Long necks and big ears

---

First full day on Safari

Annabel was awake from 3.30am when Ellie had woken her up to tell her she was snoring! So at 5.15am she was the only one raring to go off on safari. However it didn’t take too much to raise the kids so we there we were gathered just after 5.45am waiting for our rangers to tell us which vehicle we should get in. It was blooming cold so we had wisely swiped the four, soft, thick blankets off our beds and thus huddled as snug as bugs in rugs off we set.

The first thing we spotted as we drove down the drive was Lion foot prints (the female) from the night before, thankfully we had closed all our doors and windows the previous night as we don’t fancy having a lion as a midnight visitor.

It is safe to assume that during all of our safaris we encountered any number of impala, kudu, nyala and other antelope-type animals and their occurrences are too numerous to mention individually. Indeed the rangers have a saying that if you don’t see an impala on one of their safaris then you can get your money back. Needless to say “Good Morning Impala, no money back today” was chorused virtually as soon as we left the camp.

Our first sighting of giraffe on the reserve came next, a Mum and baby, grazing and before we could get much further another Mum and baby pair was spotted. Seeing babies is good news as many baby giraffes die when they are born as their mothers are standing up when giving birth and it’s a long way down for a newborn. By this time we had made our way across the reserve to one of the hills on the other side and up we went, following a very gravelly track. Just as we were reaching the highest point of the track on the hillside we caught up with a giraffe that proceeded to run in an ungainly manner (much to our amusement) along the track, stopping every now and then to check that we were still following. Eventually it met up with a friend also standing in the middle of the road and there they stood for us whilst we filmed and snapped them to our hearts content. However soon they were off onto the side of the road as they had heard our rival truck driven by Smiley coming up the hill from the other side.

We stopped for a welcome drink of tea/coffee at the hippos watering hole scaring them away from their nearby position to the middle of the pool. Then it was off again in search of some more game. It wasn’t long before Smiley radio’d in to say that he had found some elephants so off we sped to join them. The reserve has 8 elephants including a new baby and it was a group of six that we encountered including the mother and baby. We sat watching them breaking branches, stripping them and munching for a while when the baby started to play up thus spooking the mother who decided that she was not too happy with us sitting there. First of all she stood right in front of Smiley’s truck at which he ordered the three people aboard to not move a muscle and then she decided that we needed intimidating too and around she came to trumpet at us and stick her ears out. She was literally 4-5 metres away from us and in the end Victor revved the engine of the truck at her to make her move back which she duly did. It was an amazing experience.

Other animals we saw on this morning’s safari were baboons or some other large monkeys in a tree, a fishing eagle, 3 Zebra and a fair few Maribou Stork which are scavengers. Victor brought out his inner child by chasing the Maribou Stork in his truck (“make them dance”) which delighted Jack who has always been an avid pigeon chaser.

Back for breakfast at 9am, and then we wandered back to our room to recover before lunch. After lunch we were wandering around the camp when we saw a mother warthog with her two babies walking past our front door, delighted we followed them to see where they were going. Hither and thither they went, with us at a respectful distance. During this little trail we also found a Kudu trying to get some peace, settled down between some rocks near the swimming pool. As you do.

Our next activity was much anticipated - the elephant interaction and safari. A ranger picked us up in one of the game spotting vehicles alongside another couple and we sped back out into the bush, to a reinforced enclosure that acts as the ‘stable’ for the two house elephants - a mature female (20) and a less cautious teenage male (16). After the initiation and indemnity agreement signing (‘yes I do know that elephants are big and may kill me’), we had a fascinating session where we touched the elephants (trunks feel like thick animated rubber hoses), were amazed at their sense of smell (elephant passes item to the correct owner using its sense of smell, crikey) and had a kickabout with a giant tennis ball (elephants don’t favour any leg, but can be right of left trunked or tusked).

