw the photos of the elephants 🙂
I have no idea why the reader selects what it does. It would be nice if it would go with my first photo. I am glad you bothered to look after the confusion. Cheers to you and thanks too for telling me~
Absolutely stunning photos!
Awwww, so kind! It is the sort of place that is an unfair advantage for a photographer~
Lovely wildlife scenes! Nature is just so awesome!
Yes, Mother Nature rocks our socks off everyday!
Cindy, thank you for sharing these beautiful images. I just love elephants. Hugs! Veraiconica
Anyone who loves ellies is a friend of mine! Hugs to you Varaiconica~ ❤
I love photos of giraffes and the beautiful sunset took.my breath away, Cindy. The water buffalo are interesting and I know less about them. Thanks for sharing, Cindy.
You are such a sweetheart Robin. Thank you for your kindness & friendship! ❤
Love the photos and your comments. What a wonderful trip this must have been.
It is definitely one to look back on and think, ‘I am so glad I did that!’
I saw a wonderful world cindy….like a tale that read by my parent when i was a kid…
Yes, The Jungle Book & The Elephants Child. They made such huge impressions on me too when I was a child. Thank you~
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