This Zulu phrase means wild animals. There are about 12,000 white, and 627 black rhinos in Kruger National Park. This one is looking at you for protection!
Leopards in Kruger are rare and rarely seen.
We were very lucky to see this one! The Kruger population is estimated at approximately 1000, although they are hard to count, because they are hard to find.
1,700 lions are thought to live in Kruger.
There are about 37,000 cape buffalo, and yes this one is sleeping. They do that a lot in water holes!
There are only around 300 nyala. This is a male and two females. Quite a sighting of beautiful, shy, creatures! (Late addition: My blogging friend Quiall, see comments, found a baby nyala’s legs in this photo that I didn’t see. Count the legs and you’ll find the baby!)
2000 warthogs,
5000 waterbuck,
over 127,000 impala,
and more than 8,000 kudu call Kruger home. A trip to Kruger is an incredible experience and aids the park’s impressive wildlife conservation efforts.
Estimates, calculated between 2008 and 2009. Read more about Kruger’s animals and conservation efforts at: http://www.mediaclubsouthafrica.com/visitsa/1825-240610-kruger-park#ixzz3duwscq1H
Cheers to you from Kruger’s spectacular izilwane zasendle~
Share this:
Discover more from Cindy Knoke
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
This may be the first time I’ve ever seen a nyala…thank you for your beautiful photos, as usual! I love them.
I couldn’t believe it, we had multiple sightings of nyala, two or three. They are so soft and lovely looking!
They really are pretty! How cool that you got to seem them in person.
Yes, it was really exciting!
The one in that last photo looks so wise. Like he knows something the rest of us don’t. And maybe he does!
Well he’s a she, and I agree with you. The male kudu is spectacular looking with this remarkable black cap going down to his eyes and then spiraling, long horns. Most impressive! The female, although beautiful, is much less dramatic, and I think, like you, more soulful and intelligent looking. But maybe I just have a tad of female bias? Nah…….’ya think??? 😉
Don’t worry. I have the same bias. 😉
I figured you might…….
How lucky for you to see a leopard while you were there! Wow!
Yes, it stretched the limits of my telephoto because it was obstructed by brush, but it was clearly visible and we watched him for quite awhile. It was a thrill~
Tellement beaux, impressionnants – merci ! Vus en vrai !!! Magnifique – et merci
Awww , si gentil! Merci mon ami ~ <3
Fantastic pictures. These animals must be preserved for generations to come.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
Can you imagine without them in it? I can’t…….
lovely shots and narrative, Cindy. the nyala fascinate me especially as the females look to be even more brightly coloured than the male!
Aren’t they beautiful. Such shy, soft appearing creatures. We saw them 2 or 3 times which was really unusual for us.
Is that a baby Nyala’s legs I see? With the buck and two females.
WOW! Yes I think it is and I didn’t see it! It looks like they were sheltering a baby. Incredible! How amazing that you spotted this! Thank you~ <3 <3
Thanks for sharing these amazing photos!
Thanks more for finding something special in one which I didn’t even see! How cool is that?
One by one all wonderful captures – the buffalo maybe my favorite… 😀
Excellent work… 🙂
They are just amazing creatures. So incredibly powerful, capable of doing serious damage, but so mellow most of the time. Often sleeping! Very happy you like him~
Ty for sharing this.
Thank you for appreciating it!
These pics r masterpieces…a peek into a world few of us will ever see, thanks for taking us with u on your adventure..these animals are beautiful💓❤️😘
Your comment is incredibly kind and very much appreciated. I am so pleased you care about these wonderful animals!
I love animals waaaay more than most people😉😍🐻❤️🐰🐭🐹🐯🐰🐑🐣🐦🐗🐶🐺🐱🐨🐐🐈🐶they are certainly more honest and trustworthy…and they have as much if not more right to live and love as we do
I get surprised when people comment about how dangerous a particular animal might be. Of course it is potentially true, particularly if your don’t respect the animal’s space and body language, but I was a psychotherapist and mental health director for 27 years and people are much more dangerous than wild animals. Wild animals are a cake walk compared to some of the very dangerous people I have evaluated. Of course, most people are wonderful, but the ones that aren’t are much more scary than any wild animal.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8Hvu9K7BegE/UxqvZHqwdmI/AAAAAAAAyYo/QIiyrupW460/s1600/ElTallerdelabrujaMar2014flor2.png
Amazing photos Cindy and thank you for sharing all this with us 😀
You have seen animals in the nature as not many of us ever will have a chance to see.
I wish everyone would and could. It is such a remarkable experience. It makes you feel tied and connected to all creatures on this planet. There was never any fear, just wonder, everyday!
