More on the safaris… as Corrine said – it is hard to describe. Just amazing. On our first game drive, our ranger, Philip (whom I love by the way) asked us if there was one particular animal we HAD to see. He wanted to make sure we saw it. But none of us could pick just one. He said he would do his best to find them all for us, and we ended up seeing more than we expected.
By the time we finished our fourth and final game drive this morning, we had been through deep woods, sand forest, mountain tops, open meadows and marshy lands. As we were driving, he would tell us what animals are typically in that area and tell us to keep a look out for them. You would think that a tall, patterned giraffe would be easy to spot. But more than once we were almost right next to them before was even saw it! They really do blend in completely with the tall trees and sticks. Amazing. They were so cute because they would see us, grab a mouthful of leaves and stand there chewing while staring at us. Then they would watch us drive away. Sometimes there would be groups of them together. So cool. Unbelievable.
Then there were the zebras. Black and white stripes. Must be easy to spot, right? They too just blend right in! They were particularly impressive to me the first time we stumbled upon them, just because they are so unique looking. We would see more and more of them throughout the trip as they go pretty much anywhere. One time we were driving along the edge of the woods, and 3 of them came running out of the trees, right next to us! Amazing. By the end of our last drive, we would simply point them out, smile, and drive on by. It was like seeing cows back home. Only not =)
We had a really neat experience with the lionnesses. Our ranger got a tip that the lionnesses had been spotted in a particular spot, so he headed in that direction. When we got there – one of the other groups had found them, and the two lionnesses were sitting along the road about 20 feet from their vehicle. We parked a little farther down from them. We watched them for a while when they got up and started walking again. They walked directly toward our car, stopped and looked at us, and walked on by. They were much larger than I expected. When they started moving towards us, Philip told us to just stay quiet. He didn’t need to tell us that. I think we were all frozen. It was awesome. We followed them a while, and then moved on. Then on last night’s drive, they were spotted again. We caught up to them and followed them as they were on the prowl. It got dark while we followed, but we managed to keep up. They had their eyes on some wilderbeasts. As we got closer, we saw a couple of Jakal stalking the wilderbeasts. We shut off the car and lights, and listened. Philip said we would either hear a warning call if the animals noticed the lions, or we would hear the running hoofs. We ended up hearing a warning “grunt”, and the wilderbeasts moved on. It was pretty amazing to see what we did though. And I was really rooting for the wilderbeasts anyways.
My favorite sighting was probably the cheetah. Thought of you Becca. We got a tip that another ranger spotted the Cheetah, so we headed over. We got there and he was so far away, I could barely make him out. Lying there. Alone. In a field. He moved around a bit, so I took some video. It’s easier to see in video since he was so far away. While I was taping, he got up and walked along the dam towards us. Then he kinda hung around a tree for a while right by the road we were on. Then he crossed the road, and sat there. Right next to us. Rolled around. Scratched. Then got up and went on his way. He was BEAUTIFUL. So incredible. I will try to post the videos, but we have been having trouble getting them to upload on this connection.
Today we set out to find an elephant. The only animal we really wanted to see that we hadn’t seen yet. Philip said it was gonna be tough, but we would find them. It rained a lot last week and the area where they are in summer was difficult to get to. But we were gonna try it. We drove through all kinds of crazy roads, up and down rocks and rivers – it was a little scary at times! But Philip is a good driver. He got a tip that there was elephant activity in a certain area and we headed over. He was told it was likely two bull elephants to watch for. As we got to the area, we turned a corner and YIKES there he was! Right there next to the road! Just as we got to him, the other one came out from behind the trees next to us! WOW! It was amazing! Then off in the distance were two white rhinos! The amazing Philip guessed that they were heading to a nearby watering hole so we went there to wait for them. Sure enough, one of them came over the hill, towards the water and when he spotted the water, he kinda skipped a little faster. We watched from the other side as he drank and splashed water (and pooed and peed, much to Corrine’s amusement). Then the other one followed. It was awesome. I got video. I’ll see if it will post. Hopefully photos at least.
The flat tire picture in the last post was on our vehicle. We got it just as we came upon two crocodiles and hippos in a small pond. We all had to get out so they could change the tire. So we stood there. Thinking about the crocs and hippos. It was pretty fast as both Philip and Zekele had done it before. We were in good hands.
There’s more, but I could go on and on for hours. I need to get to bed. Up at 5 tomorrow to head out to Drakensberg. Who knows what the day will bring.