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Published: November 23rd 2009
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I am back from my great South African Game Reserve adventure, and adventure it was! Carolyn and I left for the game reserve mid day last Sunday and drove three hours up north in the pouring rain. We reached the reserve in the late afternoon and as soon as we entered the first set of gates we were stopped by two huge elephants. They were on either side of the rd, but soon one decided to join the other. This was fantastic because there was nothing between us and the elephants which are absolutely enormous. But this soon started to work against us as the elephant crossing the rd got distracted by some better looking vegetation and started to “trot” down the rd after us. Thankfully there was only one car behind us so we were able to reverse back to get out of its way, but needless to say I was having a minor heart attack. Just an hour before we were stopped at a friend’s house in Empageni and they were telling us scary stories of adventures in the reserve, I told them I was more than happy to view animals from a distance and I didn’t need
any exciting tales to make my trip complete. I guess I spoke a bit too soon. After navigating the elephant we continued on to the second gate where you register and get your camp number and Carolyn had to convince me to get out of the car. She was always very calm when the animals were on my side of the vehicle, but I was a bit worried with how close a grazing Rhino was to me! After checking in we continued towards our exclusive bush camp but had to stop to see buffalo, impala and more Rhino. Carolyn started to worry that I would think the reserve was like a zoo, she had never seen so many animals at one time before. We did manage to take a small wrong turn at dusk that sent us on a restricted 4X4 track, whoops! But we arrived at camp just at dark. The others were already at camp, our group consisted of myself, Carolyn (my Rotary Host Counselor) her partner Graham, his mother Jean, his sister Tricia who has immigrated to Canada and her son Max who is 7 and has grown up in Canada. After dinner I decided I was
cold and I wanted to change into long pants so I went back to my cottage with a flash light keeping an eye out for animals. When I got back I was informed that it wasn’t smart to go out alone in the dark so next time I should wait and go in groups. That night I slept in my own bamboo cottage in the middle of the bush listening to hyena and other rustling sounds, wait did I say I slept? Rather, that night I lay in bed scared out of my mind on my own in a bamboo cottage listening to hyenas and other rustling sounds in the night!
The next morning we were up at 5 am for our morning game walk. Now I don’t know about anyone else but my first thought was, I’m sorry you want me to walk out there? I am scared of the animals when I’m in the car! But I couldn’t let the 7 year old show me up so I put on a brave face and vowed to always follow the guide with the large gun. Before we left the guide said there were only three rules, one
- always stay in a straight line, two - be quiet , and three - if he says find a bush then for goodness sake run and hide behind a bush quickly! So we set out and at the start we only saw dung and birds. I began to think that this was a nice walk and I don’t mind waiting to see big game until I am in the car far from where I sleep. I learned that hyena dung turns white after a couple days due to all the bones in it. Good something to help me sleep better at night. I also learned how to decipher elephant from rhino dung and that elephants use their dung to mark their territory. Near the end of our walk the guide in the back gave us a start and pointed towards the river where maybe 20 yards away ran 4 lions. Everyone was so excited, it is rare to see lions and especially at this short distance. My heart was pounding but I too was excited about this encounter. But then the guides decided it would be a good idea to track the lions….I’m sorry, what? So now I have
no option but to continue to follow the now very excited guide with the big gun as he follows the lions. He stopped to show us huge male lion prints in the sand and where the lions had slept the night before. Once again I was not sure why it was a good idea to follow the large carnivores especially after the guide told me he will not and does not actually shoot at the animals, his gun is only used for warning shots… oh good. We finished our walk with no other excitement and went back to camp for a freshly cooked breakfast. I was a bit ill that day so I laid low until our night game drive. We were picked up in an open game vehicle at 5 pm for a 2.5 hour drive to look for nocturnal animals. The weather was not cooperating with us and I ended up viewing game with my T-shirt, long sleeved shirt, hooded sweatshirt, and raincoat and I was still freezing! Due to the rain we did not see too much, but we did get some great views of giraffe, buffalo, rhino, and near the end of the drive we heard
a spotted hyena call very close to us. The guide shut off the engine and we were completely enshrouded in darkness, the hyena walked out of the darkness into our headlights right in front of the truck. We watched him walk across the rd, into the bush and into the night. It was fantastic, they are such fascinating animals. I learned many interesting facts about them most of which are not appropriate for this blog, but one that I found strange is that all baby hyena are born with boy parts, but the girls only have fake non functioning boy parts that soon fall off as they mature. We returned from our drive cold, wet, tired but happy that we had such a great experience.
We were up once again at 5 am the next morning to go on another game walk but the rain won out and we stayed at camp. The sky cleared up later that morning and we went on a drive that would end at our next camp. As we drove along we saw more warthogs, buffalo, rhino and impala. We stopped for tea at a picnic area along the river, there are few areas
designated to get out of your vehicle and even those are at your own risk. We had to share our picnic area with warthogs but had a great time playing tag and climbing trees. I may not have mentioned by this time the 7 year old and I were thick as thieves playing games and taking photos. He saw my camera and decided he wanted to be a photographer so he was always one step behind me taking photos. The next couple days at the new camp will be continued on the next blog!
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mom
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WOW dads mule should be jeolous of thats zebra's butt!!!