I’m happy that you had all these experiences Cindy 😀
<3 <3
That is a LOT of wildlife in one area whew! Great shots Cindy 🙂
Plus this is just a small portion to fit in a post. Kruger just teems with wildlife. I am so grateful Paul Kruger had the wisdom to set it apart as a national park. It is the size of New Jersey!
Schöne Fotos. L.G. Wolfgang
Vielen danke mein Freund!
Your photos remind me of our fantastic trip to Kenya and four game parks, each one a gem!
I am so glad you had a chance to experience this. We went the first time and had to come back for more, even though it involves 44 hours of flying per trip and I do not like flying!
Road Trip! (well, actually, plan, trains and automobiles, most likely). But what an adventure! Beautiful photos.
Yes, I envy Europeans because they are just a eleven hour flight from Kruger. One way for me is twenty-two hours!
Oh wow!
Cheers to you as well 🙂
Thank you my friend! <3
These are so amazing, Cindy. Beautiful! 🙂
All creatures great and small right Linda? We both love them all~ <3
Now, that’s a fact! 😀 <3
<3
Reblogged this on Art, animals, and the earth.
Awww, hugs and gratitude for your support of the creatures Sharon! <3
thanks for the info re meaning of “Zulu”…fantastic blog!
I love the wild way it spells and sounds. Like an onomatopeia!
That was a good job. The pictures are so sharp, I think I’ve animals in my monitor. 😀
Don’t blink, you do!! But just for a second, or two!
So amazing that you were able to get these wonderful shots! Is this a special vacation trip you’re on?
I am home now, but yes it was a pretty amazing trip!
Love all of these. We went on safari last year, and I have so many pictures, I haven’t even sorted them yet. Kudos to you for organizing and looking up the stats that bring your pics to life. My favorite shot is the one of the impala. He was still for you!!!
I adore the impalas. People tend to overlook them because they are so prevalent, but every photo I have of them, they are lookiing straight at me and either smiling or talking like this guy is! 😉 😉
Beautiful. I can see their personality and something of their feelings.
Yes, definitely, so can I! <3
Fantastic pictures of these wild animals. Some of them are predators. I hope you are at a very safe distace from them.
Yes, safe always. I was never threatened, but thank you for caring my friend!
So many beautiful animals and your photos are excellent, Cindy. What a trip of a lifetime that must have been. So glad you have shared it with us!
Happy that you came along with me Eliza! You made the experience richer~ <3
🙂
These are stunning images of these majestic creatures, Cindy. Great details. How did you take these photo? Were you closed or far from a distance?
Different distances my camera has an adjustable normal to 1200mm equivalent zoom. In Kruger you can drive right up next to a rhino or elephant or lion and also photograph them from a distance from a bridge or observation deck. You can see animals up close in hides or hikes. You can pass right by rhinos and elephants etc on walking safaris. It is quite eerie at first. I had a baboon chase me. He wanted me off the path!
Wow, I can’t imagine… next to an elephant, lion…What an awesome adventure. Thank you for taking us there, Cindy.
Thanks for coming along with me Amy. I love traveling with you as well! 🙂
Amazing creatures and yes, we are only amazing creatures if we can see the gifts we have on this earth and protect them.
I agree with you my friend and thank you! <3
Yes, the sad thing is that the rhino looks to humans to protect it. What have we done to this world? Love the sleeping buffalo, the warthog and actually all your photographs! Thanks so much for sharing!
Yes, it is particularly heartbreaking to spend time among these animals and see how peaceable and happy they are, and then realize there are whole species you are not even seeing because we have obliterated them. We have a whole lot to account for as a species. We are way too destructive in big and little ways……
Agreed. Then there are these crazy videos of people keeping wild animals in their homes and ‘domesticating’ them. People think they are cute, but my husband and I look at the animal’s eyes and just feel sad :*(
You and I are on exactly the same page…..
Beautiful photos, Cindy. Is your camera fixed now that you are home in the Holler?
Another psychic blogger! I just got it back from the repair shop good as new. Another blogger knew the Holler’s internet was malfunctioning which it has never done before and is still doing. Amazing!
Ah, so pleased your camera is good as new. 🙂
<3
Spectacular photos Cindy!!
Awwww, so kind and appreciated!
Such gorgeous creatures! It is sad to think their numbers are so low that we can count them.
Kudos to all who are working to protect them!
I just repeated what you said because it is so perceptive. Yes, all these animals should have larger populations, but you are right, Kruger is actively involved in conservation and numbers have improved for many species since the 08/9 counts, so there is reason for hope and gratitude~
Nice photos!
Thanks much & cheers~
Beautiful, elegant creatures. The photos are great.
Awww, so pleased you like them and thank you!
