Travelin' Road Show

Monday, May 5, 2014

May 5th - 4th and 5th Game drives

May 5th - 4th and 5th Game drives
MORNING:

OSTRICH

AWEOME SUNRISE

HUGE Cape Buffalo

Cape Buffalo and the Oxsuckers

Always getting up close and personal

Oxsucker convention

"hmmmm... nice butt!!!"

Boy 5am comes very quickly! Another quick cuppa and off we went ... Don was keen to track a herd of Cape Buffalo, which was quite a drive from the camp, so we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise as we drove... just after sunrise we had a surprise and rare sighting of an Ostrich.. probably the only one in the area... quite exciting... but the highlight of this drive was the enormous herd of Cape Buffalo, lazing in the grass... hundreds of magnificent beasts, crowned with massive heavy horns (called a boss). We got to drive right into the herd and watched them for 30 minutes at least... fabulous experience. The pictures just don't do them justice.. they are truly awesome animals. After we resumed our drive we came across more giraffe. Two young males were having a bit of a fight, which they do by using their massive necks to whack each other quite violently. One of the two looked like he had had a stroke, as one side of his face was droopy and a little deformed. Very strange sight. By far the most breathtaking sight that day... although they are all breathtaking, was to once again spot our grumpy, huge bull elephant as he literally pushed over a tall, live tree (20-30 feet high).. for his grazing pleasure. It was so quick and such a surprise that no-one managed to get a picture. But we did enjoy snapping pictures of him grazing on the fruits of his labour. (he breaks off large tree trunks and rolls them around in his mouth stripping the nutrient laden bark as if he were eating corn on the cob. We once again enjoyed some ranger coffee while watching a river lizard sunbathe on a log in a small pond with a lone rhino keeping a close eye on us. On our way back into camp we saw warthogs, a massive Kudu and a huge bird drying its wings.
By far the most breathtaking sight that ... although they are all breathtaking, was to once again spot our grumpy, huge bull elephant as he literally pushed over a tall, live tree (20-30 feet high).. for his grazing pleasure. It was so quick and such a surprise that no-one managed to get a picture. But we did enjoy snapping pictures of him grazing on the fruits of his labour. (he breaks off large tree trunks and rolls them around in his mouth stripping the nutrient laden bark as if he were eating corn on the cob. We once again enjoyed some ranger coffee while watching a river lizard sunbathe on a log in a small pond with a lone rhino keeping a close eye on us. On our way back into camp we saw warthogs, a massive Kudu and a large cormerant drying its wings in the sun.

Loving it!!

Giraffes

Cute!

Getting into a small brawl

Whoa.... a little disheveled!!!

LOVE ELEPHANTS!!!

Eating the tree he felled

Hippo... thinking we can't see him

Happiness in Africa

Wildebeest

Beautiful Warthog

Cormorant - Drying wings

Kudu

AFTERNOON

Spider by our room ... !!

Kindergarden child

Adorable smile

After breakfast we took the guided village walk. The village is for the employees of the 4 surrounding camps and many of the employees were born under the tree in the village, grow up here and then work here... they are a branch of Zulu (Shangaan), they were not aggressors, merely farmers that originated hundreds of years ago in Mozambique. We saw the kindergarden (where our guide had worked for 19 years) and snapped a few photos of the kids who sang for us. After lunch on the main deck we headed out on our last evening drive. Don was bound and determined to find big cats and he was quite disappointed that we did not manage to track any. We did see a rare sight of about six hippos out of the water in the dark... which made up for the disappointment... still a fun drive. Dinner in the Boma again and a well earned sleep.

Our guide

Our guide's home

Derek and monkey in the tree

Janice and monkey


Monkeys playing around

Elephant seem from lodge

Beginning of afternoon drive

Tracking for big cats

Male impalas

Male nyala

Yellow billed Hornbill

Sunset

Going going gone

Our chariot

Happiness is!!

Ranger coffee time

Don and Janice

Sunday, May 4, 2014

May 4th - Second and third Safari Drives.

May 4th - Second and third Safari Drives.

5:30am... beautiful misty morning

Not sure .... small Tawny Eagle???

One of Janice's Favourite photo's

So peaceful

Bunch of vultures in a row.. jungle book??

