I woke up early, about 3:30, after a poor sleep, probably due to excessive alcohol. Another sacrifice in the name of racing. We had planned to leave shortly after the gates opened at 6.  We drove around to the sand roads, looking to stay away from traffic as much as possible.  It was a misty, hazy morning, and the sun was not yet above the horizon.  We found a water buffalo standing in the mist near the road, looking like he wanted to cross. But he wouldn't cross with us sitting there - he just stared at us.  We backed up a little, and he moved a little closer to the road, but he wouldn’t cross with us sitting there. So we backed up some more, and he crossed the road ahead of us.

While we were still sitting there, I saw a cat slowly cross the road ahead of us. At first I thought it was a lion, but Tom thought it might be a cheetah since it was alone. It crossed into the bush as we drove closer, and a hyena come across the road right in front of us. As we sat there, another hyena crossed right behind the car. We figure the hyenas were chasing the cheetah away from its kill so the rest of the hyena pack could steal it.

We saw many wildebeest, and impala. A little further up the same road we saw 2 elephants cross the road and the river and watched them for a while. We drove to another turnaround spot and saw several vultures and a crocodile. We drove back to the hippo hide from the night before, and they were still there, even though there was a work crew staining the hide.