Phinda Game Reserve...

Our second day at Phinda did not start typically.  Ryan had scheduled a scuba diving trip for the morning, and a beach getaway for me.  Instead of boarding the vehicle for the morning game drive, we set off on our little plane again, to nearby Sodwana Bay.  The option to fly is much better than driving.

I was going to go out on the boat with Ryan and snorkel while he Scuba, but when I saw the beach, I decided to stay on land, soak up some sun, catch some Zzzzzs, and read a bit.  Ryan went off to the boat, and returned about an hour later.  We had a relaxing lunch on the beach, and then made our way back to the lodge for our afternoon game drive.  Ryan took his GoPro and got a few pictures.  He is currently in the process of looking at new underwater cameras, so look forward to more underwater pictures from a trip we have planned later this year....

The infamous Big Five, buffalo, elephant, rhino, lion, and leopard, we saw all five at Phinda.  Our first game drive included buffalo, and rhino.  The remaining drives brought us the rest of the five, and frequent sightings (we only saw the buffalo during our first game drive, and did not see buffalo at all during our time at Sabi Sands).

Imagine sitting in the vehicle, driving through the grass, and having these eyes staring back at you.
It was a bit startling.  

Beautiful eyes. 

Boys waiting for Dad to give them so food.  Notice the Dad's eyes?
Our Ranger told us that he is blind in the blue/grayish colored eye. 

All this talk about the Big Five, what about my Friendly Five?  I already shared pictures of the first three, penguin, zebra, and giraffe.  The final two are....

You wouldn't really consider Cheetahs friendly, but I think they are absolutely gorgeous.  We found these two males lounging in the grass.  This was the only Cheetah sighting we had at Phinda and Sabi Sands.  

Warthog?!?!  Yes, he is a Friendly Five.  The poor guy gets called ugly by everyone, but I think he is cute (so ugly, he's cute).  I greatly enjoyed watching them run all over the place with their tails sticking up in the air.  Not to mention, I had a tendency to start singing, "when I was a young warthog...." from Lion King.

Want to see more pictures of the Big Five, and my Friendly Five?  

Check out our album, Phinda Game Drives. 

I mentioned before, game drives are really an adrenaline rush.  Being in a vehicle, tracking animals, finding animals, and being so close to them is really unreal.  It is a drastically different experience compared to viewing animals in a zoo.  Even looking at the pictures, I can't help but comment on how truly beautiful the animals are.  What really catches my attention are the eyes of each animal.  We were fortunate to have so many wonderful, up close experiences.  Phinda was an incredible experience, and that was only the beginning.  Next stop, Dulini Game Reserve in Sabi Sands.  We were told we would have leopards everywhere!