Then came the moment of truth - the ride! We all donned bike helmets (to protect us from banging our soft touristy bonces on trees), and were each allocated to an elephant. Annabel and Jack had the mature, more sedate female whilst Mark and Ellie had the slightly more troublesome juvenile. Each team climbed a mounting platform in turn and swung legs over the allotted pachyderm, with the help of the trainer and the driver and then we were away! Elephants have really rough skin (like leather sofas that have been overstuffed with ball bearings and then beaten with a wire brush), with stiff black bristles protruding proudly at regular intervals. I guess it was for this reason and safety that we sat upon a padded ‘saddle’ that was strapped to Jumbo, and told to hold onto the nylon handles whatever happened.
The ride on an elephant is quite even (not lurching like a camel), but does require you to stretch your legs quite wide. You also discover very quickly that it’s not so much a ride as an exercise in tolerance on behalf of the elephant. If it wants to stop to eat/push a tree down/pick up a rock to give you/walk through the bush, then all you can do is appeal to its better nature to desist and do something more along the lines of your preference. Ironically, as we set off a set of wild elephants could be seen further down the track of our intended route, so we had to make a slight detour to avoid any unnecessary excitement. On the way Annabel and Jack got passed quite a few presents (roots and branches mainly, in return for a treat), whilst Ellie and Mark had to put up more with food stops. Both went off piste quite a bit and quite a lot of effort needed to be put into influencing the ongoing route. After quite a long walk with quite a few lurching and leanings we got back to the stables and dismounted at the platform. We departed with souvenir platforms in hand and another unique experience under our belts.

By the time we got back to camp Victor was anxious to depart for the evening game drive, so we piled our blankets onto the tour vehicle and sped back the way we came. This was another worthwhile trip, since the first animals we came across were the elephants once more - this time all eight, blundering around in a more exposed part of the bush. The babies were still there, as was protective mummy, posturing and flapping her ears so that we knew we needed to be respectful. Victor retreated to a safe distance and we spent some time watching the babies as they foraged and tussled with each other.
On another track Victor and the spotter (Djamelo or something similar) picked up some rhino tracks which led us straight to the same three we had seen the day before. We slowed down and stopped very close to them, with the result that they all stood still, wiggling their ears around. They obviously knew something was up - they could smell and hear it - but couldn’t see us at all. You should feel sorry for them, but with no (natural) predators I guess eyesight isn’t a prerequisite. Along the same track we came upon a number of bee eaters - really pretty little green, yellow and black birds that remind you of a technicolour wren. A couple of giraffe also made an appearance before we pulled to a stop for a break. During this time, Victor showed us branches from two different bushes that actually looked identical, but one was smooth when you ran your fingers over the leaves and the other one was thorny. The smooth one was ‘bush toilet paper’ and the other one would be a bad mistake! We were told always to check before wiping!

Off again, and on travelling along a dry river bed (in the dark), Djamelo managed to spot a small green flap-necked chameleon in the greenery on what would have been the river bank. He must have eyes like a hawk. Anyway, the little lizard was really cute and walked all over us with a particular swaggering gait, opening its mouth now and then in an expression reminiscent of shock or surprise. For some reason he reminded Mark of an offended little tax inspector - I’m not sure where that came from! He was safely returned home and we continued onwards. The only other sightings we had were more distant ones - a crocodile at the water hole, a pair of blue wildebeest (man, they is stupeed!) , a troop of baboons, a couple of warthogs (or as Jack puts it, ‘waterhogs’) - before heading homewards and seeing our final fauna for the night, a Spotted Eagle Owl.

With another solid tea behind us, we retired to bed and were all sparked out by half past eight.

In retrospect, some of the other aspects of the environment are noteworthy. For instance, the soil. The soil changes from being dark, terracotta red, to sandy yellow, to a pale grey within minutes of travel. The rock formations are amazing - huge boulders are just lying around like the remnants of a giant game of marbles, and where they are clumped together to form kopjes they sometimes seem impossibly balanced upon each other as if individually and intentionally placed that way. I (Mark) have definitely decided never to be reincarnated as a tree in Africa. They all look tortured. They’re charred as the result of bush clearance fires, broken by elephants, debarked by anything with teeth, chewed by porcupines, defoliated by all manner of browsing mammals or used as impromptu scaffolding by termite colonies. Only the Acacia bush seems to fight back, with huge white needle-sharp thorns. Oh sorry, Giraffes have worked out a way of eating those too.

---

Photos

Giraffes
or a pushme-pullyou

Giraffe-Tree-Giraffe
Spot the difference

Hippos
Mud mud glorious mud

Coffee break at the watering hole
Watch out for the croc

Spot the Elephant
playing hide and seek

Protective mum
beware

Is it a rock?
or is it our house?

20-year old elephant ready for boarding
Annabel and Jack rode this one

Feel its rubbery trunk
16-year old male lets us stroke his trunk

Matriarch
I've already told you to 'op it and leave my baby alone

Crocodile
Watch out watch out watch out there's a croc about

Chameleon
Spotted by our ranger, in the dark, from 10 metres away