BEFORE LEAVING IDUBE
2008
Again the knock at the door at 5:30am - except that today Victor gets the knock and has to wake us up. This must be a first - he is fully dressed and ready to go! We grab a quick cup of coffee and are off in the freezing morning, our hands under the blankets covering us. The sun is just beginning to appear over the horizon when 5 minutes out of the camp I spot a hyena standing in the middle of the road. It is the size of a large dog and it crosses into the bush when it realizes it has been seen. Not panicky, but not interested either. Before leaving the lodge Elliot and Andríes study several tracks going into the lodge and conclude that a pride of lions walked through the area during the night. Later we will know that they killed one of those cute Nyalas leaving a dark greasy stain on the grass where they fed. This probably happened between 2 and 4am and most likely they took off when Andreis opened the door to set out the coffee things. NOW we understand about the not moving about when it is dark!
But our ranger is hot on the tracks now and soon swerves into a wide grassy plain, where we suddenly spot the flat shapes of several lions sleeping on their side. The kill is so recent that they are still digesting and haven’t had time to clean off the blood. (For a vegetarian I am learning a lot about the rules of the bush!) They seem not to mind our presence - Andreís cuts the motor and we just sit there quietly taking in the scene: Several female lions - the huntresses - a young male lion, and, a bit further on, an impressive older lion with a huge blood-matted mane. This one our ranger calls ‘a loser’: a problem for the others. He has a bad limp and cannot hunt. Thus he eats the food of the group and also slows the others down. We watch him as he rolls over to sleep on his back like a large dog. We stay until two other cars come to see the lions and then move on to consider a couple of hippos in a pond reluctant to come out of the water. There has been a certain amount of activity on the radio and soon we are on our way to our next surprise: Andreís and his team of trackers have located the older male leopard that has been not been seen for a couple of days. He is so eager not to miss him that we zip past a river with a large alligator taking the sun on a rock. We find ‘The Wellington Male’ gracefully arranged on a little hillock, looking like a decorative 18th century painting. He also seems not to mind our presence. He looks at us for a bit and then takes a nap. He is wonderfully beautiful with a noble head and shiny fur with clear markings. It is incredible to be this close to him in his natural habitat and not looking through bars in a zoo. We have been out for less than an hour and already we have seen this much. While we wonder what can possibly top this, our ranger drives on to find a large herd of elephants. We drive up close to them. They have several babies and are not particularly pleased to see us and walk off. Andreís drives us out of there but then suddenly turns the jeep straight into the path of the elephants, so they will have to pass us on either side to get by. Some of them come quite close and flap their ears (I imagine this a sign of being cranky), but they do nothing and we get to see the cute little babies play with their moms and dads - they look exactly like Dumbo (before things got bad).
We are exhausted from so many impressions and stop the car to get a rest and a snack next to the pond with the hippos, who please us by moving ever so slightly further out of the water. Then we head home to the waiting brunch. We are sitting quietly eating our food when 3 things happen: a bright blue starling with little beady orange eyes comes flying in, sees the big bowl of granola and takes a quick brisk bath in the grains (won’t eat that again!). A grey monkey with a black face has been studying the table from a ledge behind us. Suddenly he crosses the room on the floor, goes under the table, sits briefly on a chair on the other side and grabs the scone left there by a guest, who had gotten up to serve himself something. The monkey is gone in a flash, scone in his little paw. Finally there is a bit of commotion in the pool area. Someone has found a snake hiding in the pump house. Ron - another ranger - appears with the huge and highly venomous Puff Adder held in a firm grip - and we think of swimming there yesterday worrying about lizards! Soon it’s time to go. We look around the pretty rooms one more time, say goodbye to the friendly staff and the remaining guests and are on our way towards the Kruger Park.
There are a lot of photos - but you can hardly blame us for taking so many:
THE LAST SAFARI
September 6, 2008 10:30 AM
I NEVER THOUGHT THAT I WOULD SIT IN THE MIDDLE OF A HERD OF ELEPHANTS - AND WAIT TO SEE WHAT THEY WOULD DO....
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