We wake up to a knock on our door at 5:30AM. At 6, we pile into the LR and what should Ashleigh give us then? A heated blanket and a warm water bottle. Lol.
Before the sun is up, we drive towards the remains of a fallen male elephant whose carcass of bones is being chewed by a pack of hyenas. This particular elephant had gone inside the Bush Lodge during his period of tus meaning he was full of testosterone and thus very aggressive. He caused a huge commotion and much harm and after several rounds of plastic bullets, the rangers had to resort to using real bullets. The young elephant died and his body was taken to the plains where the lions quickly claimed it for themselves. When the lions were done, the hyenas and vultures quickly followed suit. Now 4 months later with the flesh stripped bare from the bones, the hyenas hadn’t yet figured out that there was nothing left for the picking. And so, we watched as their powerful jaws clamped through those elephant bones and made crushing sounds that caused our spines to tingle.
Later that morning, we then see a herd of 25+ elephants. We follow them as they slowly head east. There are quite a few baby elephants. It’s amusing to see the babies run to catch up to their mum. We soon come to a stop. We are surrounded by elephants eating to their hearts content. At one point, a huge mama elephant puts her trunk to the ground and emits a low, deep, rumbly noise. She is communicating something to the others. The sound will be heard kilometers away by other elephants. Afterwards, this same elephant looks up and turns her gaze directly at us. We settle into our seats right away. Her ears go up and we see the African continent reflected in her huge out-flapped ears. Her trunk then moves upward and she makes a trumpeting noise. Beside me, Andrew too is still as a rock. Then, she turns her gaze away from us and stomps on the grass and weeds below. We exhale breaths. Minutes later, we are clicking away on our cameras when we’ve caught another elephant’s attention. Although she doesn’t flap her ears nor make any sounds, her gaze renders us immobile again. We ask Ashleigh if elephants have ever attacked anyone at Kruger. She replies ‘No’. However, sometimes baby male elephants 3-5 feet in height will charge at a LR and stop right by the edge. It will then stomp the ground, flap its ears and make trumpeting noises to show its dominance. All this of course will attract its mum’s attention who will then call her wayward child back. Most of the time, the baby will run back to its mum straight away. At other times, the child will continue with his antics at which point the mama will have to fetch him from the LR and push the child away from the vehicle using her trunk. Upon hearing this, we immediately asked if there was something we could do to provoke such a response from any of the baby elephants eating nearby. However, such acts are completely random and subject to the whim of the baby. *Oh well*
During this morning drive, we also get our first glimpse of Cape Buffalos. Of the Big 5, buffalos are the most dangerous to humans as they do not give a warning when they attack. Rhinos and elephants will paw the ground with their front paws, lions will roar and leopards will grumble but if a buffalo wants to attack, it will just charge! Looking at them though, with birds pecking at their eyes and standing inside their ears, they seem like such docile creatures.
All too soon, our morning safari comes to an end. So far, we’ve seen 4 of the Big 5: rhinos, lions, elephants and buffalos = )
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
August 19: 2nd Day - AM Drive (2nd game drive)
August 18-23: Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge, Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve, Greater Kruger National Park
Thanks to the South African couple we befriended in Mauritius, we were directed to stay at one of the resorts at Sabi Sands, a private area of land bordering Kruger National Park. Together, the Greater Kruger occupies an area similar in size to the UK (England, Wales and Scotland). With no fences between the two designated protected areas, we were able to enjoy a 1st class safari experience at the Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge. Before I go into our game drives, just a word regarding how our days were structured.
6-9: AM Game Drive & morning tea and snacks
9-10: Breakfast Buffet
10-11: Guided bush walk
13-14: Lunch Buffet
15:30-16:00: High Tea
16:00-19:00: PM Game Drive & sundowner drinks & snacks
19:30 – Dinner Buffet and Bar
So, basically a lot of eating really good food (the cheeses and desserts were to die for) and of course the game drives which we managed to fit in between all the food = )
The safari drives leave me speechless as each drive was an experience. Here is a breakdown of our drives and the animals and events that will be indelibly printed on our minds forever.
1st Day – PM Drive (1st game drive)
We first meet our ranger and tracker, Ashleigh and Dollom, by the open top Land Rover. We are joined on our drive by 3 people, Rob, Chrissie, and Natalie who’ve also just arrived today from England.
The first animals we spotted were 4 young male nyalas (antelope family) grazing. We were so excited at seeing them that we didn’t realize that just 50 feet away was a huge group of them. There are a lot of different types of antelope in the park. Nyalas are identified by the 2 vertical lines of black around their bum area and by the lack of markings on their bodies.
After the nyalas, we then spotted 5 white rhinos by a watering hole. When they saw us, one of the bigger ones stood guard facing us with his horns nice and visible, while the mama and her baby “crossed the road” towards the bushes for safety. Once they were by the bushes, that big one crossed the road too. *cute* There are 2 types of rhinos in the park: white rhinos and black rhino. The white rhino’s are not actually white, they are grey. However the white rhino got its name because of a translation error.
