Scips, Trrp, Anne-Marie, Heksie, Wendy, Kallis, MM, SM, Hilda and Spargish............thanks for all your lovely comments.
Day 22 (Nov 21st)Today was a bit of a late start, because we overslept!!
However we were in the park by about 6.15am, so all was not lost.
We turned down the S131, just past the gate, and I said "I think we will see Cheetah today!!
We had met a lovely young couple at Letaba last week who were desperate to see Leopard, and we told them that we had seen a beautiful one near Phala Gate that morning..............they replied, "Oh no, we have only seen Cheetah there, not Leopard"
So we had a seen a Leopard when we really wanted Cheetah, and they had see Cheetah when they really wanted a Leopard..............strange old world isn't it!!
Anyway my point is that Cheetah had been seen near the Phala Gate, so why couldn't we?
We soon spotted a group of Zebbies and a batchelor group of Impies, all grazing and totally oblivious to our car.
We proceeded down the road, which is good condition at the moment, and eventually quite a way in the distance, on a fairly narrow part of the road, that was very thick with vegetation, we saw two darkish coloured animals either side of the road. Could it be large Warthogs, or maybe two small Rhino (knew really it wouldn't be that!!) but as we got closer, to my horror, I realised it was two baby Ellies!!!
With that there was a loud trumpet to our right, and their elder brother, flapped his ears, trumpeted again and mock charged.
Then we could see all among the trees were more and more of them, with Dad looking proudly at his "chip off the old block!!"
Unknowingly, and through no fault of our own, because the vegetation was so dense, we had stumbled on a breeding herd.................one of my worst nightmares!!!
Junior continued to trumpet and shake his head, and I said to Dungy "Just very slowly reverse, and hope for the best!!"
At this point most of them were in front of us, and quite a way into the bush, munching away happily but I was worried that they could circle behind us and cut off any hope of a quick exit!!!
So we quietly and slowly reversed, with junior following half heartedly, and Dad watching on with interest!!
It soon became apparent, that they were not going to pursue us any further, so Dungy did a three point turn, and soon we were heading back to the H9.
Now I know in my heart of hearts, that just past the two baby ellies there were Cheetah in the road...........but we'll never actually know, will we!!
So after we hit the H9, we turned towards Letaba, and just thought that we would go as far as Erfplaas and sit and wait for Desi to put in an appearance.
There was another large group of Ellies at Masorini waterhole, and a few Impies, so we stopped and spent a while with them.
Then it was on to Erfplaas, where we parked and waited!!
Several cars stopped to ask what we were looking at, and I felt a bit stupid telling them that we were looking for a Dassie that wasn't there!!!
We sat for an hour to no avail, though we did hear a Crested Barbet, and after a very long time, I eventually tracked him down in one of the trees!!! Too many leaves for a photo, but I had found him!!
Still no Desi, so with a heavy heart we made our way back to Phala Gate.
We had not gone far when we saw our first Ostriches for this trip. They were intent on eating, so after a quick photo, we left them to it!! They were a bit far away for a good photo, so I have allowed myself artistic licence, and used one from last year.
Two beautiful Seenboks bounded across the road, too quickly for a photo, but oh they are such dear little animals!!
Then it was out of the park, into Spar to top up the food cupboard, and in the car park, we had another sighting..........Flying Cheetah from the forums ............see, I said we would see Cheetah today!!!
We chatted for a while, and then it was back home for a swim, and some relaxation!!
Then it was a late lunch at the Pub and Grill, and a snooze when we got home.
Oh this hard life..............how will we cope with 4 months of it?
To be continued....................
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my last TR 
Look what you have done ... causing Phala traffic jams at the place you supposed to be 
You welcome to use my line, it gets people to move on rather swiftly!
