Day 10 South Africa - AM & PM Game Drives

Wake up call was at 5:30 AM. It was hard to leave the bed, not because I was tired (which I was of course) but because it was freezing out. When I went to bed last night, I only covered myself with a sheet for much of the night. By morning, I was using the duvet. Man, it was cold!

We dressed, then headed over to the restaurant for tea and rusks. These ones were better, sweeter and not as hard as before. Yesterday, I took the middle far right seat. This morning I sat in the middle of the front row. We saw some zebras up close and I was a bit surprised they didn’t run away while we were parked nearby.

We pulled over at another stop and were told we could come out of the vehicle. Now what? I wondered. Another wild animal? But no, we examined a termite hill up close and personal. South Africa has 6 different types of termites. There was steam coming out of the top of this one and we each climbed up to feel the heat emanating from the top.

Matthew, our tracker, spotted fresh elephant dung so we set off to find the animals. We found a big male and watched in fascination while he ripped trees apart like nobody’s business. After that, we criss-crossed the area looking for the rest of the herd. The roads cover the game reserve quite well. Lawrence, the driver, stopped the vehicle and shut it off, waiting for the herd to come by. We could hear them cracking the branches of the trees long before we saw them. About 10 of them crossed the road in between us and another vehicle. It was quite a  thrill watching them go by.

When we returned to the lodge at 9 AM, it was breakfast time and we headed straight there. After breakfast, I got ready to go for a nature walk at 10:30. Our guide was someone new and he carried a big gun with him. Just before we headed out, he loaded the ammunition and read us the rules: no running, and follow behind him single file.

I was a bit nervous but I needn’t have been. Instead of seeing animals, he showed us lots of different plants and told us what they were used for and how animals used them. Many plants were various herbal remedies or teas and our guide wove a strong piece of ‘rope’. He peeled the outer bark away from the softer part, then twisted and uniformly wove 3 pieces together.

We basically stayed on the road and didn’t go all that far but it was most interesting and it felt exciting to be walking out and about like that!

When I returned, Donna and I walked down to the water hole where we saw the tiniest bit of a hippopotamus. We watched for quite awhile but he was not interested in coming out very much. The property is nicely laid out and there are fancier units past ours. I am quite content with what we have!

Bucks and does of some kind wander all around and we saw some lovely warthogs again. 1 PM was lunch, kudo stew was on the menu and it was wonderful! The meat was tender, the gravy was tasty and there was fresh homemade bread as well. I am going to have to do a lot of walking in the next few days to burn some calories!!

After typing this, I had a little lie down before the 3:30 PM game drive began. We knew what to expect and so we began to search for something interesting. Impala are a given and you are guaranteed to see them every time you go out. Our Kruger guide told us they are the MacDonald’s of Africa because everyone eats them! They even have the rounded M on their backsides, haha!

We hadn’t seen any lions yet on this trip and our guides knew we would love to do that. Eagle-eyed Matthew, out in front on his special tracker seat did find some lioness tracks. We circled round and round an area and I thought i was a lost cause. How could anyone spot a lion in so dense an area? It seemed akin to looking for a needle in a haystack. But on our third pass we saw the lioness trotting purposefully along, ignoring us thankfully.

After she disappeared into the bush, we could hear her gentle roaring – what a thrilling sound it was! Lawrence figured she had made a kill and was either calling to another lioness in the area, or else calling for her cubs to come. He was right. As we were on the move we saw some cubs on the road right in front of us! I was so stunned and delighted that I completely forgot to pick up my camera and start shooting! Believe it, that is a first for me! As we watched, a bird flew up and away from the area and one cub jumped up as if he could get it. How priceless, just what my kitty cats back home would do!! Yes, I know I overuse exclamation marks!!!

The sun had set by then and Lawrence stopped the vehicle in front of a gorgeous tree for a photo op. When it got dark, we could see two glowing red patches on the mountains across. These were fires that had gotten out of control. Because of all the grass in the underbrush, much of it gets burned on purpose once every four years, otherwise a sudden fire could do some serious damage. In this reserve, they try to burn once every 5 years. Because of the burning and the dusty roads, the sky is often hazy in a lot of areas. This game reserve had wonderful blue skies though, for the most part.

Supper tonight was a braai barbeque and we sat outside around a large fire. The evening was quite cool and we were given blankets, just like in the jeep. I had lamb and a piece of chicken and they were very delicious! I am done journaling early tonight so I just might get to bed early too!