Bush Breakfast

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Bush Breakfast

Sunday, July 6, 2008

The wake-up calls seem to be getting earlier and earlier each morning! Once again, 6AM brought the harsh shriek of our phone with an eager voice insisting that it was time for our drive. Coffee and Tea at 6:30 and Nick, Gianyi, Nigil, Liz, and the two of us were off. It was revealed at dinner the night before that a Cheetah, Jackal, and Wild Dogs with pups had been spotted. This trio instantly interested us and Nick agreed to search the landscape for us - which is what we literally did. We took to the South, further than we had ever been before. Singita rests in the Sabi Sands Reserve. Out of approximately 60,000 hectors, Singita’s three reserves, Ebony, Boulders, and Lebombo, known for prolific game viewing, occupy around 18,000 hectors, with the balance being shared by 20 or so other camps. Singita also has a fourth reserve located directly in Krueger.

After a half-hour trek in a water freezing open air ride we found the site that the Cheetah had been seen. It had made a kill the day earlier and was enjoying the feast on the side of the road for yesterdays viewers. What was odd now however, was that the Cheetah was gone and had left its prey nearly intact. Gianyi was determined and set out on a mission to find the Cheetah. Taking the rifle, he disappeared into the bush while we pushed on for other sightings.

The going was slow this morning. Our first encounter brought us to a White Rhino. They seem to hate being disturbed as this Rhino kept a close eye on us. Later in the day we would see some Rhinos disturbing each other. Grazing and gazing, we left this exciting and energetic animal and ran across another Impala. At least six waterholes later, it seemed like the animals just weren’t cooperating with our drive. Finally, coming around a corner, we ran into a pack of Wart Hogs. Feasting on some grass, the Wart Hogs were eating with their elbows on the table - they were bent and touching the ground so they could easily eat the brush. We saw an entire family, and although not large animals, still fun to watch. Continuing on we ran into another pack of elephants that this time made Tabitha very uneasy. They are wasteful creatures, and would tear a branch or in some cases and entire tree down and then decide it wasn’t pleasing enough and leave it behind. We managed to also see another elephant youngster. Our last sighting this morning were of four Rhinos. It seemed that a mother, her youngster, and another teenage Rhino were being harassed by an older male. The male seemed to want to hurt her youngster - Nick said this was because he would then be able to mate with the female. The mother would have nothing of it however and the two seeming to stare, bark, growl, and challenge the male in warning. After 30 or so minutes, the female and her youngster backed away slowly and began a slow walk in the opposite direction. The male followed the two and each time the third teenager looked in his direction, the male would flinch charge him and scare him away. This went on for a while and we finally left them when they crossed a road. We thought for sure there would be a skirmish, but can only guess what ended up happening. The morning was slow, but not a loss, and we were pleasantly surprised with breakfast in the bush.

Typically at the conclusion of our drive, we would return to our lodge, however, we instead took another route and in a remote area, found ourselves making a pit stop for breakfast. Many of the staff greeted us, and the lodge had set up a buffet, tables, and actually had a fairly nice bathroom for morning breakfast. With a couple made-to-order omelets, fruits, cheeses, potatoes, bacon, sautéed mushrooms, and tomatoes, we had a terrific breakfast. The extreme cold turned very warm and we shed our jackets, gloves, beanies, and ponchos. We didn’t return to the lodge until 11AM and instantly were shuffled onto another jeep for a ride and visit to a local village.

The village is one of many in South Africa. Leaving the sanctuary of the animals, we passed the gate of the reserve and arrived at the town. Our guide mentioned that there were villages every 10 or so kilometers and trips to the large town were sometimes made for essentials if the village shop-owners were lacking. We were surprised by the village. With electricity, running water, (some) plaster homes, and many homes with 4 brick walls, the village seemed contemporary. We were told that the village lives in community with one another and crime doesn’t exist. We were most looking forward to seeing the children, but given a holiday, we only saw a few and did not visit the school. We also made our way to four singing and dancing teams. Each one was dressed in identifying team uniforms and performed for us. Also, we managed to get a quick African cooking lesson and had some great homemade peanut butter - believe me, it wasn’t easy to make. After drying the corn, smashing it a thousand times, separating seeds from shells, re-smashing it, and sifting the soft white powder into a large container, it was mixed with a variety of nuts and oils. It was really good and really cool to see the process. But don’t think that the villagers are making their own peanut butter everyday - there was a store a block away that has all the basics you’d need - and Gianyi made a quick stop to pick up some Vaseline for a co-worker.