Awww, what a wonderful representation of the variety of life (and summary of the dire straits they’re in, population-wise) in that region of the world! I hope that tons of people around the world see this post. Beautiful work (great close-ups!) as always Cindy! <3 ~Lynn
Is is sad to think that the numbers are so low that we can count them as another blogger just said to me. Nyalas should be in huge herds. But the good news is that since these 2008/9 counts, many of Kruger’s wildlife counts have improved. They are comitted to conservation and it shows!
Yes, I totally agree with everything you said! Glad to hear that there are people so committed to conservation there! That’s very heartening news.
It is and it is also why I feel so good about supporting the park and the efforts of the African administrators, staff and rangers. It is run by locals and it is their park. I like this.
Thank you for sharing your fabulous photos and for taking me to Africa.
Alison <3
I can’t wait till I get to tag along when you go my friend!
Ahhh…the rhinos. They are actually unicorns you know….check it out here: http://wp.me/p2TELX-1ih \(◭‿◭)/
Oh my gosh!!! I should have known this!! I learn so much from bloggers! 😉
The thing I recollect about the rhino I met is the very distinctive smell, Cindy. That and how not to be killed by one.
https://nobodysreadingme.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/how-not-to-get-killed-by-a-rhinoceros/
Hilarious! I should have read this before I left! I know just the smell you mean, sort of a blend of eau de rhino pee and grass. 🙂
And bananas. Dunno where they find them… 😉
I left you a reply on your post because I am 100% supportive of your stance on this btb………
¡Qué buena colección de fotos! A mi siempre me ha llamado la atención el aspecto tosco y pétreo de los rinocerontes. El búfalo está imponente…, y a todos los animales se les ve sanos y felices. Gracias por dejarnos disfrutar estas maravillas de la naturaleza. <3
Gracias a mi amiga mas para apreciar a los animales salvajes y por sus comentarios muy amables! <3 <3
Awesome animal photos! I love how it looks like the Impala is smirking at you, or giving you a crooked smile! Pretty cool pic of the buffalo sleeping! He sure knows how to stay cool! Hugz Lisa and Bear
I just love the facial expressions on the impalas. They have so many different ones and it seems like you can read their moods! Love ’em……
You captured them so awesomely
Awww, thanks my friend~ <3
Those figures are quite frightening when compared with how many used to roam these areas. They certainly need all the help they can get to preserve these wonderful and beautiful animals. Thank you for showing us such amazing animals Cindy.
Yes, eaxactly right Pauline. There should be more!
Nyala was a new one for me…. thanks a lot for sharing the beautiful pictures…. 🙂
Thank you more for appreciating the animals!
Awesome post, Cindy!
Awwww, merci beaucoup mon ami!
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/06/19/company-creates-fake-rhino-horn-for-new-chinese-beer/
Wow, pretty amazing. I hope it works! It needs an ad campaign though, emphasizing it is more effective than rhino horn in making the rhino horn customers errrr……. horny. God, humans can be so stupid……
THAT RHINO LOOKS A LITTLE CROUCHY, CINDY
Well, he does have sensitve skin afterall! 😉 😉
You are making me want to go to Africa…. like right now!!! 🙂 even though I probably should at least plan where in Africa first 🙂
Yes, you want to be a lot more educated than Sara Palin for example! Remember when she called Africa a country? Laughing…….
I know that rhino
I see him wherever I go
He instinctively seems to know
>>>>>>>
Impala…, I didn’t see any of that model at the GMC dealer yesterday…???
>>>>>>>
Does a lion ever tell you the truth? …or is he just lion?
>>>>>>>
That kudu does doo doo while practicing hoodoo…!
>>>>>>>
Wait a minute…, did that leopard change his spots…, or what !!!
>>>>>>>
.
Welcome back Cuz. Looking forward to more memories of your trip. 🙂 🙂 🙂
I wish you would write my captions. They rock cuz!! 😉 <3
I marveled at every one of your fantastic photos here, Cindy. Simply awesome. Great nod to conservation as well. 🙂
Thank you my friend, the earth and all the creatures on it are our responsibility~
I don’t think I’d try my luck and check to make sure the cape buffalo is actually sleeping. Cindy, the animals you are photographing could very well be gone from our earth one day. Your photographs remind me of just how precious this ecological system is to every man, woman and child. How can anyone not believe in climate change.
People don’t want to embrace the concept of how harmful we humans can actually be to each other, to the planet, and all it’s creatures. I’m not Catholic but The Pope just said this so very eloquently. Happy Friday Sheri~
I’m not Catholic either but he’s been getting a lot of things correct lately. It’s nice to have a Pope that lives in the ‘real world’ and aware of what is going around him.
Great shots… I love animal pictures… They are my best candidates for portraits…
They make by far the best portraits. I completely agree with you~