To begin with, there are 2 main differences between the black and white rhino. First, the black rhino has 2 horns of similar length while the white rhino has 2 horns of unequal length (the front is longer than the back). The second difference is that the black rhino has a curved lip while the white rhino is wide lipped (like a rectangle). The words wide and white are so similar that in time, the white rhino, which was originally called the wide lipped rhino, took on the distinction of being called the white rhino. While Kruger has no problems with the population of white rhinos, the black rhinos are very rare and only 1000 are left in the Greater Kruger. Spotting them is thus a great difficulty not only for their decreased numbers but also because they tend to hide in very thick bushes that the Land Rover cannot access.
While we were taking pictures of the rhinos, we then saw a red billed horn bill who is Zasu in the Lion King = ) We also saw some suicide birds which are birds that tend to run straight under the wheels of a car. Apparently, they get so confused when they hear noise that they end up running (not flying) straight towards a car. Don’t worry though, they breed like crazy so they are not about to be endangered. We also spot go away birds which are grey birds w/ a Mohawk. They are called that way because the noise they make while chirping sounds like “go away, go away.” We actually spotted a lot of different species of birds which are just too many to describe.
After this, we next saw wildebeests but at too great a distance for us to identify them properly. Ashleigh then explained that these wildebeests are not local but are the 2nd set to be introduced to the park. The original group of ‘local’ wildebeests died after being hunted to extinction by the lions and leopards. The 1st set introduced to the park died within months as they had not been raised in the wild and when they were being hunted, did not know to run away. The 2nd set we were staring at were raised in the wild and were better adept at responding to their predators.
After the wildebeests, we saw a giraffe and oohs and aahs escape us all. They’re lovely creatures after all. While Ashleigh is explaining to us about the ossicles on the giraffe’s head, we notice this giraffe has a swollen left eye which is due to having poked its eye at a branch. *poor thing* Here at the park when animals are hurt, the rangers don’t do anything to help animals and allow nature to take its course. It’s only when the animals are hurt by humans that they try to help the injured creatures. As Ashleigh is explaining all this to us, a lone male rhino walks into the picture. He is marking his territory by peeing at the ground every so often.
After all this sightseeing, we stop for sundowner drinks – the perfect way to enjoy the sunset.
After drinks, it is time to go on the hunt for animals again. It doesn’t take very long. Another car spots the resident pride of 15 lions and we are off to see them. There are several prides that roam the Greater Kruger Area but this pride has been the dominant pride for some time because of the strength of the previous alpha male. The previous alpha male that had been w/ this pride was very strong and had been able to fend off numerous attacks from other alpha males in other prides. Alas, a lion can only take so many hits and after numerous fights, finally died. He left his brother to take his place. Thus, while there can be more than one male in a pride, there can only be one dominant male. A dominant male is identified by the increase of tuft/hair on its head and by the black mark on the tip of its tail both of which is caused by a surge in testosterone. The male in this pride has just recently become the alpha male and only time can tell if he can defend this pride successfully. His biggest threat is a pride of 3 lions. Apparently, the alpha male of 3 (AM 3) had fought constantly with the previous alpha male (AM 15). The rangers believe that it was that last fight that finally killed AM 15. Although he won the fight, he died shortly afterwards. In this savage world, when AM15 was injured and could no longer keep up with the pride, he was left behind to fend and hunt for himself.
To return to the hunt however, we first get our glimpse of the male lion walking along the main road. I am absolutely beside myself. I didn’t dare dream about such a sighting. I am not the only one going crazy. As the group’s excitement spills over our 1st lion in the wild sighting, Ashleigh gives us all another stern warning to keep quiet and keep our bums in our seats. However, Ashleigh too is excited at seeing the pride return to the Sabi Sabi property. The pride had crossed into another property, to which Sabi Sabi guests were not allowed to go into, and there had been no recent lion sightings. After just a few moments, we see more members of the pride, 2 lionesses gracefully walking. We learn then that this pride is hunting the wildebeests we saw earlier. Dollom continues to flash his light (which doesn’t hurt nocturnal animals) around and we see more members of the pride at a distance. At this point Ashleigh stops the Land Rover (LR) and she explains that now we just sit and wait as we don’t want to give either animal an advantage. Although disappointed this feeling doesn’t last very long as minutes later, lions stop right by our LR. The closeness of the lions to our vehicle makes us all giddy again and Ashleigh must once more remind us to be calm and keep all body parts inside the vehicle, ie, no pointing or leaning or standing up. After just a few minutes, we learn that the hunt is off. The wildebeests have managed to run away and escape. After taking just a couple more pictures, we leave behind the hungry lions who are still by our vehicle. Unlike them, we have a fantastic buffet waiting for us at the lodge.
After dinner, we are escorted back to our rooms by a ranger. Numerous animals regularly visit the lodge grounds and guests are not allowed to go to their suites alone at night. Inside the room, Drew gets into bed when he suddenly freezes. Unable to speak, I follow his eyes, which are filled with fear, to the foot of his bed where there is a round lump right by his feet. My heart jumps as the worst things come to my head. Seconds pass by with the two of us still frozen in fear. Then, Andrew suddenly jumps out of bed and I scream. But the lump has not yet moved. Curious. Wouldn’t a snake have moved??? We get an umbrella and we start poking the round lump. Nothing. We put our hands by the bed cover and feel warmth. Should we call the office? No. We can handle it. Andrew gingerly grabs the edges of the duvet with the intention of exposing the warm, round thing. We decide that in the count of 3, he will pull the cover off. I stand behind him with my umbrella at the ready. 1 – 2 -3. Exposed at last is a warm water bottle. We fall to bed laughing.
