April 19, 2014
This morning we
awoke early to go on our morning game drive. It was still pretty dark so we
sleepily stumbled our way to the meeting spot using our flashlights.
Pie-lot was our
driver and guide (and “pilot” I guess). He offered no guarantees we would see
anything but I would assume having done this so many times before they soon
learn where to go. We boarded a canvas covered safari truck with 3 other
couples, then he conscripted Doug to be one of the spotlight operators (it was
still very dark) and off we went into the African pre-dawn. Over the next 3
hours we saw and tried to photograph:
1.
A civet cat
2.
A pack of wild dogs – rare
sighting
3.
3 elephant herds
4.
2 leopards – rare sighting
5.
Herds of eland and impala
6.
A kudu
7.
A klipspringer
8.
A giraffe
9.
2 groups of white rhinos
10.
A baboon troop
11.
Warthogs
12.
A deadly poisonous green mamba
(snake)
13.
Many birds including ospreys,
hornbills and vultures
14.
2 Scrub hare (rabbit)
Needless to say
we had a wonderful time. The leopards were particularly impressive. They were
growl/purr/meowing and it sounded so neat. Pie-lot told us it is rare to see
the leopards and even rarer to see them in pairs.
It was pretty
cold but we went with fleece and outer jackets and they provided blankets.
Every time the road dipped you could feel the cool air drainage. By 6 am the
sun was coming up providing a beautiful sunrise and better light to see the
animals. As we were getting closer to Skukuza at the end of our drive we came
across our new Joburg friends heading out to spot game. Hannes was adamant that
if we hadn’t seen elephants we were to climb in his truck again and he would be
sure we did. He was very excited we had seen leopards as he never has even
though he has lived his entire life in SA (60 years). His comment “not fair!”
We then “packed
up camp” at Skukuza and drove for about 2 hours to our next campsite:
Berg-en-dal. It is 32C here today. We were pretty anxious we would be going
through the antics we witnessed people going through yesterday trying to find a
place to camp but were assured there would be a spot and sure enough we have a
nice place in the shade. It seems calmer and quieter and way more organized at
this site. They even have an evening educational film that we are thinking
about going to. There is no internet though even though their website said
there was. They are apparently revamping their server. We will see about that
tomorrow as there is a strong wireless signal in the compound.
We have signed up
for another morning game drive but this time it leaves at the more civilized
time of 5:30 am with a 5:15 am meeting
time so we get to sleep in!!!!!
On the drive here
we managed to see more giraffe, baboons and a variety of hooved creatures. We were
commenting it is like being in a great big zoo with us in the cages (enclosed
vehicles). You are not allowed to get out anywhere except at the very few
designated spots. When close to the elephants, rhinos and leopards you can see
why. They also strictly enforce a 50 km speed limit on “tarred roads” – paved,
and 40 km on gravel with the occasional speed photographer strategically
placed. We had to leave a credit card imprint with the rental company to cover
this if we were caught.
Forgot to mention
yesterday that when we went for the drive with Hannes and Erica they took us to
a “game blind” where you walk inside a very high fenced path to an enclosed
viewing area at a water hole. We saw more exotic birds and a huge turtle
sunning on a log. We could hear the hippos but none wanted to show their face.
April 20 (Easter
Sunday), 2014. Berg-en-dal Camp
As promised we
awoke early to go on our next game drive. Our driver/guide was Sollie and he
was very informative regarding the habits of the animals. He was feeling badly
that we weren’t able to see much so whenever we saw anything he would turn off
the engine and tell all sorts of details around how the animals mark their
territory, gestation periods, blood shunting, etc. One of these interesting
facts was that rhino males dominate 10 kms of area and mark it by peeing on
their own dung, walking in it and walking the perimeter of their area. Their
eye sight is bad but their sense of smell is very good so this warns other
males to stay out.
Same deal as
yesterday – use spotlights until the light was enough to see without them. This
morning we saw:
1.
A genet (cat-like animal)
2.
3 hyenas
3.
A hippo
4.
3 white rhinos
5.
A giraffe family of 6
6.
3 elephants
7.
2 kudu
8.
A warthog
9.
Herds of impala
Not nearly as
successful as yesterday’s drive (we were hoping to see some lions) but
worthwhile, none the less. We were inundated with traffic. Being a holiday
Sunday the roads, even the minor dirt roads were very busy with sometimes as
many as 6 cars lined up. Nothing like yesterday when we hardly saw another
vehicle.
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