Big Five Safari Day Two: 15 June 2009

Four Down, One to Go! Our tracker, Rexon, and driver, Ishmael, are an incredible team. Both are very knowledgeable and really enjoy their job. They are very funny, putting us at ease as we bounced, jounced, and careered around, and off, the trails.

A bit about our vehicle. It is a steel reinforced Land Rover – no top and the sides stop at the passenger’s hip. The tracker sits on an insanely small seat mounted on the front of the rover (the jokes about him being the bait were endless). And no one wears a seat belt. Morning drives, we learned, are very, very cold. The hot water bottle and snuggly blankets kept us warm. Drive started at 6:00 a.m.

Promptly at 6:10 a.m. we met the male lion as he walked perimeter of his domain, marking his territory as he went. Didi was the closest and took some great shots as the king of the bush sauntered on by.


A note about safari photography – the hardest part is switching between the telephoto and regular lenses – quite often the game animals were too close to use the telephoto. Fortunately, Scott is a good sport and was helpful as Nadine changed lenses. Good thing we brought the large flash as well- it was worth carrying.



Now about the game. After the lion encounter, we drove south to a slightly flatter area with
more trees and grasses (less scrub bushes). Despite the constant hum of the rover’s engine, our tracker could hear the very distinct sound of large trees being toppled. That is an auditory cue that a herd of ellies (as they are called) are nearby.



Sure enough, we found them in a copse of trees just off a wide expanse of grass. Magnificent creatures. The females and young are very social. Eating is a priority for them, but they often stop and give each other a caress – just to say hello and stay in contact. The elephants will trample and bring down trees to eat the leaves - they are very efficient in their destruction.



In addition to the elephants, we also saw a giraffe family – they walk in tandem as if connected by a rubber band. We saw other varieties of wild beasts as well- dwarf mongoose, kudu, and more impala. We stopped by a watering hole to see the (tops of) a hippo trio. Not very friendly.


We drank coffee or hot chocolate and admired the view. As we finished, the trees and grasses began to move across the water and the elephants arrived, en masse, for their mid-morning drink. It was surreal to see them emerge from the bush – one moment it was empty and in the next moment they next they were there.



We had an incredible breakfast at the lodge overlooking the dry riverbed. We saw another giraffe and more vervet monkeys.


We then hiked through the bushveldt with Ishmael and Rexon. They showed us a bunch of lizards, termites, and plants. Ishmael made Didi a bracelet he wove from the fibrous leaves of a mother-in-law tongue plant.


After another delicious lunch we had our post-prandial drive. Wow! We had already seen Cape buffalo, lion, and elephants – what could top that? Glad you asked.


We received notice that a cheetah had been spotted. As we moved closer, we realized the cheetah was not simply resting, but instead was guarding and occasionally eating a recent kill - fresh impala. Seeing this kind of reality was amazing as we watched him for 15-20 minutes from a distance of no more than 10 feet.


Thinking we had seen it all, our guide told us about the most difficult to spot animal. The most elusive of the Big Five is the leopard –because it is silent, solitary, and nocturnal. A single leopard demands a large territory – there is only one per several hundred acre. After crashing through the bush, we met up with a young male, also marking is territory.


The leopard could not have cared less about us – we were insignificant. He walked, slowly and regally. Even in the dim light of the tracker’s lamp we could see the muscles rippling down his back as he walked.