And just when we thought getting up at 5am over the past few mornings was early enough, this morning was even more crazy with the alarm going off at 3am! Not really something the body is used to... going to sleep at that time - possibly, but certainly not waking up then! Once up, showered and ready we go, Uns and I headed out in the car to Crocodile Bridge Gate for our early morning sunrise game drive. We landed up getting to the gate a lot earlier than we needed to, but wanted to make sure we got the best seats. As it turned out, there were only five of us on the game drive and the three of them seemed to prefer the back of the vehicle, so at least everyone got their seating preference with the two of us up in the front of the truck. We set off into the Park just on half 4 and made our way up towards Lower Sabie, still in the pitch dark. After a while of driving and seeing nothing, we (the guide to be specific) spotting a little barn owl sitting quite high up in the tree. The little guy obviously wasn't too keen on us being there watching him, as no sooner had we spotted him did he decide to fly away. But a good first sighting for the morning.

Then, after a bit more driving in the cold morning air, our guide noticed some eyes in the headlights in the road up ahead, which turned out to be those of lions! And not just one or two either, but eight of them - seven females and one fairly young male. They weren't at all bothered by our vehicle, no matter how close we drove up alongside them, they gave us half a look and that was it. We were told that as long as we stayed within the vehicle and didn't stick any arms or cameras out the truck, we'd be fine and they wouldn't see us. We were certainly in no rush to leave them, and waited in the road for ages, until quite a bit after sunrise, which was stunning. Nothing quite like a sunrise in the bush!

After leaving the lions, we came across some rhino and a few hyenas, all a bit in the distance away from us, but we were clearly able to hear the laugh of the hyenas as they moved about and headed off into the bush. Just after that and a few more of the usual sightings, we stopped the truck and had a bit of a break to get out and stretch the legs. We were in a fairly open area on a private service road, so it was supposedly safe to get out with the guide on watch. We even had the opportunity to smoke some elephant dung, which I was a bit sceptical about at first but apparently is very common among the tribal people to cure the common headache. And I can see why, it was rather sweet in scent and went straight to the head! Somewhat different, but can't see it taking off in commercial cigarettes anytime soon :)

After our stop, stretch and smoke, we continued along the private service road and Uns managed to spot a rhino in the distance which she almost didn't call out as we had just seen a few of them before our break. And just as well, it turned out to be the almost-extinct black rhino, which is so seldom seen in the Park. There are apparently only a few hundred of them left in the Kruger - so a really good spot indeed.

After the black rhino sighting, we continued to head back towards Crocodile Bridge Gate to end our morning game drive. Uns and I popped into the shop there and grabbed a well needed cup of hot coffee before hopping into the car and heading back to Ngwenya Lodge. Back at the lodge we grabbed some breakfast, packed the car, popped down to the viewing hide and now on our way up to reception to check-out before making our way over to Graskop.