August 22: 5th Day – PM Drive (9th game drive)

Stomach ready to pop, originally uploaded by Andrew & Yvette's world travel.

We had the Land Rover all to ourselves for this game drive! As a treat, the Sabi Sabi management decided against pairing us with new guests and so we had free reign on what we wanted to see. And what did we want to see most? The fat, stuffed lions! Specifically, the alpha male whose lazy bum we had not yet captured awake in the daytime as he was always hogging the shade whilst sleeping. The lions were spotted over a vast area earlier in the morning so we had a difficult time tracking them. After an hour of looking and with no footprints in sight on the road, Ashleigh and Dollom parked the car and tracked on foot. While we waited, a noise suddenly thundered in the distance. Drew and I looked at each other and then had a very calm conversation eliminating the dangers that could have been associated with that noise, ie, a gunshot as A & D were ambushed by lions, elephants on a stampede as re-energized female lions go on another hunt, rhinos roaring?! It’s funny how these safaris can teach you so much and so little . . . like not being able to identify noise and not knowing how to call for help. Anyways, A & D come back w/ a smile on their face which can only mean one thing. They spotted the lions, not the other way around – always a good thing. We go off on a drive and we ask Ashleigh about the rumble in the air: elephants bringing down trees.

Now that we’ve been in Kruger for several days, we finally see (and hear) the reason for the culling of 8000 elephants. Overpopulated with these massive mammals, Kruger Park is slowly dying as these creatures consume 225kg of plants on a daily basis. And since that kind of appetite just can’t be supported, herds of elephants need to be eliminated for the greater good of the wild community. So sad = (

Anyways, we arrive at the lions resting place and OMG it stinks like crazy. The buffalo carcass is nowhere to be seen but the sleeping lions are having a go farting and belching. Though I can’t quite see it, I am convinced there is a cloud of gas hanging over them. The lions have clearly eaten well as evidenced by the fact that our presence goes largely unnoticed. The first time we saw them sleeping, they were alert and bidding their time till hunting hour. This time around, they were in lion heaven and their bellies were stuck to the floor. Nowhere was this more evident than in the male lion who was sleeping in his private area. His stomach had filled up by about 25 kilos and there was clearly no way we were going to get a shot of him moving around. Had Ashleigh not been there, Drew and I reckoned we could have thrown rocks on his head and he wouldn’t have paid much attention.

After getting our dose of eau de buffalo, we decided to head back to the lodge early so that we could prepare for our special dinner.