Tuesday, June 18, 2013

safari episode two

So here I go again, trying to describe something that was so huge, so unbelievable, so wonderful. Good luck.

Phinda is a private game reserve. It has three focusses- give back to the land, give back to the wildlife, give back to the community. It does all three, masterfully.

We went on game drives 6 a.m. - 10 a.m., and 3 p.m. - 8 p.m.. You start in darkness and end in darkness. So you start in cold and end in cold. South Africa's winter is now and the temperatures dropped to probably 10'. And out in the Land Cruiser, with no windshield it was colder. In the dark and particularly in the rain!

We had cold mornings, a delicious bite to the air (a Singaporean talking here) and by sunrise, the sun started to heat the day. We had a hot August day (actually stinking hot- I would not want to be there doing a safari in their summer!) a perfect September day (brilliant blue sky, and a warm sun that you can smell), perfect October day (brilliant sky, but a wind to make it a little on the fresh side), a grey November day (overcast and cold) and an awful November day (cold, grey, pissing rain, and blowing wind). We had it all.

The nights were cold driving back to camp, but cosy on arrival. Our very glamorous cabin with the turn down was toasty. All except the night of the "November rain". We needed a hot shower to get the appendages to move. The one very warm "August" day, we sat the afternoon at our plunge pool, saying hello to the impala that visited us, they seeking a little saline refresher. The pool was too cold to plunge into, because of the very cold nights. But I did yoga on the deck, with monkeys as audience! And we had an outdoor shower that was lovely that day. Monkeys at the shower too!

We would get a call at 5:30, come to the lodge at 6 a.m. for coffee and a bun. On our return at 10ish we would have a very full breakfast. Home baked bread, croissants, wonderful in season fruit, yogurt that must be 30%bf, and they even had delicious decaf coffee for me. Roughing it in the bush! We would loll around till 2, trying to think hungry, so we could face a fantastic lunch, on the deck, watching baboons playing in the trees, and be ready for a 3 o'clock drive. Till 8, and in to darkness. To arrive back to a wonderful dinner. The food was first class, and it was hard to think we were off in the bush.

Upon arrival, we were assigned to a ranger for our 5 days. Ranger Barry was a Zulu, trained for 7 years, lived just off the reserve with his family. The Toyota Land Cruiser sat 8. Six guests, and Ranger Barry and his spotter Chris, also a Zulu. Chris sat up front in the spotter seat, which was  a single seat that stuck out front of the front of the vehicle. He would leave his "office" and join us when we were near animals. His coming in the vehicle kept the integrity of the outline of the vehicle, which was what the animals were comfortable with. He also would be back with us, and the two rangers had a "guitar" on which they put "strings". (a rifle with bullets.)

These two were amazing. A big part of the safari is educating us city folk. They would stop and show us prints. Know when they were made, where they had come from, and where they were headed. These guys know all the animals. Know the ages, family lineage, and know their activities. When we had a spotting, Barry would phone it in so all the other rangers could update their info.

He asked us the first drive what we hoped for. I said I wanted to see "the big five" My friend Kate had referred to "the big five" I had no idea what they were. They are not the biggest of the animals, but they are the most difficult to track and "hunt". Well, by drive #3 we had seen 4 of the 5. The five are elephants, lions, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, buffalo, cheetah. Now we saw these giants at close range. Calm, curious, comfortable, and they were awesome. A bull elephant was coming down the sand path we were on, so Barry pulled to the side and this magnificent 4 meter tall bull walked past us 2 meters away. Also a mature male lion. On the path, we pulled over, he looked at us and walked on, meters away. That, my friends, is breath taking.

We tracked four 4 year old lions, two female, two male (ruff just starting), for two days. They were hungry and looking for food. The third day we saw them just finishing off a wildebeest, and were licking their chops, and lolling. Full bellied, meters from us (the two males "spooning, with one's paws around the other).

We watched a bull elephant cross our path. Then one crossed behind us. So Barry reversed quickly, not wanting to be between the pack. And a good thing he did. We watched about 30 elephants cross, with one little baby. Where they were all about 3 meters tall, this baby wasn't one meter tall, and dancing, and skipping along. It was gorgeous!

We tracked a male mature lion for several days, looking for his two females. He was hungry, lost, and tired. Then we were there when he found them, nuzzling them, batting them, grooming them.

The cheetahs were eluding Barry (and all the other rangers). We had been tracking them in the bush in the vehicle. Tracks but no cheetah.  So Barry and Chris set off on foot, with their guitar with strings on it, and they told us to STAY in the vehicle. They did ask if one of the guys could drive the Land Cruiser. With an affirmative, they set off on foot. After a hour, they called on the walkie talkie to come, gave directions, and we found them. Then, with Chris out of his office and sitting with guitar on his lap we found them. Cheetahs are magnificent. It was so worth the hunt. ( leopards have no stripe down their face, cheetahs do.)

I will continue this another post. I will attach a few of my photos this time. But Tim's photos will be coming along soon.


King of the Jungle


They look like they are related to camels!



Major BIG and a matter of feet away!



He was feet away too!


Zebras are gorgeous!



Pretty magnificent!



Chris in his office, and Ranger Barry at the wheel.




Buffalo. Sure doesn't look like North American buffalo




Well worth the hunt! AMAZING!!!!!!


My pictures of rhino and hippo are not very good. The animals are so well camouflaged that you can't see them in the pics!

More to follow!


No comments:

Post a Comment