Safari Day 2: The Walk and Ride

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Just to put it in perspective how incredible this place is, while I was typing this blog from the patio of our lodge, I had to take a break because I saw a giraffe walk by the deck I was sitting on (10 feet from me), and had to run to get some pictures. Now back to the details of the day...

We were up for coffee and out into the bush by 545 for our morning 4-hour walk. Seriously? I thought this was vacation.

We are not following the rules as it relates to staying away from certain foods or drinks. Everyone here does it, and they all seem healthy. Its all part of the experience and the reason Cipro was invented. I have religiously been taking my meds relating to the disease that matters most - Malaria - so no worries.

We threw on the 40 deet big spray (which may literally burn a hole in the o-zone and could incapacitate a rhino) and my shorts for the walk in the bush. Because its winter, the bugs aren't bad, and aside from being chilly in the morning, its perfect shorts weather. The walk started with a 35 minute drive to the middle of the Reserve and lasted about 3 hours.

Mark threw out even more interesting facts about the animals we would be seeing. Like did you know that 8 out of 10 baby lions die before 4 months, and its not because of humans. Speaking of humans, although a lot of people think hunters in the bush cause problems, Mark but it in a new light about the good they do for disease, population, and even conservation. Poachers are the issue. And luckily, a few months back a poacher was killed by a pack of lions. Serves him right. Another fact, Impale (African deer) can pretty much reproduce on demand and are everywhere since mostly on cheetahs and leopards eat them as they are too small for lions. Finally, there are tons of HUGE termite hills here - that is because female termites can have almost 200,000 babies per day. That... Sounds like a horrible life. But I digress...

We parked the truck in the middle of the bush and got out on foot. The rangers are required when they take guests to take an elephant gun, but you can tell they hate it. They told us they would rather shoot us than shoot the animals. Also, listen to a few of the ground rules for the walk - this made us feel REALLY good. If a lion is running at you, you cannot run, it will catch... And kill you. You need to stay still and show it you aren't afraid. Sounds easy right? Are these people serious? Another feel good fact, we are slower than all of the dangerous animals in the bush. So... Don't run. Each animal had its own method of tracking, why they did or did not hate humans, and what you should do if you see them on foot. To be honest, the gun is basically just for show. If a lion, rhino, or ele (phant) ran at you in the bush. You NEED to hit their brain with the bullet - about the size of a football (at full speed). You really hope you don't need the gun. And with that... We were off.

Oh, one important note. Kruger is one of the largest national parks in the world and has the largest concentrations of the 'Big 5' in the world. The 'Big 5' are called that because they were worth the most to hunters back in the day. They also happen to be five of the most dangerous animals on earth. The 'Big 5' include: lions, elephants, buffalo, leopards, and rhino.

Not five minutes into the walk, the ground began to shake Jurassic Park style. We came a little to close to a pack of elephants and scared them. They started to run and took everything (trees, bushes, and other animals) out that was in their way. We quickly saw them off in the distance - Mark tracked them - and we got to view them from about 30 feet away on foot. It was crazy. They were making the noise that elephants make (sorry I don't have an official bush/ranger term for it) and it was intense. After that, we saw a variety of other non- Big 5 animals. Giraffes, wildebeests, Impale antelope, spiders, scorpions, snakes, and others. We had the track of a lion, found their prints (that were the size of my head) and for some stupid reason... Looked for them. We felt extremely close, but never ended up seeing it while on foot. Afterward I thought long and hard about it - and given plan we were supposed to use during an attack (you remember... stay still and act like you aren't scared) I think seeing them from the vehicle might be cooler. Those things could eat me with one gulp, and according to all the stories, they will definitely do it. The walk lasted a little over 3 hours and was great. We saw a ton of animals and the experience from the ground was definitely unique.

We headed back to the camp for a few hour nap and lunch before heading out for the afternoon on a four-hour game drive in a local reserve.

We arrived after a 40 minute drive (you can imagine that 40 minutes here means you are really close) to the other private reserve which is small in size and therefore has a lot of animals in a small space. I should also spell out what I mean by reserve. These things take days to drive around and are millions of acres - they are not like big zoos. They are set up for animal control and conservation and due to disease and over-population, are key to helping the animals survive.

We got coffee and tea at the other lodge and met some more great people. It seems everyone traveling has a real appreciation for where we are, what we get to see, etc. We also played with the tame cheetahs that live there. The owners of the lodge had their mother and took care of her, but she was recently killed in the camp by a lion. So they took the 3 babies (now all 14 months old) and helped to keep them alive. They aren't domesticated, but they are amenable to having humans nearby. But... To show how non domestic they are - the residents of the camp took them on a walk that morning, and mid-walk they saw a wildebeest. They released them and the cheetahs chased this thing down. Being able to pet them (while managing to not get bit - although Heather was close) was an awesome experience.

We did our drive with Mark and our other guide Richard, who looked like he was 12 and Heather called a baby. She really knows how to make a good first impression. We saw a ton of animals from antelope, buffalo, rhinos, hippos, crocs, wildebeests, cheetah, water-beck, hyena (sp),and others. All-together we saw 3 of the 'Big 5' plus a ton of others. Not bad for day 2 of 5. We still didn't get the elusive leopard, the hardest of all to find - or the lion. But there is still time.

We had some new guests are the camp when we got back. We had a real lame kid from Baltimore who is apparently sponsored by UnderArmor and 4 nice kids who went to MIT together and we major academics. One worked for NASA, one owned his own tech company, etc. We had a real African brie or BBQ with everyone which was delicious. We had great cornmeal and veges, brie, and a great lemon cake with custard. All made by local Afrikaans.

We ended the night with more intense stories about culture and old guiding stories from Mark and the other guides. I will have a lot more tomorrow, but Ill again give a story that made Heather have troubles sleeping. Mark told us all about once when he was coming through the North of Kruger, near the border with Mozambique. Just as with every border, there are immigrants crossing to get away from problems and getting to a better place. Except in the North of SA, you have the added hardship of also evading lions. It may be an idea we can utilize in the US? Kidding. They came across a bunch of skeletons and found one guy high up in a tree that had been there for days. He explained that he had been with a group of five others and watched them get eaten one-by-one by lions. Another GREAT bedtime story. The stories are crazy and to be serious... Being out here, seeing it, realizing that you cannot be scared and need to live within what exists - is something that you have to experience. But I'll do my best to write about it in the meantime...

Hope everyone is doing well. Until next time...

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Photos

Elephants
Here is where we came across a pack of not-so-happy elephants on our Walking Safari. Good times...