On our return, we sighted a few animals. Of note we ran across a heard of buffalo grazing in a waterhole and went in for a closer look. Again, it seemed like we were disturbing one in particular and both Tabitha and another guest who had made her way to the village with us thought that we had seen enough after this guy looked more and more agitated. Last thing we needed was a stampede of these rough riders! Directly opposite of this waterhole, a twin engine plane was just taking off.

Back at the lodge we wanted to visit the sister lodge, Boulders. We hitched a ride and took a quick tour. Boulders and Ebony differ in that Boulders is minimalist and chic. Ebony is more colonial, has more detail, and lots of interesting memorabilia and touches. Boulders reminded us of a W hotel. Although very nice, we were happy that Ebony was our lodge. Lastly, leading up to our evening game drive, we made a quick stop at the gift shop - we expected a small rickety store between the two lodges and got a massive (5 room) luxurious boutique for African items, pictures, home furnishings and other goodies. I had seen some amazing candlesticks at dinner the night before and saw them at the store. Needless to say, they turned out to be stainless silver and $2,700 each - we passed!

Our night game drive began with the monkeys at our own lodge. The naughty monkeys come out in force just after most guests leave so they can scavenger for food. On several occasions, the monkeys managed to steal fruit from lunch but these are some of my favorite creatures. Comical and curious, they seem to know what you’re doing and how much of a threat you pose. One of our hosts, Annette, shot a mean slingshot that scared them away - sounds a little cruel but I guess that is one of the ways they deal with their little furry friends, and they aren’t as fond of the monkeys we were. Our first real sighting was a family of hippos. Passing over the same river as our first night we got a glimpse of several wading about upstream. A younger hippo was making his way to the heard and his head would disappear underwater every few seconds as he would sink, grab the ground, and shoot back up making his diagonal approach slowly but surely. Our next sighting was one of the most memorable. A pride of lions had been spotted and we made our way to them. Two Lioness’ and six cubs graced us for nearly an hour. Much of the time they slept, or fed, and we probably missed playtime by just a hair. But these creatures were so amazing, so beautiful, and so majestic that being able to almost touch them was one of Singita’s gifts to us. We locked down a great position and were within two or so meters of two cubs nursing with their mother. The cubs were very curious about us and would watch us whenever we made a peep. The older Lion’s could care less and slept through most of our encounter. The Lion’s were amazing, and we were lucky to see them and their cubs.

We settled in for an end-of-drive break. Nick broke out the wine, liquor, beef jerkey (biltong), and dried fruit, and Gianyi made some pork sausage. We positioned ourselves next to a huge water hole and a fantastic place to watch the fiery sun disappear below the horizon. The stars come out at night. Clearly visible were the moons of Pluto, the Red Planet, the Milky Way, and many more that felt that they could be picked out of the sky. Nick was happy to mention that driving to the moon at 120k per hour would take just about 4 months although I have seen sources quote more. Also, he noted there are more stars than all of the grains of sand on earth and a couple other fun facts that Tabitha seemed to know and I might have heard before?

Back at the lodge everything was settled for a bush dinner. We met our drive group and with a nice fire burning in the center of an outdoor makeshift restaurant, had a tasty barbeque with a myriad of sauces, wines, and accompaniments. It was here we were able to try the Kudu for the first time and Nick was right, it was tasty - but it wasn’t such a happy moment eating one the animals that we took note of - nonetheless it was great. The rest of the eleven rooms including the rowdy group joined and each had dinner with their respective guide. The staff ended the evening with an African dance and singing show and we ran through a quick slide show with our table of all the pictures we had taken - it was nice to recount the last couple days - as quick as they were - to see how much we really did experience. I knew the next day’s wakeup call would seem to come earlier than today’s, along with the sad thought of our departure after the drive.

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Photos

More Hogs
They eat on their elbows

Angry Buffalo
He keeps an eye on us