This offers a very different experience than Kruger, and I like them both. At Kruger, we slowly meandered around and would happen upon animals. (I have heard that Kruger can get very busy, but Dylan and I rarely felt crowded.) Here, Morris drives around and spots animals, but we rely less on the element of serendipity. Sometimes, we’re in hot pursuit of an animal (i.e., last night we needed to get to the rhinos before dark, and today we heard from the other ranger that the lions were in a specific area so we drove quickly over to that area).
This morning, we saw bushbabies (we saw their eyes the other night in the dark), impala, giraffes, kudu, duiker, wildebeest, hippos, terrapin, and probably more animals that I forgot. (I am embarrassed to admit that with all the animals I have seen, some of the drives and days are blurring together. What a blessing, right?)
The highlights of the morning drive for me were the rhinos, elephants, and lions. We found the rhino family again this morning, which is exactly what I wished for last night. We saw them this morning at dusk, so we watched them while the sun came up. The baby girl is so cute, and she didn’t have a name. We have seen this family for the last three days, so I asked Morris if we could name her. He agreed, and at that time she was eager to get her mom to move along (she kept rubbing against her mom, then walking away and hoping she would follow). I asked what the Tsonga word is for “eager” and he said “Longi-la” (not sure of the spelling) so I named her Longi-La.
When Paul radioed Morris to tell us he found a lion family, we started driving quickly over to the area. Along the way, we passed through a herd of elephants and they were not very relaxed (Morris said they can smell the lions, so were agitated). One of the elephants trumpeted and charged towards us, so we had to get out of there quickly. That was definitely the most excitement I’ve had so far on a drive. He chased us for a while but finally stopped (maybe he knew that chasing us would bring us closer to the lions). Seeing what the elephants do to trees here makes me want to not have them use their trunks or tusks on our vehicle! Morris and I laughed at the end.
We did finally find the lions. There were two cubs (10-months in age) and they were frolicking while their parents were out hunting. Morris tells me that even though the lions are getting large, they still don’t know how to hunt very well and might get killed by a zebra (they stick their heads in a bush and kick backwards hard with both feet) or giraffe because they wouldn’t attack the prey in the right place. So instead, they stay behind to play while mom and dad look for food. They climbed in (and nearly fell out of) a tree; they wrestled; and they played with each other. It was enjoyable to watch them have so much fun!
At one point on our drive, we were on a very narrow trail and had been driving for a while. As we rounded a corner, a tree was blocking the road (probably an elephant knocked it over). We couldn’t turn around easily, and backing all the way out was not an option. Luckily, our Land Rover was full today (Morris, his mate, Marcus, and 5 of us including 2 men). First, Morris and his mate tried. Next, Marcus joined. Finally, the two guys jumped out and they all moved the tree. It was great.
This afternoon, I sat around the pool under an umbrella and read. I also listened to a sermon (an old one on iTunes). Earlier this week, a lioness killed a warthog right here, and she broke the electric fence in the process so there were warthogs at the lodge today. They crouch on their “elbows” when they eat grass, which looks silly and vulnerable.
On the afternoon drive, we saw many birds (including bee eaters), butterflies, and animals (bushbuck, jackals, wildebeest, impala). We saw the largest herd of giraffes I have seen (a dozen giraffes), and we saw an iguana-like creature called a water monitor. Morris got out of the truck today to follow some cheetah tracks (I asked him the first day if we could find a cheetah), but he wasn’t able to find the cheetah for me yet. This evening, we saw night jars (birds that prefer to be out at night), too.
The highlight of the evening drive was finding the big daddy lion. He has a lush black mane, two wives, and three children. He got his grub on yesterday with the warthog, so he’s still digesting all that food. He weighs 280 kg (!) and was lazy today trying to digest his huge meal. At one point, it was dark and we were parked 10 feet from him and he called for his wife. It was great, and the only other thing he could have done for me was to roar. But being that close, I might have been really scared if he had roared. Dylan’s book says a lion’s roar can be heard for 5km!
I learned that Shiduli means termite mound, and that there are macro and micro termites. Macro termites are photosensitive and live in the huge hills we see everywhere, and inside is a fungus that helps process the food that termites can’t digest. The mounds also produce mushrooms after rains, which I am told are delicious. For dinner, we had mushroom pesto as a starter and someone asked if it was termite mushrooms :)
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