It seems strange that we are woken at 5am, but to see the African bush resplendent with big game, one is obliged to rise with the sounds of the female lions roaring in the valley below the camp. They make quite a racket. We had a quick cuppa, seeing a Cape buffalo wandering past the lodge as we sipped. Heading out on our game drive, there were only 4 of us, and our guide Don and tracker, Judas. Sunrise was spectacular at around 6:30 am... lots of Wildebeest and Impala out this morning, followed by sightings of Kudu (we never really did get the difference between Kudu and Inyala)... Then we came across a bunch of Rhinos grazing very close to the vehicle... the birds (oxpeckers) that are riding on them (actually help them, as they eat the parasitic insects that are sucking the blood from the rhinos, which could eventually kill them!! It was fascinating watching the birds peck away at termites

Untouched... morning sunrise

Male Impala

Female Impalas

The colours are stunning in the morning

Another of Janice's Favourites -untouched no effects

Another of Janice's favourites... a Wildebeest

Another wild beast!!

right inside the rhinos' ears... charming!!! The rhinos wandered so close to us we could have touched them... Janice held her breath for quite a while!! After the rhinos... we came across a small herd of Zebra... will the wonders of this amazing place ever cease??? Our tracker proved to be a dab-hand with a machete, when the vegetation impeded our progress!!! We both thought Braden would have been in his element!!!! Stopping for a snack and a coffee... we were delighted to be treated to 'ranger coffee' ... Amarula instead of milk... (akin to Baileys.... South African Style). After our snack we headed off again and Janice spotted (first I might add) a huge elephant in the distance ... further up we saw a small group of female elephants. Don reversed back to see that the huge elephant was a bull elephant in 'must'... ie: he was the male elephant version of a dog in heat. Apparently they can be in must for many months, constantly dripping from it's penis, giving him a wet back leg, losing hundreds of litres each day, a big headache and pretty aggressive. He lumbered toward us and we got some great photos. It was a little scary, but we were also in awe as this massive animal came so close and then crossed the track in front of our vehicle... a moment we will never forget. Still reeling from the sights we had seen, we happened on a large family (11 in total) of Giraffe, after taking tons of photos we headed back to camp and spotted a number of baboons en route.... WHAT an amazing drive.

Wildebeest

Nose in the mud... beauty treatment no doubt

Breakfast followed ... fresh fruits etc and a lovely omelet. We lounged around and generally enjoyed our surroundings and catching up on the blog sitting by our plunge pool on the deck... when suddenly a huge baboon (3-4ft tall) leapt up onto our deck and stared at us... we both jumped out of our skin... Janice ran into the room and closed the door, while Derek chased him away up over the roof. We just settled down again when thump... there he was again... another dive inside and Derek chased him along the deck and round the back of our unit.... whew!!! Don had mentioned on the drive that the baboons can be pretty aggressive! No match for Derek though who was impressively brave!!

Oxpecker birds eat parasites.. save animals lives

"I SAID...........!!!!!!!"

CHARGE!!!! ... Not really

They got much closer... sniffed the Land-rover

Munch munch... ignore them they'll go away!!!

Wildebeest right by the rhinos!!

After a delicious lunch on the main deck, we met once again for our afternoon game drive and Don was intent on finding a Leopard, which would complete our 'big five' ... We did see some Rhino and elephant, but didn't stop long as we had to go quite a distance to where Don had heard there may be a leopard out hunting. After dark we got lucky and spotted a leopard, assisted to the location over the radio by another ranger. We then picked up another guest who the lodge had driven out to the area we were in (Geoffrey) and went back to track the leopard, which we did for about 30 minutes as he stalked a small herd of Impala. I couldn't get any really good photos as the leopard was moving and we were seeing hiom through the headlights and a spotlamp. We didn't see him attack, but it was still a very exciting and unique experience. We were very haoppy to have seen all of the big five... the rest is a bonus. The great thing about being outside of the government controlled area of Kruger Park, is that the land-rovers are free to drive off the dirt tracks, into the bush and get up close and personal to the animals. Even the Lions see the vehicles as no threat, so they continue to graze, keeping a watchful eye on us... for some reason they do not associate the land-rovers with 'food'... thank goodness. If only they knew how easy it would be to pluck any one of us out of our open, roofless, windowless vehicle!!!!! On the way back to camp we spotted a crocodile, mouth wide open trying to catch food in the running water... very interesting! Back at camp after a shower and change we headed to the Boma again for dinner (Boma stands for British Officers Mess Area)... the officers had a fire to keep them safe from the animals during the first war. We were treated to some traditional South African tribal dancers and once again had a gourmet meal under the brilliant stars of the African sky. Another fabulous day.